Total Annihilation: Kingdoms (Windows)

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Description

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is the fantasy spin-off title to the 1997 real-time strategy game Total Annihilation. There are four distinct factions: Aramon, Taros, Veruna, and Zhon, and each is spearheaded by their monarch unit (respectively Elsin, Lokken, Kirenna, and Thirsha) which replaces the commanders from the original Total Annihilation. In the game's storyline, these monarchs are siblings who are at each other's throats fighting for supremacy over the land of Darien after the disappearance of their father Garacaius.

Monarchs are the main construction unit in the game, but they are mostly not capable of building objects from the entire tech tree. Aramon, Taros, and Veruna rely on other construction units to do so, and the tech tree is effectively split to 3 tiers, one with each factory-type structure assigned to it. Conversely, Zhon has few structures available to them, as they rely more on units. There is only one resource, mana, which is gathered from sacred stones by structures known as lodestones. Building units and structures, as well as monarchs' special attacks, drain mana, and its input/output values are shown in the bottom right corner of the screen. Finally, monarchs have special abilities: Elsin can raise the dead and build ark ships, Lokken can become invisible and build all three Taros factory structures, Kirenna can swim (by doing so, she replaces her legs with fins), and Thirsha can fly and build a tier 2 Zhon defensive structure; they also have three attack types.

As units and structures are being summoned, they are formed as silhouettes which gradually materialize. While this is going on, they are immobile and vulnerable to attacks. Also, if the structure or construction unit responsible for the summoning is moved to a different task or destroyed, the silhouette will gradually lose health until it vanishes, but in the case of structures and Zhon units, summoning can be resumed in that small time window.

The game features 48 missions in its singleplayer campaign, which are played in succession and give player control over different factions in different points of the storyline. As was the case with the original Total Annihilation, the developers released new freely downloadable units on the official website after release.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "横扫千军：王国风云" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "Total Annihilation: Право на трон" -- Russian spelling
• "TAK" -- Common abbreviation

Part of the Following Groups

• Best of Infogrames / Atari releases
• Fantasy Creatures: Dragons
• Gameplay feature: Fog of war
• Games that include map/level editor
• Total Annihilation series

User Reviews

Didn't get enough respect	Dan Spencer (12)
Total Annihilation, with a story and *different* units	Cyric (50)	unrated
Great medieval real-time stategy game	Djinn (21)

Critic Reviews

All Game Guide	1999		90
Power Unlimited	Jul, 1999	8.8 out of 10	88
WomenGamers.com	Jul 16, 1999	8.25 out of 10	82
PC Gamer	Sep, 1999	82 out of 100	82
Player One	Oct, 1999	80 out of 100	80
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Sep, 1999		80
Game Over Online	Jul 03, 1999	73 out of 100	73
GameSpot	Jul 02, 1999	6.6 out of 10	66
Absolute Games (AG.ru)	Jun 25, 1999	65 out of 100	65
GamePro (US)	Nov 24, 2000	3 out of 5	60

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Trivia

April Fool's Day Joke

The game was part of an April Fool's Day joke by Cavedog Entertainment, that on April 1, 1999 published a press release stating that due to legal problems with the U.S. Patent Office, the company and all its trademarks had to be renamed. Cavedog Entertainment became Frozen Yak Entertainment, Total Annihilation was renamed Really Cool Wargame, and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms was supposedly called Really Cool Wargame with Trolls.

Awards

In the German gaming magazine GameStar (issue 03/2000) Total Annihilation: Kingdoms received a special award as "Biggest Disappointment in 1999".

Related Web Sites

• Total Annihilation Kingdoms (The official website)