Review No. 96 Anno 2070 - PC (12+)

Strong Points:
Great aesthetic - has a distinct style to the UI and the game itself
Interesting options - class etc. matters
Units are fun to test - each one does something different, or has different attributes
War is not necessary - possible to play peacefully easily

Weak Points:
Uplay - can't be played from Steam directly 
Price - is a little overpriced at £15
A little old - graphics can look a little dated and the story is a little clichéd

Rating: 82%
In-depth Review:

Release Dates:
World Wide: 17th November 2011

Controls:
Rotate Building clockwise: .
Rotate Building anticlockwise: ,
Change Building Model: C
Upgrade House: U
Scroll forwards: Up arrow key
Scroll backwards: Down arrow key
Scroll left: Left arrow key
Scroll right: Right arrow key
Rotate camera clockwise: Y
Rotate camera counter-clockwise: X
Point camera north: Home
Zoom in: Page Up
Zoom out: Page Down
Camera Zoom Levels: F2, F3, F4
Delete Building and units: Delete
Postcard view: F1
Camera to last event: Space
Disable interface: I
Display subtitles: CTRL+T
Open Construction Menu: B
Speed up game: NUM+
Slow game down: NUM-
Pause: P
Quicksave: F5
Quickload: F9
Toggle through all ships: TAB
Toggle through idle ships: Q
Toggle through ships without moving camera: SHIFT+TAB
Dive: T
To Surface: Z
Pipette: N
Functions database (e.g. increased speed without holding + key): F11
See the influence area of a building (and others of its sort): Shift
Stop/start all buildings of its kind (when pressing the 'pause/resume production' icon): Shift
Build multiple houses (first select house and select starting location): Drag mouse

Anno 2070 is a futuristic real time strategy/city builder hybrid game from Ubisoft studios. It was released in November 2011 and is a great game. I've put 7 hour sessions into this game, and I show no signs of stopping. It is a new, futuristic step in the series, and is a strong one.

The basic premise of the game is that the world's sea levels have risen and previous landmasses have become islands, and uninhabitable wastelands have become paradises. It is your mission to repopulate the world from your ark - a kind of sea station.

The ocean is a major focus of this game Much of the expansion and all battle and trading is done by sea. This makes a unit's speed, carrying capacity, armour and damage ever more important. The trading mechanism works really well, being able to set up a different route with each unit is easy and intuitive.

The game is great. It has an interesting style and great development of cities - better in my opinion than even the newer Sim Cities. For example, my capital city on my industrial play-through was growing and I was doing well, and I expanded onto another island. When I went back to my capital, I realized how dense the smog was around the city. It's details like that that really help build immersion and realism.

It's easy to sink hours into a game and not reach the endgame, or even the mid-game. If you are a fan of real time strategy games like Age of Empires, then this game is a perfect purchase for you (although maybe less so if the battles are the only reason you played). This award winning mixture of diplomacy, war and construction is sure to win you over to it.

Euan