Total Annihilation made a break from the conventions of the RTS genre by providing infinite resources, practically infinite unit variety (with the expansions), and a seemingly endless number of strategies in a game that could become a real marathon meatgrinder. The original is still superior in many ways to its spiritual sequels, Supreme Commander 1 and 2. But what it and its unofficial follow-ons all share is a visceral battlefield full of rocking artillery, explosions, machine-gun fire, and mayhem. Unfortunately, outside of the campaigns, the AI had a nasty tendency to send its commander out on a suicide run to guarantee a stalemate. You can get around that by turning off the option to end the game with commander destruction, but then you are REALLY getting into a slugfest if it doesn't end with an early rush. But those are minor issues. This is simply one of the classics - easily up there with the original Starcraft and Age of Empires II in my mind.
There are a dozen different reasons why this game isn't a great RPG. But none of them stopped me from playing it through three times, or playing it multiplayer back in the day. The setting, the mood, the overall FEEL - it hooked me. Medieval Prague was the best of the four settings --- it felt authentic and otherworldly at the same time. And for what is basically an "action RPG," it's very heavy on story. And dialog. Lots of dialog. So, in spite of flaws, I still give it a hearty recommendation.
I bought MOO3 on release day many years ago. I'd lost many, many hours to the first two games - they are among my favorite games of all time. I finished one tortuous game of MOO 3, and somehow managed to convince myself that I just must not have understood the game well enough - surely, I thought, now that I understand the game my next play-through will be far better, and it will start getting fun. Somehow, I managed to stick it through a second, painful full game. It was a combination of disbelief and doggedness. I remember MOO 2 had been kinda hard to get into ... but this? I put something like sixteen hours into this game. And I want those hours back. It's just... bad. Really bad.
I don't think there's a better WWII era flight sim currently available (at least until this company releases their upcoming Battle of Britain game). The engine has been updated with enhancements for more-modern systems, and it still looks pretty good. I still play it frequently, and still don't feel like I've experienced half of what this game has to offer. This simulator is about two things: #1 - Staggering variety #2 - Staggering realism You can tone down the latter if you want to just kick the tires and light the fires. You can easily build "quick missions" with some drop-menus to explore battle possibilities --- like how the American P-80 jets would have fared against the German ME-262 jets (both jet aircraft were in the war, but I don't recall that the P-80 was ever saw combat). There are dynamic campaigns, static campaigns, instant missions, tons of fan content out on the web, and literally hundreds of flyable aircraft - and hundreds more non-fliable - from nearly every era and nationality (although a lot of the different aircraft are different models of certain aircraft - and believe me, this flight sim is realistic and detailed enough that it really does make a difference). The Russian front is perhaps a little more detailed than most, but this game includes the Pacific War expansion which allows you to fly in carrier and island battles across the Pacific Ocean. Online, multiplayer gaming rocks with this game, too. I don't think I can gush enough about this one. So I'll just stop now.
