Moon Project

Fans of the series will be able to dive right into the game and won't be disappointed. New players may even be compelled to get "Earth 2150" after their experience with The Moon Project.

Even more impressive than the original, offering richer gameplay, deformable terrain, real-time lighting, new zoom capability, and a host of other improvements that puts TMP at the top of the crowded RTS genre.

If you like big bangs, you'll get unlimited enjoyment when nuclear explosions pepper the late game carnage and shake the entire screen with powerful force. Along with this visual feast, audible devastation also drives the scene.

Owners of "Earth 2150" may want to wait for "Earth III." BUt his is still a very deep RTS. [May 2001, p.83]

This swan song for the Earth 21XX series almost knocks itself out of orbit by cramming more content into one small package than the average encyclopedia.

On a purely conceptual level, the "Project" is an absolutely first-rate product that shows the RTS genre still has plenty of life left in it when others thought it was dead.

I might have felt better recommending The Moon Project had the mission structure been a bit more streamlined, but as it stands this is not a game for the casual player.

All things considered, I think we can rather call this an excellent level editor with a lot of additional skirmish missions, rather than a truly innovative expansion pack.

Unfortunately, the additions and improvements weren't impressive: the new campaigns were bad and much shorter than the ones in Earth 2150, the opponent AI might have actually gotten worse, the engine tweaking didn't do a whole lot other than increase the minimum system requirements for the game, and the new units, weapons, and buildings were hit and miss.

If you're an "E2150" vet, you can't wait to start cranking out more of your customizable-chassis units; if you're relatively new to the 3D RTS thing, all you can think is I've gotta get the hell out of here!

The drab lunar landscape which makes up much of the game is a poor substitute for the rich snowfields and forests of Earth 2150, and poorly balanced campaigns make the single player experience less satisfying than it perhaps should have been.