Ubisoft and BlueByte released Anno 2070: Deep Ocean, an expansion/add-on for their sci-fi real-time strategy and city-building PC game, Anno 2070.
Anno 2070 is the latest game of the Anno series and takes place in a Earth’s near-future. Gameplay consists in gathering resources, engaging in diplomacy and trading with competitors in order to build a new society. You can choose between two factions: the technology moguls Tycoons and the eco-friendly Ecos.
According to Ubisoft the Deep Ocean expansion offers the following:
- A new civilization rank
- Underwater expansion
- New ways of energy extraction
- New missions about the energy research of Hiro Ebashi
- Revised research feature: Multiple new items
- Hostile take-over of islands without using a single bullet
- New Tech Monument including new gameplay options
- Fascinating new production buildings and goods
There’s a demo available for the base game that lets you play the first two chapters of the campaign.
You can buy the Deep Ocean expansion at GamersGate, Amazon.com or at Gamestop.
So, has anyone played Anno 2070 yet?
Subscribe RSS
12 Comments
Related Articles:
- Ubisoft Announces an Add-On for Anno 2070: Deep Ocean
- Anno 2070 Released
- Anno 2070 Demo Now Available
- SpaceSector’s Bargain List: “Sales Leftovers” of Great Games
- Space Sector’s Bargain List: Steam Mega Autumn Sales
Loading ...
I’ve been playing Anno 2070: Deep Ocean since it’s release on the 4th and I have to admit it’s one of the best Expansion packs in the Series of Anno. Right next to Venice and Sunken Dragon.
I’ve enjoyed the new civ level the Tech’s got and I’ve managed to make my economy and industries more efficient than ever. I do feel sorry for one city I had, It was a Tycoon city. 15,000 people. First it got hit by a Tornado and a few moments later a nice big Tsunami slaps it in the face. I decided to leave it as a lost cause since Good old Strindberg and Sokow decided that would be a nice time to invade the island for take advantage of it’s huge oil reserves I didn’t take advantage of.
The new Tech Decorative items are nice. Some of the best in the game and I love making Plaza’s out of them for the new Tech Monument.
Only thing this expansion is missing is the ability to build Tech cities underwater like Deep Sea Tycoon. Well that Shield Generators don’t offer much protection from a Tsunami. Would be quite fun to watch the wave hit the shield, Stargate Atlantis style :D
If you like your Anno 2070 games to last, then Deep Sea is the addon for you. The time needed to get your Genius cities up at full strength is quite.. long. But its worth it.
Have they removed the anti-consumer DRM? If not, then I’m still not interested.
If you mean the always-on DRM that forced you to be online in order to play I believe they did, although I don’t know first hand. Sorry for not being able to help you further. Maybe someone else can comment on that.
According to The Big List Of 3rd Party DRM On Steam web site, Anno 2070 uses Ubisoft’s account-based DRM as well as the hardware-based SolidShield DRM. This is in addition to Steam’s DRM scheme.
The site seems to indicate that with Anno 2070, you should be able to access an offline mode after using Ubisoft’s account-based DRM to register and update the game.
Nice site to keep handy. Thanks Bryan.
Every once and a while they say you don’t need to be online to play the game which while technically true is effectively a lie. While not connected to their servers you can’t use any of your account based unlocks or what not that allow you to have an effective civilization, so much so that if you try and play a save game without those account based unlocks that was built with them your civilization will quickly turn to ashes.
This doesn’t just affect pirates (it actually doesn’t affect them at all), every time steam has an Anno sale, Ubi’s auth servers crash for the weekend effectively ruining everyones experience. So even though Ubi now gives lip service to not having DRM, they still have this account based unlock business which is effectively the same thing.
Reminds me of old school shareware games that would become impossible if you didn’t register…
Relevant articles:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/02/legitimate-ubisoft-games-wont-work-tues/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/16/udontplay-ubidrm-servers-wobble-during-steam-sale/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/03/08/ubisofts-drm-servers-broken-all-day/
The last I heard from them is that they removed the 5 time installation limit and that’s pretty much it. The thing about Anno 2070 and their other game MnM Heroes 6 is that if you are offline you could still play but miss some very important game mechanics like the ark upgrades in 2070 and the dynasty equipments in MnMH 6.
Its just pure evil that they have to penalized you by removing game mechanics when you are not online.
I don’t buy any Ubisoft games, due to their draconic DRM. When a company even requires additional DRM on top of their games on Steam, it’s too ridiculous.
This is the only game where I made an exception. I pity blue byte for choosing Ubi as their publisher. Heck Anno 2070 is a great game ruined by Ubi’s Draconian DRM of Doom
I’ve been considering doing the same thing. I hate that these guys decided to go with Ubisoft and Anno 2070 just looks fantastic.
I got this the day after it came out and I have been playing it non-stop. A great expansion pack to Anno 2070! Actually, I have been playing the Anno series ever since it came out (and yeah, the Venice expansion pack for 1404 was superb).
Now, the bad news, Ubisoft is still a bunch of LIARS. Their choice to go DRM has ruined gameplay for those that either don’t believe in DRM, or don’t have a constant-on internet connection, or simply don’t have an internet connection, period. Some niceties of the game are unavailable to you if you don’t allow their servers to monitor your playing through UPlay, or whatever it is they are calling it now. I call it obtrusive and unwelcomed. I bought the game, I own this copy, so STOP TRYING TO STALK ME UBISOFT! If they keep this up, I will vote with my wallet next time…as in it will be shut to them and I won’t be buying their games any longer.
So, in the end, if you love having Ubisoft’s big-brother arm monitoring you while you play, this could be the game for you, provided you like city-builder like games. If you are opposed to DRM and block Ubisoft at the firewall level, you won’t be able to take advantage of some of the slick options that only happen through you Ark – but, in all honesty, you will not lose any considerable functionality of the game. And actually, not having access to the Ark’s extras makes the game a bit more intense as you have to be creative and ingenious to figure out how you are going to overcome a newly added obstacle, but still achieve your goals.
I’d give the game and this expansion pack an “A”, BUT…since Ubisoft has decided to try and spy on you while playing, it only gets a “B” now.
I know how you feel mate. I got a stable net connection but I think I have OCD and I couldn’t bear the thought gnawing at the back of my head that Ubi needs me to be online to enjoy the game that I have played. I have read around forums and stuff and they say that the pirates enjoy everything minus the DRM while we, paying customers, are treated like thieves and could not enjoy to the fullest a game that we paid for.
I wish bluebyte would bring the next anno to another publisher. I feel sorry that their sales are hindered by ubi’s DRM