Total Annihilation (PC, 1997)

Underrated RTS gem that was too quickly eclipsed by StarCraft.

Nostalgia: Very high. This game was a near constant companion for me in high school.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium. A few tricky missions, but nothing too difficult once you get a feel for the game.

The 90s were a great era for RTS gamers. Dune II kicked off the modern era of RTS games in ‘92, Warcraft followed in ‘94, Command & Conquer and Warcraft II in ‘95, C&C: Red Alert in ‘96, and then Age of Empires and Total Annihilation dropped in ‘97. The genre was developing quickly, but in ‘98, the immensely popular StarCraft captured the RTS zeitgeist and just eclipsed many of these great RTS forerunners.

To put this in context with sales data, Total Annihilation sold over 1 million copies. Age of Empires sold over 3 million copies. StarCraft and the Brood War expansion sold over 10 million copies. Even Age of Empires II, another RTS behemoth that soaked up the attention of any remaining RTS fans, only sold an estimated 6 million copies (which includes the HD edition released in 2013). StarCraft is a fantastic game, but one of the unfortunate drawbacks of its success was that some of these earlier RTS forerunners were quickly forgotten.

Total Annihilation certainly maintains its cult following, but many gamers I chat with have never heard of or played this gem. By the early 00’s, TA was on sale for $10 in a bargain bin at Walmart. The genre just moved on so quickly, and this fantastic game did not get the full attention that it deserves. Hopefully this review will encourage you to give TA a shot.

The gameplay is top notch RTS fun. The two factions, Core and Arm, are relatively balanced, though Arm’s superior air units give them an edge in higher level play. Core’s superior naval units rarely provide enough benefit. Resources are unlimited in TA (unlike StarCraft’s minerals or gas which can run out) and accumulate at a constant rate. If resources are low, units or buildings in progress become “stalled” but will still be completed as resources become available. Skilled players will maximize their resource usage and efficiency to avoid stalling.

Different construction units also build at different speeds. The unique Commander unit has the fastest “nano lathe”, and advanced construction bots build faster than basic bots. Groups of construction units can also be assigned to assist other construction bots or plants, which greatly increases the speed of construction. Skilled players take advantage of this by creating large amounts of flying construction bots to increase the output speed of their plants.

TA offers 25 single player missions in its main campaign. The Core Contingency expansion adds 12 more missions. You choose whether to play as Arm or Core, but each campaign is parallel to the other, just with a different end result. Most of these missions are very vanilla, not offering much variety beyond “destroy all units” or “capture this structure” etc. However, the basic gameplay of TA is strong enough that the single player campaign can still be a worthwhile experience. The missions do begin to feel repetitive towards the end. I found the expansion missions to be frustrating at times. By default, the units do move quite slow, but you can increase the game speed as needed once you’ve got a handle on things.

Thankfully, the AI opponents in TA are not so brutally difficult (like in StarCraft or WarCraft 3). Custom games against AI and LAN parties with friends are really where TA shines. Pick up the TA Commander Pack from GOG.com, which includes a DRM free version that you can use to get a LAN party going without issue.

Through the eyes of a modern gamer, the visuals are not much to shake a stick at, but in ‘97, this game looked pretty good. I do prefer TA’s bright and vibrant colors when compared to other RTS games from that era. The Arm homeworld is particularly nice. You can play TA in full 1080, but it “zooms out” your perspective so that all of your units appear tiny. Unfortunately, this means that the best way to play today is by sticking with a lower resolution.

I find the back story to be very interesting. This 4000 year war began over a conflict regarding the essence of humanity. The Core empire began “patterning” human consciousness into mechanical bodies. The Arm rebellion has fought to maintain their biological humanity, but in order to survive, they’ve resorted to cloning warriors that wear mechanical battle suits. Both factions are dead set on completely annihilating the other. The voice narration before each mission is a nice touch, but the lack of any named characters is a glaring shortcoming. StarCraft really set the standard by featuring a full cast of memorable characters with frequent in-game dialogue and story sequences. TA’s story is fine, it’s just not as developed.

The soundtrack is a real highlight. Long before Jeremy Soule’s meteoric rise to fame as the composer of the Skyrim soundtrack, he composed this excellent score for Total Annihilation. The score was performed and captured live by the 95-piece Northwest Sinfonia orchestra. It should be noted, some disturbing allegations against Soule have come to light, and this has soured many on the lasting legacy of his work.

The sound effects and overall sound design of TA are also a notch above. When two armies meet in the field of battle, the cacophony of explosive sounds is just nirvana for the ears. It really contributes to the epic nature of this game.

While Total Annihilation has not reached the heights of acclaim that StarCraft has, it is still an excellent RTS that is worthy of your time. Any fan of the genre needs to give this one a go.