Total Annihilation
Although somewhat dated, Total Annihilation (TA) is still one of the leaders in real-time strategy. TA’s engine features fully 3D terrain, and true line-of-sight and trajectories. Conflict between the forces of the Arm and the Core takes place in a diverse range of landscapes and on land, sea and air.
| Total Annihilation |
by Cavedog Software
|
TA
has remained prominent on the Internet and Cavedog have regularly released new units and
maps which can be downloaded and deployed in multiplayer mode. There are 50 single-player
missions and Internet, LAN, serial link and modem play are supported. Multiplayer mode may
also be used for single-player battles against computer-controlled opponents.Expansion in TA requires two resources: energy and metal. Energy is produced in a variety of ways. Solar, geothermal, wind, wave and fusion power plants are available, and a small amount of energy can be gleaned from the harvesting of plants. Metal must be mined, created in a "metal maker" (an energy-intensive process) or recycled from destroyed units (that’s right, this is an environmentally responsible galactic war!).
Over 150 units are available in the full version. While this makes for great diversity, there is still a certain amount of redundancy, and it is unlikely that you’ll be using the basic units by the end of the game. Some of the advanced units, such as Merl (a ballistic missile launcher) and Big Bertha (a very, very large artillery piece) are great fun to use.
TA’s main failing is that it’s often hard to care about the outcome at
times because you are overwhelmed by the immense size of the battlefields and the
staggering diversity and number of units. There are no movie briefings and the units, all
of which are mechanical, are decidedly short on character, so there is less personal
engagement than in other games of this genre.
The interface is similar to most RTS games, but has some advanced features such as queuing of unit production in factories and queuing of actions for mobile units. It is possible to order a complex building or production strategy and have it carried out with no need for any intervention, freeing you to concentrate on base defence or some fiendishly sneaky attack. Another innovation is the inclusion of a Commander, a heroic unit (representing the player) who is capable of building an entire military-industrial complex single-handedly. If he should perish, it’s game over.
TA does not support any 3D hardware acceleration, but having plenty of RAM is advisable (the largest maps require 32M).
by Richard Lovett
