Total Annihilation

Open Up To The New Landscape of War

In a distant part of the Galaxy, the Core and the Arm continue a thousand year battle over long forgotten ideals, destroying everything in their path...

Total Annihilation is a real-time war game featuring true 3D terrain and run-time generated 3D units. Tanks drive up and over hills, tilting and rocking with each bump in the landscape an impact with enemy weapons. Battle on diverse landscapes, including lava worlds, ice planets, desert valleys, alien tundra, towering mountain peaks and vast island-dotted oceans. Build defenses high in the hills for a better view and a better shot. Giant Bertha cannons pound the enemy from across the world. Planes bank and dive in intense air-to-air combat. Amphibious tanks drive into and dive under water for surpris attacks. Download new reinforcements from the web and swarm the enemy with hundreds of ever evolving units.

Total Annihilations 3D landscape is a revolutio that demands deeper strategy and generates more realistic game play. Mobilize your forces anc experience the new landscape of war!

It's been well over a year since Cavedog unleashed Total Annihilation on an unsuspecting real-time strategy world, and rival publishers must now be fed up with their latest offerings being compared to what is effectively old software. The thing is, the reason TA is still a yardstick is the same reason Quake is still a yardstick - it craps on everything else from a great height.

But before we continue our assessment, Cavedog deserve a special mention for the support they've given TA players via their website - new units, maps, editors, upgrades and utilities dished out free to anyone who wants them. Compare this commitment to Westwood and to Blizzard, and you'll see why you-know-who scoops all the press and reader awards.

Interface

The key to the TA experience is its logical interface and the ability to stack orders. Click to store one command, then hold down shift and click to store any number of others - your units will then complete them in sequence. This may sound humdrum - after all, it sounds a pretty bloody obvious way of doing things - but Cavedog's interpretation of it is both unique and a total joy to use.

Missions

At the start of each scenario, you take control of a Commander - a big-bastard robot who's able to create structures anywhere on the map using a process of mixing metal with energy. The trouble here is that a lot of the game's ballyhooed technologies (eg line of sight) tend to go right out the window in favour of maximum firepower.

Multiplay

Multiplayer TA is a frantic succession of laser bolts, missiles and massive explosions that rattle the whole screen. Brilliantly, the game features 'proper' teams, meaning you're able to share your resources automatically, hand over redundant units, and even build things together. Once you've won a co-op game against a team of vicious-bastard computer players, everything else in the genre pales by comparison.

Uniqueness

TA has all the elements of every other title here, and if you were to describe it in a sentence you'd wonder what the hullabaloo was all about. But wait. It arrived at a time when the genre was overcrowded and stagnant, and was the first to introduce polygon units on true 3D terrain. It also offered authentic intelligence derived from real-life military tactics, line of sight, and delicately balanced action. Today, all these elements still gel perfectly to form the most exciting and most rewarding experience yet.

Strategic Appeal

When compared to the likes of MechCommander and Age Of Empires, strategy is not M's strong point. Many units are too similar, meaning the commonest attack is with the largest number of most heavily armed troops. Also, where Dark Reign and Red Alert have you thinking hard about where you're going to get your next dime from, TA positively swamps you with resources. Nevertheless, it is still possible to plot your attacks, with ground, sea and air forces all playing a part, so the planners and schemers among you will not be too disappointed.