FABIO wrote:

Though in theory RTS games would be all about combat, there's a reason why they include resource gathering and a limited amount of those resources. The resources are there as an incentive to attack and capture & hold points on the map. The resources are limited so the players will place a value on their units and not just fling them blindly into suicide meatgrinders.

FABIO wrote:

Like Red Alert 2, Total Annihilation technically has a bunch of different units you could come up with a bunch of different tactics for. In fact it may have close to Starcraft levels of tactical options.

But like Red Alert 2, 90% of it matters dick and the most effective option by far is unit spamming and rushing. In fact it blows RA2 out of the water in terms of mass unit flingling. You have an income rate and your goal is to spend resources faster than you make them. The game might as well scream at you for not having multiple factories pumping out units non-stop. Pump out all the units you want and do whatever with them; resources are limitless.


Like Emperor: Battle for Dune, and every Age of Empires/Empire Earth/Rise of Nations game ever made, there's a bunch of sneaky shit you could technically pull off, but that would distract you from constantly clicking on all your factories to mass produce more units, and that means you lose.

FABIO wrote:

The quantity over quality mentality extends over to the unit types as well. Starcraft only had about 9 units per side, but they were so well thought out that you didn't need any more. Each one carried out a role and none were useless. You'll only use about a third of the available stuff in TA there's so many redundant units. I remember one reviewer back then wowing over how many new units were available for download or were excluded in the expansion pack. Then a review of Starcraft: Brood War expressed disapointment over how there were "only" two new units per side. Never was it mentioned that those 2 units filled in vital gaps for each side and managed to make it a totally new game. Meanwhile TA gave you "medium tank #3, halfway between light and medium tank, slightly heavier than heavy tank". Idiot.

FABIO wrote:

But this was the game some people claimed was better than Starcraft back in the day? It feels like one of those "me too" attempts when the RTS genre was a breakout hit and every company was tripping over themselves to get one out the door. It looks like shit (though I guess some of the unit and building animations were good for the time). The interface is awkward. Crtl + number to hotkey unit groups, then alt + number to select them instead of just hitting the number? It might not sound like much but it's annoying as hell when you're trying to toggle through units during a fight (which you shouldn't really bother with because your factories need more clicking).

FABIO wrote:

The system of moving projectiles vs. generic instant attack animation deserves special mention. If there's one thing I miss from the original C&C days, it's definately the fact that the game assumes my units have no concept of leading their targets, and having them constantly miss a moving vehicle unless I step in and tell them to force fire on the spot it'll be at by the time my amazingly slow missile gets there. Fuck that.

What on earth made this game so appealing? Must have been the music, which I hear is great. But for some reason I can't get it or any sound (aside from menu button pressing sound effects and cutscene movies) working (read that it played music directly off the CD tracks. Tried disabling my CD-rom so my phantom drive would be the primary, didn't work). With all the aural splendor stripped away, this game is damn damn boring.

Verdict: Use the CD in your car stereo, not your PC.