IS IT WORTH IT?! | A Review of Total Annihilation in About 3 Minutes!
284A detailed review of Total Annihilation, a genre defining classic Real-Time Strategy, in about 3 minutes! Is it still worth buying and playing in 2021?
Time for a 3 minute trip down memory lane!
Total Annihilation is a real time strategy game with 2 playable factions called ARM and CORE. There’s hundreds of different buildings, weapon systems and units to build with each side having a completely unique aesthetic to their units. The goal of this review is to establish whether or not it’s worth buying and playing in 2021.
I can’t believe I’m gonna say this but although TA came out 25 years ago in 1997 it holds up amazingly well by modern day standards in everything from graphics to gameplay which isn’t something that many games from the 90’s can say.
Explosions can trigger fires in nearby trees that can spread to engulf entire forests, downed aircraft fall and crash dramatically, units have articulated weapons so they can fire at multiple objects with multiple weapons simultaneously and units destroyed on the battlefield have a chance to leave salvageable wrecks where they died for the entirety of a match.
Stuff like that was unheard of back then and it’s still not something you see very often today which says a lot about the skill and dedication that went into making the game. The version you can buy on Steam today includes the Core Contingency and Battle Tactics expansions aswell as the base game for about 4.99 euros.
As you may already know, Total Annihilation was the predecessor to games like Supreme Commander and Planetary Annihilation and it ushered in a new era of RTS games with its unprecedented variety of units and a population cap of 250. You can increase the pop cap to 500 by editing an ini file in the game directory or 10’s of thousands using modern day mods.
Starting out with just your primary commander unit you have to start collecting metal and energy resources and construct your base to begin rolling out endless waves of combat units to defeat your opponents.
As your continue to grow your base you start getting more and more construction vehicles that can build the next tier of factory, with each factory unlocking even more unique and powerful units. Once you reach the final tech level you can build some truly awesome stuff, like the super long range artillery cannon known as Big Bertha that can fire devastating shells across the map, heavy bombers with articulated tail guns to defend against enemy fighters and even nukes.
Units are divided into groups and each group has its own set of factories where they’re constructed. There’s 2 legged bots, vehicles like tanks and ground based missile launchers, aircraft including bombers, fighters and something vaguely resembling helicopters and even carrier based fighters and huge naval battleships with multiple independently operated cannons. You can choose to specialize in building one type of unit or produce all of them depending on your playstyle and the needs of the battle.
Each match supports up to 4 players in either single or multiplayer skirmish mode and the AI in singleplayer is surprisingly competent and gives you a good run for your money. There’s also 2 full campaigns, one for arm and one for core, each including 25 challenging missions.
There’s tons of maps included and they couldn’t be more different from each other. Each map poses unique challenges that might give some units an advantage over others which often leads to some interesting tactical solutions.
There’s way too much I want to say when talking about Total Annihilation but there’s no way it would all fit into this review so I’ll just say this. It doesn’t matter if you played it back in 1997 or if you’re brand new and interested in trying it today, it’s fantastic and the graphics, sounds and usability hold up very well in 2021. For 4.99 on Steam you just can’t go wrong.
I hope you found this helpful, thanks for watching, have fun and don’t forget to save!
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