Total Annihilation

aka: TA, Total Annihilation: Use Your Senses
Moby ID: 904
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Description official descriptions

It is 4000 years in the future, and the epic battle between the Arm and the Core has devastated the galaxy. Both sides fight on with super-advanced technology, from plasma guns to giant robots to sonar jammers. The only acceptable outcome is total victory.

You, as the Commander of either Arm or Core, must build up your base to destroy the other side, in a game developing the ideas of Command & Conquer. Unlike earlier titles in the genre, it uses a 3D world in which elevation changes have an effect.

Mission objectives range from taking out specific targets to rescuing hostages to capturing the enemy base and using it in the next mission. Usually you must construct a base, although in some missions you lead an attacking force.

Unlike other strategy games, however, you start out with the Commander, the game's most powerful unit, and must defend him at all costs. Resource collection is very quick and easy, since a single unit can extract metal indefinitely from a mine without ever having to return to your base, while options for producing energy include solar power, wind power, hydroelectric power, geothermal power, and fusion power.

Spellings

  • 横扫千军 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Windows version)

96 People (88 developers, 8 thanks) · View all

Project Leader
Design
Art Lead
Assistant Producer
Game Programming
Programming
Additional Design
Musical Composition
Sound Design
A.I. Programming
Producer
Lead Mission Design
3D Units & Buildings
Movie Supervisior
Movie Team
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 90% (based on 27 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 106 ratings with 10 reviews)

THIS GAME WILL NEVER DIE

The Good
This game was one of the first games I brought totally for myself, a very selfish thing to do yes, but everyone who has played TA will know why. When you've created your base, and got things going it becomes your baby, your child, you watch it grow and over come the bad times, see it develop through the good times, and kick some ass. When you can upgrade and get better planes, bots, vehicles, weapons, you rejoice, and yet you keep the older, more relyable technology, the stuff that has seen off everything the enemy has thrown at you. You know you can rely on it, and it won't let you down. As you progress through the missions, you see your family of colonies grow and kick serious ass, you relish the opportunity to try out your latest weapon in combat, and watch it wipe the floor with any opponant it faces. Playing TA isn't playing a game, you are the commander, watching over the whole invasion of the universe. If you haven't guessed I feel really strongly about this game, anyone who doesn't like this game hasn't played it properly.

The Bad
I didn't like the fact that the game ended, and the fact that TA Kingdoms looked so damn right crap.

The Bottom Line
GO AND GET THIS GAME RIGHT NOW!!! IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, WHY THE HELL NOT???? The possiblitlies with this game are massive, there are loads of bolt-ons for it on the net, and you can play online, what more do you want??

Windows · by David Lafferty (11) · 2003

The best RTS game ever made. 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.

Windows · by Rick Jones (96) · 2001

An epic work of RTS genius.

The Good
Well, first the feel. From the spacious outdoor landscapes with towering heights and vast bodies of water to the stirring orchestral score, Total Annihilation feels great to play. As well, the great number and variety of units (and cool units at that) is a definite plus. And the graphics and effects are simply beautiful. But it all comes together when the mayhem starts and that is when Total Annihilation truly shines. I have never had an RTS experience like seeing my TA forces roll over the hills and crevices of the beautifully sculpted terrain and meet the enemy on the field of battle. It's inspiring.

The Bad
There are a few niggles. The biggest is that, despite the epic feel, there isn't really an epic plot to go with it. Certainly, there is a plot and the devistation of humanity (or whatever race this is, it's never clear) is a dramatic setting. But there is nothing that allows you to relate to either side or wish them to win. It is simply a matter of personal glory, which really isn't all that inspiring. Other niggles are negligable indeed. The only other one I feel I should mention is that it's hard to control when you get a lot of units.

The Bottom Line
Despite flaws, one of the greatest RTS experiences available.

Windows · by Steelysama (82) · 2000

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Total Annihilation appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Development

Total Annihilation was based on an idea for a game project leader Chris Taylor first thought of at the age of 14.

Mods

Total Annihilation has a massive base of users who customize and modify the game. Among these is a group called Swedish Yankspankers. This group developed an open source engine that plays multiplayer Total Annihilation in full 3D. They can be reached at http://springrts.com/.

Sales

Total Annihilation was a success for Cavedog:

Seattle, WA, October 30, 1997 -- Total Annihilation, Cavedog Entertainment's groundbreaking 3-D real-time strategy game, was simultaneously launched in three languages and 14 countries on September 27, blasting more than 250,000 games into retail stores during its first month of release.

Title

While in development, before the name Total Annihilation was chosen, the game was referred to as Really Cool War Game. This name was reused for an April Fool's Day joke in 1999, when Cavedog Entertainment supposedly had to rename all their trademarks, including the game's name, due to "a legal snafu with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office".

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – #50 Top Game of All Time
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 12/1999 - #80 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
  • PC Gamer
    • 1997 or 1998 - Greatest Game Of All Time
    • April 2000 - #17 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games Poll"
    • April 2005 - #34 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/1998 - Most Stunning Music in 1997

Information also contributed by casimps1; Jeanne; MachTen, Maw, PCGamer77, Rick Jones and Vitarcus

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Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
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Total Annihilation: Kingdoms + Expansion
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Shogun: Total War
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Total Mayhem
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  • MobyGames ID: 904
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Plix.

Additional contributors: Eric Barbara, PCGamer77, Adam Baratz, Robyrt, Maw, formercontrib, CaesarZX, dome_quest, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added February 25, 2000. Last modified March 6, 2024.