#Games like total annihilation kingdoms series

While I applaud the attempt at something new, as a storytelling device it simply doesn't work. At the beginning of each battle, you are dropped in the role of either attacker or aggressor and given a task that pertains to what is happening on the political landscape at that particular time.

#Games like total annihilation kingdoms series

Instead of giving you the chance to play as each of the four kingdoms separately, taking your kingdom to victory through a connected series of battles, you play out the entire conflict from all sides at once. The first problem I had with the game is its bizarre play structure. Now let's take a look at why it doesn't work as well as it should. Furthermore, the entire game looks amazing, with impressively detailed 3D characters moving fluidly over an equally beautiful 2D map. The entire game is portrayed as if you were hovering over the action from a fixed distance and the critters in the game are big enough to find quickly with your mouse when you need 'em. Once the game gets rolling you collect mana (the game's only resource) from powerstones (which can only be placed on certain areas of the map), build units and then send them out against the enemy army. Before each mission you are given a short cutscene, which looks like it crawled straight off a History channel documentary, that explains which army you will be in control of and what the current political situation is. If you've played any RTS game, you have a pretty good idea of how Kingdoms works. As the game begins, the undead armies of Lokken are marching on Aramon. With their father out of the picture, some of the mage-kings (particularly Lokken) have decided that they are no longer satisfied with what land they have been given. Unfortunately (and perhaps predictably) it doesn't last. All of the kids are still running their prospective kingdoms, granted immortality by their artifacts and their kingdoms have grown to be even more prosperous since they have come under control of rulers who care only about the needs and demands of that specific region.

As a matter of fact, things do go pretty smoothly for the next 1,527 years. Okay, there's a little mystery, but so what? You've got four lands and four kings all of whom are particularly well suited to govern their land. Ten years later, he and the stone disappeared mysteriously from the castle. After his land was split, Garacaius returned to his throne (which contained within it the last of the five great artifacts, the Eye of Modron) and hid away from his former responsibilities. Finally, he turned over the island lands of Veruna to his youngest daughter Kirenna and entrusted her with the stone called Macha's Tear. To his dark mage-son Lokken, Garacaius gave the volcanic and dangerous land of Taros along with a scepter forged around Angvir's Flame, a mystical stone.

To Thirsha, the dark haired huntress he gave the wild woods of Zhon and a bracelet containing Soul of Khandra.

To Elsin, the most normal looking of the lot (and an aspiring engineer of no mean talents) he gave Aramon, the fairest of the four lands and a pendant containing the magical Stone of Darien. Garacaius was never the same and eventually split rulership of the land, and possession of his magic items, up among his four children. After many years, the Empress of the land died in a boating accident. Afterward he settles down to enjoy his efforts and fathers four children, all of whom are pretty remarkable in their own right (personally I'd have thrown back the one with bat ears, but I'm pretty weird about that kind of stuff). A powerful wizard/inventor, Garacaius, brings together the entire planet by flexing his magical and muscle and using his unequaled powers of leadership. Kingdoms' storyline is actually pretty damn good. While there's no doubt that Kingdoms looks worlds better than Total Annihilation, the developers seem to have forgotten just how important things like unit design, game balance and level concept can be when putting together an RTS. Even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the original title, they named their new game, set in a fantasy world, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms to tell purchasers that they could expect the same level of excellence from this product as they enjoyed in the company's last release. High off their success from Total Annihilation, Cavedog wasted no time in getting back into the game with another real-time strategy game.