Total Annihilation: Kingdoms

DEVELOPER : Cavedog
PUBLISHER : Cavedog

 

System Requirements Pentium 200MHz, 32MB RAM

Recommended Pentium II 450MHz, 18+ MB RAM

Ratings
Code Issues Graphics: 9 Audio: 8 Interface: 9	Play Issues Gameplay: 8 Replayability: 6 Multiplay: 7 Learning Curve: 8
Other/Notes Documentation: 7 Pros: elegant interface, excellent graphics and a rich unit diversity. Cons: Poor AI, HIGH system requirements and a linear campaign. Overall: 7.8

In 1997 the gaming market was crowded with several Command and Conquer clones and basically every company tried to take advantage of the RTS hype.  Some of them were inspired and innovative but unfortunately, they only represented a minority.  Total Annihilation was the most original for two reasons: the excellent 3D engine and the rich gameplay enforced by the abundance of unit types.   It was the first non-Westwood-or-Blizzard RTS game to revolutionize the genre.   The downsides were a vague, monotonous storyline and the obvious balance problems caused by the unit diversity.  They promised not to commit the same mistakes again.   Almost two years have passed and Cavedog is trying to cover the gap left with Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, a fantasy real-time strategy game.  Have they succeeded?  You are about to find out.

Execution
The TA: Kingdoms engine is an improved version of its predecessor.   It makes limited use of hardware acceleration to enhance certain special effects such as spells, buildings on fire or debris.  However it does not improve the game's frame rate or the polygons themselves.  The result is a resource sucker, slowing down even the fastest PII's out there, especially during large scale battles.   This eventually affects the gameplay and converts any epic battle into frustration.

The sound effects enhance the main theme for each faction and overall they contribute in creating the fantasy feel.  The orchestral score is incredible as expected.  In fact it was composed by the same Jeremy Soule who gifted the original Total Annihilation with an excellent soundtrack.  However it doesn't emphasize the differences between the four sides at all and it remains similar throughout the mixed campaign.

Gameplay
The campaign consists of 48 missions. Despite its size, it doesn't offer much diversity aside from a few subtle escort, sneak in or defend missions.  The majority of them are simple destroy-everything-in-sight missions.  Even if you are an absolute newbie, you can still pick the manual and follow the two magical steps: Ctrl+A (select all units), target enemy base.

After reading the unit stats and after testing several types of units against their counterparts, I found the overall balance quite inefficient.   Most melee units are so slow that they get vaporized before they get close enough to swing their weapon.  Certain defensive combinations become ridiculously cost efficient allowing the defender to get experienced units and make them even harder to break.  The resources are unlimited and the stalemates become very frequent.   Attacking is simply not worth it in most cases.

The Resource System
TA: Kingdoms comes with a simplified gathering system.  The only resource available is mana, an infinite magical material.  The mana is generated continuously when you build a lodestone on a sacred site.  These stones are your main source of income.   Lightly armored and pretty expensive (in the Divine Lodestone's case), they must be protected accordingly.

The mana system acts like a budget similar to the system adopted and introduced by the original Total Annihilation.   The objective is too balance your income with your production preventing a situation where multiple builds are halted.  Also, any mana produced over the maximum quota is basically wasted, therefore you need to build new units and infrastructure constantly.  The maximum storage can be increased only by building additional lodestones.

The Units
The units can be classified into five categories: builder units, melee units, ranged units, artillery units and fliers.   The builders are the workforce of your army.  The monarch is your first builder, yet one of the most powerful units in the game.  In order to gain access to high level units you need to train a couple of basic builders.  Weak and lacking firepower, this category includes the Dark Mason, the Mage Builder, the Priestess and the Beast Tamer.  Eventually you'll gain access to the more advanced builders, including the priests, acolytes and the Shaman.  While also being powerful spell casters, their main role is to build Divine Lodestones and Sacred Dragons.

The melee units are pretty durable and they represent excellent base levelers if they get close enough.  With a few exceptions, they are ridiculously slow, serving only as cannon fodder.  Most ranged units fall in the archer class.  Ranging from hunters and crossbowmen to the more powerful mage archers and musketeers, these units provide excellent support for melee units.  Most of them are also specialized in anti-air defense.  The artillery units are the most varied.   Some of them are fixed, some of them are mobile.  Another division could be done using their firing trajectory: some of them are ballistic, some of them shoot in line.  The impressive Stone Giants manage to take advantage of their height and shoot over the lower obstacles, yet having a linear trajectory.  All these variations accentuate the sense of 3Dness.

The fliers include all types of aerial units such as Gryphons, Drakes, Sky Knights or Sacred Dragons.  Unaffected by terrain, they are most adequate for hit'n'run attacks.  Every other unit's capability is affected by the 3d landscape.  For instance, even a Stone Giant with his long range rocks will not fare so well when fighting in a forest where a close-in punch comes in handy.  A Cannon or a long range Firedemon will have difficulties when bombarding units on a higher elevation level.

Another characteristic I haven't mentioned yet is the radar coverage.  Towers and fliers are best in detecting units beyond their line of sight.   The best radar range in the game is provided by Dragons and deities but you won't get them until late in the game, if not at all.

The Sides
Each faction has its own playing style based on a particular element from nature. Aramon represents the Earth, Taros represents the Fire, Veruna represents the Water and Zhon represents the Air. However, this fact only gives them a distinct personality, without limiting their adaptability.

Aramon: Aramon's army is the most conventional, ranging from swordsmen and archers to knights and cannoneers.
Taros: The land of darkness is populated by undead hordes, demons or powerful spellcasters.
Veruna: Armed with an unrivaled navy and a good selection of ground fighters, Veruna is probably the most balanced kingdom.
Zhon: Composed primarily of the habitants of the forest, Zhon deploys a full arsenal of beasts. Their nomadic nature gives them excellent mobility and an extremely high number of possibilities.

The Interface
Following the tradition, Cavedog has developed a simple, yet powerful interface.   While some of the features already existed in the original Total Annihilation, the improvements are noticeable.  They implemented rally points and they enhanced the queuing system allowing differentiated unit production.  The result is an excellent interface that allows you to spend more time maneuvering your units.  A full screen radar map was also implemented allowing better control when issuing commands.   I haven't had the chance to experiment with that though.

The AI is not what I would call decent.   The skirmish AI was completely ignored, the computer opponents keep sending waves of 2-4 units failing to impose a real threat even in early game.  The enemy monarch makes a few unexpected moves once in a while.  In one  of my very first skirmishes, a pathetic zombie scout attempted to scratch the Aramon monarch, Elsin, who ended up using his megapowerful third spell (earth shockwave) and killing his local garrison of 10 swordsmen and 2 towers.  The individual unit AI is not too brilliant either but most of the problems are caused by the average pathfinding.

The experience system allows any unit (save the Monarch and the deities) to go up in level (10 being the maximum) and become more efficient in battle.  Veteran units are distinguished through a physical change, usually a gold shield and later a gold sword.  The experience points are proportional with the victims' cost.  Defenseless and expensive, production buildings give experience too representing the fastest way to reach veteran status even for the more powerful units.   One less-than-useful aspect is the kill count attached to the unit thumbnail creating even more confusion.

The spells are indeed the most attractive part of a fantasy game. The spellcaster have an average of 3 spells in their arsenal: a weak, a medium and a powerful spell with different costs in terms of energy. The micromanaging problem is inexistent. Every mage has a default spell which is being executed automatically when the enemy is in sight.

The wreckage scavenging present in the original Total Annihilation is gone but all the corpses persist on the battlefield for a relatively long period of time allowing the respective mages to resurrect them (in Aramon's case)   or reanimate them (in Taros's case). I found resurrecting more useful because it doesn't change the nature of a unit. It erases their experience though.

The Verdict
Cavedog's website will provide new units and new scenarios regularly. The game has an endless list of small bugs, balance issues or minor pathfinding problems but a patch is coming out soon. The bottom line? If you expected something that would completely revolutionize the genre you will be disappointed. TA: Kingdoms is worth a look however.

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Reviewed by Gabe Andreescu