With the start of the Starcraft II beta, I think it's an appropriate moment to remind everyone of some of the pearls of the RTS genre.
For those who don't know, Total Annihilation was among the most innovatives and intenses strategical games we have seen to this day. Released the same year as Starcraft, it was clearly dedicated to a different type of battle, so I would say the two games are complementary in their mythicalness.
Total Annihilation features a war between two robot factions, confronting in huges battles involving hundreds of units, fighting on earth, sea, and air.
However, the game has always lacked a proper mean of organizing multi-player battles, which starcraft did a lot better at the time.
Now, an open-source project has been working for years on an RTS engine whose primary the intent was to bring back this mythical game with a modernized engine, allowing for easier multiplayer confrontation.
The engine is now really mature and the experience is incredible. Really, it's a gem and all of you RTS amateurs should try it. The biggest drawback being the small size of its community (300 people connected average).
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MpKqQxTURik&hl=fr_FR&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GAM_vcVJiL4&hl=fr_FR&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>
The particularities/innovations of the game to this day :
-The style of play is very different from Blizzard RTS. It is way more nervous : the action is fast, units die quickly, and the scale of battles is larger. Yet micro-managment still has its importance.
-Vast variety of units you can control : Kbots, Vehicles, Ships, Planes, and Hovercrafts.
-Unlimited zoom/dezoom and camera control.
-You can draw strategical indications directly on the map with a marker.
-Weapons are real physical projectiles.
-Terrain is deformable.
-Detecting your ennemies is crucial : build and protect your radars and jammers, because at times they could very well decide of the issue of a battle.
-Stealth units.
-EMP missiles, Tactical nukes, ICBM.
Also, Spring itself is really just an engine, supporting a wide variety of Mods ranging from WWII battles to Balanced Annihilation which is basically Total Annihilation remade which I'm speaking about.
Really. Check it out.
For those who don't know, Total Annihilation was among the most innovatives and intenses strategical games we have seen to this day. Released the same year as Starcraft, it was clearly dedicated to a different type of battle, so I would say the two games are complementary in their mythicalness.
Total Annihilation features a war between two robot factions, confronting in huges battles involving hundreds of units, fighting on earth, sea, and air.
However, the game has always lacked a proper mean of organizing multi-player battles, which starcraft did a lot better at the time.
Now, an open-source project has been working for years on an RTS engine whose primary the intent was to bring back this mythical game with a modernized engine, allowing for easier multiplayer confrontation.
The engine is now really mature and the experience is incredible. Really, it's a gem and all of you RTS amateurs should try it. The biggest drawback being the small size of its community (300 people connected average).
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MpKqQxTURik&hl=fr_FR&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GAM_vcVJiL4&hl=fr_FR&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>
The particularities/innovations of the game to this day :
-The style of play is very different from Blizzard RTS. It is way more nervous : the action is fast, units die quickly, and the scale of battles is larger. Yet micro-managment still has its importance.
-Vast variety of units you can control : Kbots, Vehicles, Ships, Planes, and Hovercrafts.
-Unlimited zoom/dezoom and camera control.
-You can draw strategical indications directly on the map with a marker.
-Weapons are real physical projectiles.
-Terrain is deformable.
-Detecting your ennemies is crucial : build and protect your radars and jammers, because at times they could very well decide of the issue of a battle.
-Stealth units.
-EMP missiles, Tactical nukes, ICBM.
Also, Spring itself is really just an engine, supporting a wide variety of Mods ranging from WWII battles to Balanced Annihilation which is basically Total Annihilation remade which I'm speaking about.
Really. Check it out.
