Total Annihilation

The Good
The game has an incredible diverstiy of units, enabling a wide array of different strategies. You can fight full ground, air and sea battles in the course of one game. There is no "running out of resources" here, though the dynamics of your resource gathering will change as you progress up the tech tree or use up scrap metal/organic material.

Strategic elements include real-time physics, line of sight, elevation, as well as many units which have unique capabilities that contribute to the overall strategy mix.

The soundtrack is one of the best ever, a world-class symphonic score worth listening to without the game. The ability to customize the music adds even more playability - put in anything and you can assign tracks to 'battle' or 'build' music. The game also has a vast support community on the web - download more units, more maps, and other features. The latest patch will add some hotkey controls, improve the AI and increase overall playability.

At three years old, TA is still one of the best games around.

The Bad
It could use some menus to see what units you have, where they are and their status. This information is attainable, it's just hard to get it all when you need it. The AI could still be better, but there are plenty of 3rd party AIs that will prove more than a challenge. The AI doesn't matter in multiplayer. Finally, the setting is great, and a '4000 year war that has destroyed a million worlds' is quite dramatic - however the story isn't as dynamic or as involving as Starcraft. Still...that matters little when you're fighting a massive battle with dozens of units, explosions and cannon fire eminating over the blistering score. It just doesn't get much better.

The Bottom Line
Quite possibly the single best real time strategy game ever developed.

The Good
The game offers a wide variety of naval and plane units. Ground units are represented by vehicles and Kbots, Kbots represent infantry. The unfortunately legendary tank rush of red alert is not repeated in this game, one unit can't survive on a attack of its own. Mobile artillery can't shoot a close range but is essential for support. The heaviest tanks such as the penetrator, bulldog and goliath need support of they get taken out by the long range cannons (big bertha/intimidator), planes are needed to take these out, early units have to be reused to draw fire off of the bigger tanks. The units are well balanced and the music while in combat gives a adrenaline rush.

The Bad
When the game is nearly at its end and two stealth planes are flying around and they have to be killed to attain victory it can be very annoying.

The Bottom Line
Yes it has stood the test of time and I still play it today with the downloadable units and good expansion packs. Also programs which allow you to make your own maps and units and profile your own AI are present on the taus.tadesigners.com site.

GET IT.

The Good
Of all the Real Time Strategy games ever made, Total Annihilation is not just the best; it's miles better, better by exponential degrees. Games like "Starcraft" and "Red Alert" simply don't compare.

The game's campaigns are decent, offering a wide range of battles to practice various aspects of the game, but what makes TA better than any similar game is the amazing depth and balance of the combat system and what it offers to a multiplayer environment.

With expansion packs, (and it's now sold with them), TA offers the player more than 150 unique units and buildings, each of which has a particular role to play in the game. The key to the game, and the genius, is that no one unit can succeed in a major battle on its own. Players must master all units and use them in combined arms strategies for maximum effectiveness. Unlike many RTS games, there's no one juggernaut here; even the mammoth "Krogoth" superunit is helpless if left without supporting arms.

Also unlike most RTS games, the game's different units are actually different. Rather than being just a tradeoff between expensive vs. effective, TA units have wildly varying abilities, and so must work in teams. Some units can mow down ground troops but are helpless against air units; some can lob artillery shells but can't fight in close; all units need specialized radar and jamming support. Going with one type of unit is a sure road to catastrophe.

Multiplayer TA games between evenly matched players are multi-hour festivals of destruction. The game is perfectly balanced, allowing for combat and base development in just the right amounts to keep the pace up without being overwhelming. The construction system is simple but requires planning and attention to overall strategic goals.

The game is easily the most fun and rewarding RTS game available for a PC. The preceding comment might make it sound confusing, but it is not; it's remarkably easy to play, and so the player is given a chance to experiment with a huge variety of tactics and strategies to determine which works best in what situation. Get this game, get some friends who want to play it, and you'll be playing it for years.

The Bad
TA really has no significant weaknesses.

Unfortunately, its creator, Cavedog, seems to be falling apart; they've produced nothing for almost a year (as of Jan. 2001) and so the prospect of more units and maybe even a TA 2 seem thin.

The Bottom Line
The best RTS game on the market. Fun, addicative, challenging, with virtually endless replay value. As a multiplayer game it might be teh best game of ANY type.