Total Annihilation

Total Annihilation is a landmark real-time strategy game that takes large-scale warfare and refuses to keep it small. Players gather resources, construct factories, build armies, and send enormous numbers of units into battle across varied landscapes. The introduction of a powerful commander unit gives each match an additional layer of tension, because losing that particular soldier tends to make the rest of your carefully planned military career considerably shorter. The game is especially memorable for its fluid unit movement, detailed battlefield effects, and impressive sense of scale. Battles can quickly turn into spectacular mechanical chaos, with tanks, aircraft, artillery, and robots competing for territory. The soundtrack and presentation add weight to the proceedings without getting in the way of the strategy. Total Annihilation remains one of the genre's great examples of how satisfying it can be to build an enormous army and then discover that your opponent has built an even larger one.