Posted on: May 7, 2011

Arachnyd

Games: 28 Reviews: 2

Much maligned but highly enjoyable

The basic premise was to take the highly successful Total Annihilation as a base and create a fantasy RTS the operates on similar principles. The result was a game that received mixed reviews from critics, but this was one of the most enjoyable entries in the RTS genre. Lest we forget, Cavedog gave us DLC before DLC was cool (or profitable). Many will argue that the game is flawed because it lacked the same kind of balance you find in games like the Age of Empires series in which every unit has a weakness countered by another unit. But that was hardly the point of Total Annihilation. It was all about amassing resources to build a huge army and decimate your enemies. They didn't call it Total Annihilation for nothing. This is a company that recognized that games should just be plain fun to play, and the entries in the Total Annihilation series fit the bill. Kingdoms filled a niche and provided some delicious and unique RTS fun.

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Posted on: January 9, 2012

Charon121

Verified owner

Games: 334 Reviews: 24

Very underappreciated

[WARNING: some spoilers in the review!] Other people have described the game, so I'm going to write about the thing that impressed me the most about the game -- its storytelling. Great narration and hand-painted scenes with added effects between the missions create immersion like no other game. You'll itch to complete the missions as soon as possible just to find out what happens next. There's intrepid exploration, valiant defense, monstrous attacks, prison breaks, twists that turn the tide of battle, and wondrous sorcery. In one mission you'll make the landfall in the jungle as Veruna, in the next you'll take up the mantle of a Zhon shaman to drive away the Verunan invaders. In another instance you'll conquer a suspiciously empty Tarosian city, only to butcher them mercilessly in the next mission as Taros. It is a grand tale of epic fantasy. Too bad the gameplay mechanics are somewhat clumsy.

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Posted on: May 31, 2019

BrandonM1AK

Verified owner

Games: 273 Reviews: 5

Nostalgic Revival

This game is one of my first and favorite RTS game during my childhood on the PC. Reliving the experience bring me tears in my eyes. To show movie/cutscene in the game, just go to the gog option; go the OTHERS, then choose "choose rendering", and select the third option which I think is named 'Software' not your current graphic card and I believe it should work.

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Posted on: December 16, 2011

idontdothis

Verified owner

Games: 12 Reviews: 1

Beautiful, unusually compelling game with risky design.

My god, this game! The years I spent obsessed with this game! I found Blarg's explanation that TA's lead artist took the helm as project lead on this one insightful and i explains a lot of what I already know. Let me get down to it: I love this game. The story line and art is as compelling as some of the best fantasy books. It's deeply unusual, it takes risks, it has tremendous depth and a fascinating amount of design detail has been embedded in it. The criticism that balance and game mechanics could be better has a point. It's biggest problem was that when it was made there almost wasn't a computer in existence that could run it; clearly a problem no longer! It's still a lot of fun to play though! One of the most interesting mechanics to play with (that I don't see often reported on) is that individual units are able to level up. Your bread and butter units such as swordmen and archers, should they live long enough and get enough kills will gain significant health pool, damage and regen benefits (at least x3 from memory.) At the top of each technology tree is a super expensive dragon unit. These in particular benefit hugely from levelling up. Their initial strength to cost ratio is rather dismal but over time can become rather impressive. Units at max level develop visible gold plating on their skin or armour. Each race has prominent and unique abilities and strengths with very little overlap. This is a very pure game. Almost no concession has been made in design to balance or competition. You get the sense the designer wasn't going for that. I think this was someone's baby. For all the focus on art, mythology and high-minded design and the lack of concession to the realities of interactivity it's an incredibly fun and compelling game to play if you play it the right way. It's not about finding the right counter strat. Almost every fight can be won with a defensive tower creep and aerial scouts. The best way to play it is like a cat playing with a mouse: you know you could win at any moment but it's about testing the flexibility of the system and basking in the sensory overload. I'd particularly recommend this game to any aspiring game artists. It had a huge influence on me.

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Posted on: September 19, 2018

Vamrem

Verified owner

Games: 193 Reviews: 6

Still playing as if hours were minutes

Still playing this particular RTS from time to time since the 2000’s, with its remarkable physics system, which I remember was innovative for its time (and still pretty advanced today!), but I enjoy particularly its soft RPG feature, making units gain ranks in small groups while I hold a fort, until all my army gets gold. For the bad, its worst downside are the unbalanced dragon, and especially the deity (which is insanely powerful, practically wins by its own), but you can banish unit types in the map editor (making an extra challenge to leave the opposite faction with their dragon for example!), you decide.

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