Total Annihilation Reviews

Total Annihilation is a classic RTS that can still be played many years later with tons of fun. However, if you want a more up-to-date experience with an active online community you should check out Beyond All Reason! It's a community recreation of Total Annihilation and the next best thing to Cavedog releasing a new one themselves.

Great blast from the past! Does not seem to have a SAVE GAME option though? I'm making some game content on it for my Youtube Channel called "The Retro Game Society" if you fancy a look, comment and let me know you came from here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PjIV0BbDOo&ab_channel=TheRetroGameSociety

one of the best RTS games ever made, along with warcraft and C&C and is easily playable today easy recommend

old complex game, like CNC and others.. wish the other version was on here as well

Played this back in the late 90's and remembered some of the neat mechanics. Figuring it was nostalgia glasses I wanted to see if it still holds up. Probably the best if not pretty close to being the best RTS ever. Only thing that comes close is Supreme Commander. If you can look past the extremely dated graphics, and you appreciate the RTS genre, I promise this won't disappoint. Also, if you want multiplayer it's pretty easy to setup, just do a quick search on how to play online and you can play this with some friends in no time. On the surface it plays like any RTS, you pick between 2 factions, you have to harvest resources, build an army. Pretty standard. Where it gets interesting and makes it worth the $5 price for the single player skirmishes alone is the mechanics. The map chosen is going to play a massive role in how that game is played. A map that is on the dark side of a planet is going to make it so solar is not viable, this forces the player to use wind power generation in the early game. Additionally there is calculated wind speed, so a wind turbine although safer in a crater will be more effective higher up on a mound. The game also takes into account gravity. Maps that take place on comets or small moons will have low gravity. This matters because it effects how guns behave, in low gravity environments heavy kinetic rounds will never land and just go off the map, laser weapons although weaker will be more reliable. Likewise, on high gravity planets, rounds will not go as far, so each map weapons will behave differently. Radar, this game has a very neat take on it. Radar is critical for defensive buildings and artillery to operate correctly. You will see on the mini map where units are in range. However, even with radar targets identified your units and defences will not fire unless the target is visually confirmed. It's the only game where you absolutely need scouts and you cant just turtle. There is no way to expose the whole map. On larger maps this makes sneaking units with a radar jammer a viable and satisfying strategy to attack a flank. RESOURCES! Probably one of my favorite, albeit frustrating mechanics is the resource management in Total Annihilation. You gather only metal and generate power, however everything uses one or both resources. Resource requirements are not static. To further delve into how resource consumption behaves, every time a unit fires it will consume metal and power. Defensive emplacements will require more resources, with higher tiered items consuming an extreme amount. It is extremely deceptive! Defensive emplacements once built will consume very little if any power. However once engaged some of these will chew through metal and power. So pay attention! I have had many games where my defences although extremely extensive was my undoing. 4, high tier auto artillery emplacements will deplete 60,000 electricity and 40,000 metal in seconds. A well coordinated attack can overwhelm enemy defences and simply deplete them of ammunition to actually work. It makes spawning low tier cheap units a pretty important strategy. Attacks will also hinder building efforts, as building is extremely resource intensive. I could add more to this review but it's already pretty long and I realise no one is going to read this, especially for a game that is from the 90's. Anyways, if someone is reading this, thanks for taking the time and if you do purchase the game I hope you find it as fun as I do.

it's not the original game they've added hover vehicles but it is otherwise the game I've enjoyed for years

An old favorite - played for years on my MAC and PC, now on steam. Great to end tension and worries!

College years in the 90's, nothing beats this game for nostalgia, old fashioned LAN parties and early PvP online. Good to be playing again.

This is the oldest game I played without having played it as a kid first, and I was extremely pleasently suprised of how well it aged. Qality of life features that make RTS less frustrating to play (remember Dune2?) are already there. You can queue orders and attack move is by default. In fact, for most actions you can just click (and have to option to use left or right click). There are also keyboard shortcuts, although not specified, still intuitive. Maybe I just need to read the manual. Clicking on the minimap doesn't change the view but actually selects the pixel you clicked on, so you can macro just from the minimap if you have perfect precision. The pacing is pretty slow, walking and building are slower than i'm used to these days, otherwise it would've been a great competitive game even after close to 30 years.

Often overlooked due to Command & Conquer and Warcraft dominating the market, but I consider it the superior RTS game from that era due to the combination of scale, scope, mechanics, and execution.