Ludography
80/100
Players15 ratings
More scores
Metacritic usersuser score
84/100
GameFAQsTough
4.15/5
Player reviews
89% positive1,633 reviews
Runs on
Windows
Price
Free

Where to get it

Warzone 2100 cover

1999 · Warzone 2100 Project · Post-apocalyptic · Real-time strategy

Warzone 2100

PlayStation console exclusive

In the late 21st century, NASDA (the North American Strategic Defense Agency) developed and deployed a massive missile defense system, including a network of nuclear-equipped satellites and ground-based launch sites. However, during a routine maintenance check, something went terribly wrong...

Released
26 March 1999
Platforms
BrowserFreeBSDLinuxPlayStationUnix-like operating systemWindowsmacOS
Genres
Post-apocalypticReal-time strategyScienceStrategy
Developers
Warzone 2100 Project
Publishers
Eidos InteractiveWarzone 2100 ProjectSuntendy Interactive Multimedia Co.,Ltd.
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Themes
Science fiction
Country
United Kingdom
Age ratings
ESRB T
Languages
English
Time to beat
23hmain story79hcompletionist
Directors
Jim Bambra
Composers
Martin Severn

About

Warzone 2100 is an open-source real-time strategy and real-time tactics hybrid computer game, originally developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation, and is now also available for macOS, FreeBSD, AmigaOS 4, AROS, MorphOS, Linux, NetBSD and OpenBSD.

While Warzone 2100 was developed and released as a proprietary commercial video game, on December 6, 2004, the source code and most of its data was released under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later; the rest of the data followed on June 10, 2008.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game is fully 3D, based on the iViS 3D graphics engine developed by Sam Kerbeck of Eidos Interactive. The game world is mapped by a grid; vehicles tilt to meet hilly terrain, and projectiles can be realistically blocked by steep mountains or buildings. The camera is free-moving and can zoom in and out, rotate, and pan up or down while navigating the battlefield.

In the game, units of different factions are painted different colors. The New Paradigm, the Collective, and Nexus are the enemies of the Project in the campaign, and they can be seen attacking Project forces as well as Scavengers, survivors of the nuclear fallout.

Story

In the late 21st century, the world's civilizations are wiped out by a series of nuclear strikes, seemingly caused by a massive malfunction of the new NASDA (North American Strategic Defense Agency) strategic defense system. While most of the survivors form scavenger bands to survive, the player is a member of a group named "The Project", that is more organised and seeks to rebuild civilization using pre-war technology.

The game begins with The Project sending three teams (Alpha, Beta, and Gamma) to gather technology that would help with reconstruction; the player assumes command of Team Alpha in Arizona. While gathering pre-war "artifacts", the Project fends off attacks from an organization called the New Paradigm, another major survivalist organisation, which is more advanced than the player's forces. Later however, it is discovered that a self-aware computer virus named 'Nexus' is actually controlling the New Paradigm.

Development

Warzone 2100 was originally developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. In 1999 it was originally released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation. After having released patch 1.10 final in November 1999, Pumpkin Studios ended their support for Warzone 2100 at January 5, 2000. On March 15, 2000, Pumpkin Studios was closed down by Eidos Interactive. Pumpkin Studios later reformed as Pivotal Games.

After the official support ended with the dissolution of Pumpkin Studios, a third-party group of game enthusiasts, N.E.W.S.T., tried to continue the support in October 1999. Starting in November 2000, the group released unofficial patches which fixed many of the game's remaining problems. In February 2003 Pumpkin-2, the renamed N.E.W.S.T. group, sent a petition to copyright holder Eidos Interactive, asking for permission to get and use the source code and art content.

Reception

The game's new additions to the real-time strategy genre were positively noted, such as its create-a-unit feature, persistent world, 3D environments with control over a zoomable and rotatable floating camera, variety of terrain and environments, animated units, diverse colors, night-and-day mechanic, and numerous features.

GameSpot gave the PlayStation version a 6.5, and the PC version a 7.6. GameSpot praised the game for its high level of customizability and concluded, "Warzone 2100's highly navigable 3D engine, unique campaign structure, and multiplayer gameplay should please most real-time strategy fans."

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows10 April 1999North America
PlayStation31 May 1999North America
macOS30 January 2012Worldwide
Linux30 January 2012Worldwide

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Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.