Customer Reviews

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms (Jewel Case)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

_I was very glad to find this title. It is worth many times the money I spent on it. The graphics are good, the music...eh...is repetitive but not very annoying, the units are cool, the strenghts and weaknesses with each of the 4 armies are well balanced and makes gameplay very interesting, and it doesn't have the savegame problems of the upgraded original Total Annihilation. This game is perfectly stable and provided me with many, many hours of enjoyment. My only major fault with it was: the game status bar from the original Total Annihilation wasn't brought into this one (so to find out how many units I have build verses the max, I have to write down my current losses, then self-destruct all my units and note the difference in the number, then reload the game. Insanity!).
_Most of the other problems are little things. Like a simple gate can ONLY be built by your Monarch (the head of your army, you start with him). That makes NO sense. And this has a problem the previous game had, but was less apparent. To upgrade a resource collector, you should be able to click on it and upgrade it, even if you lose it's collecting abilities while being upgraded. But no, here, you have to destroy it then build the advanced one over the resource. In the previous game, Total Annihilation, you could reclaim the previous collector, so at least there WAS that.
_Other than those sorts of things, this game has a very high replay value, and the story mode is very involving and proceeds quite interestingly. Except for one part...where you jump between two competing forces...and as you play one side, you establish a beachead on an enemy continent. Then you play the other side and drive them off the land again. Goes back and forth a good 3 or 4 times. Slightly amusing and irritating at the same time.
_The game also comes with a VERY fun map editor. It's easy to use, and you can load up maps from any upgrades/expansions you install on your game. I made many of my own maps, and was quite pleased with the results. Simple to use, worked perfectly, and increased the replay value of the game exponentially.

_In short: GET THIS GAME!!! You'll get hundreds of times your money's worth.

A great game, and a worthy successor to Cavedog's initial Total Annihilation release.

Pitted in an epic struggle, you control one of four nations. On the side of order and good fight Aramon and Veruna, masters of Earth and Water, respectively. On the side of chaos and evil are Taros and Zhon, fire and air respectively.

Unlike most RTS games, Kingdoms allows the individual player varying levels of macro and micro management, allowing for endless build and tech possibilities.

The artwork is superb, considering the age of the game engine, and gameplay is generally fast and exciting. The single player adventure is well written, with cutscenes that beautifully illustrate the complex plots and subplots in the storyline. Highly recommended.

If you purchase this game, I also recommend looking for it's expansion pack, Total Annihilation Kingdoms: The Iron Plague, which introduces a unique 5th race, and a deeper and richer continuation of the story from the first.

Excellently done.

I had a lot of fun with this game. The various balances and strength of each of the teams is phenomal. You don't have to worry too much about resource managment. You can build as much as your manna allows and then dismissing somehting, well you really aren't losing anything as you can replace it indefinately. The pathfinding in some maps, better then other, so you can issue point to point commands, but getting something to attack auto, you have to set them on patrol, maybe its just me. Also the stratgey overall is to basically overwhelm your opponets forces,no matter which team. I was kinda miffed that ranged units will shoot into walls. Not smart. I do love the ability to build up static defenses as much as you want. They can almost be offensive units. Do try and get the upgraded patch from a website. I wasn't thrilled at most of the unit reponses, much of was non existant. I do like zhon and tarus ability to capture enemy workers and add your their tech to yours, but with only a limited numbers of units allowed on the map, you are limited. There is no one race that has an advantage over anyone else. Aramon has no air support but thier ground support is vicious and their long range static defenses can almost be placed in a way to really give an almost offensive punch, no other team has that. Veruna'a navy can't be beat, but their air game, not so good, but the do have a tough ground game. Zhon. Mobility, long range, tough air force and speed. I do like the map editor. Tarsus many special weapons can wreck havock on anyone. I do like the manna stones. Capture a manna spot, have an advanced builder come behind and put a bigger manna stone. YOu can also dismiss units/buildings as you dont' need them without destroying them directly. I like that. And I do like the unit limit in a huge way. Also the workers ability to 'sweep' up, is really cool. Not done anywhere else. It keeps from building massive armies but also makes you use your stragety carefully. You can only have so much to throw at your opponet and gettng rid of what you don't need is just as crucial as having what you do need and this game brings that point home in a very, very clever way. Easy on cpu resources and hard drive space, cheap and the cpu isn't the greatest but it will keep you on your toes. I can't tell you how many hours I really enjoyed playing this game against a fairly decent cpu opponet. Recommonded.

This is a great game. It has a whole bunch of scenarios to play so it doesn't go stale in a week. The best part is that you can edit and create units and buildings yourself! There are tons of units and buildings online to download that have been made by other gamers so you aren't stuck doing the same thing over and over again. For the price, I think it is a must have!

I haven't been able to use it. It tries to access non-existing websites and crashes. I have spend just about 30 minutes on it, and do not think I am going to waste any more of my time on it.

I never played this game, but got it cause it's free after rebate. It'll be a good frisbee.