Classic Review - Total Annihilation: Kingdoms (with The Iron Plague)

[@iftyhargil8359]

Haters gonna hate. Great game. Original story telling. Impressive graphics and unique and original faction and unit diversity.

[@guymandude999]

F'n A bro. PvP sometime. [e-mail]

[@subditodelreyrata]

It warms my heart to know there are so many people that love and care for this game. I used to play it all the time in my old pc back in the day. Just pure nostalgia.

[@derarty4290]

I bought it jesterday on gog.com for 5.09€ :) I was not watching at the time and was playing against 7 Bots and just so 6 hours went by ;D

[@GrizzneyGames]

@@derarty4290 I just want to get mine to work! 😭

[@derarty4290]

@@GrizzneyGames I belive in you. You can solve the problem!

[@GrizzneyGames]

@@derarty4290 I found it works in compatibility mode!

[@CoreyArt]

My favorite RTS of all time. I high recommend it to anyone. I was surprised to find people dont like it over other RTS like age of empire which I also played but found this one more fun. The original TA was fun too, but I like the depth of strategy in TA:K more. I like how you dont focus on resources mining so much and instead focus just on the best part to me...the fighting. I find it much faster to get into the action than alot of RTS games aswell. Its easy to play and pickup, yet has such strategic depth because of all the different play styles you wouldnt believe. Its crazy amount of fun. I actually wish more RTS would focus less on mining 3 or more resources, and focus instead on making unique units and combat strategies like this.

[@Aguilar14140]

I love this game entirely. Every aspect of it. I love this game to death. If anyone wants to play it online, let me know if its still possible. I'd love to.

[@madbassist85]

This will always be one of my favourites

[@quakerome4594]

Back in 2006 my best friend dad who was a garbageman found this in someone's trash and brought it home to us, game changed our lives after that lol, super underrated fun game even today I still play it for nostalgic feelings.

[@bobbinsthethird]

Any other trash related gaming memories?

[@quakerome4594]

@@bobbinsthethird Good one XD

[@bobbinsthethird]

@@quakerome4594 I actually found a copy of Pokemon Yellow in a storm drain by my house.

[@PriestofWar42]

I remember sitting in school just thinking about getting home so I could toss my back pack in the closet and turn on my PC to play this. It's crazy though, because I remember this game looking WAY better. Nonetheless, I do miss this game. Lots of memories with this one, and lots of hours lost to this classic.

[@Marcelo_M.M.]

I have played Total Annihilation as one strategy more, but when I've played Kingdoms was instant love.

[@viking_II]

After all the negative feedback I advanced to the part of the final conclusion in a fragment that he says "has no innovation", I've stopped the video, and I left... To mention 1 thing, one of my firsts memories was the surprise about the experience in each that kills, changing even its appearance according the rank, there are few RTS doing that, even in this time. I bought it again in GOG to return to that lovely game from my childhood and gave me more hours of satisfaction than many, souless modern games.

[@BillyBob-qu1fs]

That was an amazing feature. Units who had full gold in my kingdoms got assigned to be the personal guard of my main guy. It added a lot to the immersion.

[@dooman2018]

I would save a gold mage builder or something weak, lower the monarch alot, distract them, and let my mage builder get the final kill. Idk why I did it, maybe to honor the gold guy but I honestly don't remeber

[@ryantian332]

It took me a while to figure out why some of my defense towers got golden edges. Then I realised the more urgent thing to consider was how I could deal with the situation that my parents were coming back from work while the PC was still warm! Oh gosh the game might not be brilliant but there was so much childhood memory attached to it. At that time I could barely read English so I had to look terms up in dictionary.

[@Robben4life]

I spent hours trying to get my units to gold status. It was immensely satisfying! This game is incredibly nostalgic and groundbreaking

[@thejuiceman4213]

this is probably one of the best games ever made.

[@thejuiceman4213]

and that's a lie about running issues lol.

[@DWTerminator]

This is one of the most laughable statements I've ever seen.

[@bg8580]

DWTerminator It called an opinion.

[@DWTerminator]

Nobody with any sense of perspective on the RTS genre would put this anywhere near the top.

[@Kandiell]

you cant argue for taste. i love this game, even though i know that its deeply flawed. also the campaign being presented in still images is simply based on the idea that in medieval times, things were shown as tapestries. i enjoyed your review but thought you were a bit too harsh.

[@Zninety]

This takes me back...I think I would like a reboot or something along those lines.

[@CalebMichaelRiley]

Great review! I just recently played this game and realized it's actually pretty awesome! Something special about the old strategy games!

[@jamesrecord7857]

Loves this game, great environment, awesome units. Wish there was a re-vamp or a second kingdoms game 😫😫

[@domepeelercasts9622]

give the game more credit man its awesome with dtagons and globals just awesome

[@domepeelercasts9622]

graphics still look great

[@xaGe__]

@@domepeelercasts9622 They sure do!

[@Cythil]

I think the reason a lot of people have fond memories of Total Annihilation is that it offers something that most RTS games do not offer. A sense of larger scale. Your building armies to fight. Not small units. So the focus is less on units them selves which naturally means less micro. On the other side we have games that move towards focus on the micro. Star Craft, Company of Heros and the emergent MOBA genera that is just focused on that little aspect. Now adays we do have a bit more to choice from. Even if people might not realize it. You can play old Supreme Commander. Or you can go with Planatary Annihilation. There is also Ashes of the Singularity. And one could argue that Cossack series and Annihilated Empires also goes in to this realm. Of course with the exception of Ashes of the Singularity and Cossacks 3 all these games are a bit old now. Still I like playing SupCom or even old TA from time to time. I think these game still hold there own.

[@weltanschauung2221]

Sorry, but the simple "build the bigger army" would just get you killed in multiplayer if we are talking about version 4.1bb. There's too many crowd control type units in the game to allow that. Also, a pair of witches or jungle orcs dropped into a base can wipe out factories or lodestones in no time; in which case your big army would be scewed because you wouldnt be able to replace enough of them to survive. Additionally, when certian units rank up from destroying said structures they become extremely powerful and can turn the tide of a game in some cases. So yeah, brute force is generally a bad idea. Constantly scouting and harassment of enemy to make sure they doesnt reach the higher tiers the way to go.

[@MrSkeezymak]

Fuck i loved this game back in its day. Making your own maps for you and your friends to play on was so fun.

[@xaGe__]

TA was ok, but TAK is a fantastic game ahead of its time. Fun player vs player also. There has yet to be a game that captures a fraction of this RTS other than Warlords BattleCry(another great game from around that time). I still play this game today!

[@Aguilar14140]

I'd love to play with you or anyone sometime. I absolutely love this game to death

[@Ploskkky]

At the time I had great fun with this RTS. I still have the original box. I only keep those if the game has a special place in my heart.

[@C3lticlord]

I don't care for the robots of TA, I love the factions in TA:K and it's one of my favourite games.

[@BALrider1Steve]

Still play it amazing game

[@isaacperetz5984]

Say whatever you want, it’s one of the best RTS games ever made.

[@DWTerminator]

Keep telling yourself that if you wish.

[@isaacperetz5984]

DWTerminator Sure TA:K Is one of the best RTS games ever made

[@swahiliranger1022]

source: "IMO" Its pretty mediocre breh. I mean its not ear-split-tingly awful, it didn't give me cancer, it didn't kill Batman's parents in cold blood, but it might be the nostalgia talking when it comes to TA:Kingdoms.

[@baddog711]

@@DWTerminator God, you are a self-entitled f-wad.

[@Dragons_Armory]

Oh you shat on the soundtrack Down vote and Jihad

[@sligacheese6470]

Very unique and super classic ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@DangerousDevilOfficial]

Bro, you are a straight hater... This game was one of my favorite ever cheap PC game pickups! I put a couple hundred hours into this before it crashed my laptop. For good. But the game was a killer game for the time!

[@Noogybaga]

Uts 2024 and I Just picked up an original cd copy for $5 💸 Loved the First TA and can’t wait to play this!

[@thehearingaid]

Best buy as a kid. Still fondly remember picking it up from Trago mills. :)

[@ripoutyourprejudice]

Warlords BattleCry came out the same year. And it was a much better Fantasy RTS game.

[@DWTerminator]

Still need to get around to that series. Been sitting in my GoG library for a while now.

[@broquietstorm1266]

One of my all time favorite games.

[@danielsaputra5608]

Iron plague distinction : ai actively build towers at base the longer you waste time at your base. Also unlike original kingdom, ai actively rebuild destroyed structure. That mean towers, trechebuts, mortars,...... your failed invade base will do little effect in crippling their base if you spend too much time rebuild force for next invade base. Cant be too relax spend time like in original kingdom. Ai is huge step improvment

[@Robben4life]

If this game came out in 1999, and TA original came out in 1997 and I still play it today, then doesn’t that mean the game DID stand the test of time?

[@jcrebel18]

you know, I would grant you this was originally a mod, but I can see now why the first Killing Floor came with mostly no story (and I did not even play it as it's earliest release) and more gameplaly, and then Tripwire developed the story and tidbits over time even though it was not necessarily important to know the story to play the game and it was mostly just a fun background to the maps you're playing in. I do not think that would work with every game and KF is a MP game at heart, it's just fun with KF b/c you can see how it developed over time instead of just one static story that's complete shit.

[@DWTerminator]

I think you posted this on the wrong video.

[@jcrebel18]

perhaps. either way googletube's comment system never seems to work right.

[@DWTerminator]

Yeah... It drives me insane.

[@gregorysiebers3721]

as a fan of T.A. i loved T.A.KINGDOM probably the most of the whole series...... to me i was always a fan of real time strategy in general be it command and conquer warcraft/starcraft or total annihilation.... kingdoms always had a unique presence in that it was medieval in origin and the lore was rather well done........ sad though cavedog went to the wayside way to soon and i think the world of darien could have been expanded on to other game types or even a movie or tv series... your review definately seem very new age gamerish in that for you rts was already a bygone era and it seems you werent around in the hayday when rts in general got us oldtime gamers excited...

[@Robben4life]

Real time strategy at its most primitive

[@Orangejulius8]

I was obsessed with TA and played the original for hundreds of hours as a kid. Looking back, it was a beast for 1997. I recently bought TAK at GOG after having not played it in like two decades. I had a pirated copy back in 1999 (I was 13-14, give me a break) and it ran awfully, chugging with any kind of conflict. I remember the drakes and flying units in particular were absolutely impressive. I've been playing through the campaign and enjoying it for the most part. The general/unit AI is pretty bad, the gameplay is quite basic, the controls are dated and the campaign is cheesy. But I'm enjoying it. It's not mind-blowingly great, it really didn't push the genre forward, it just took some popular elements in RTS at the time and put a shiny coat on it. In June 1999, Age of Empires 2 hadn't yet come out, so the main competition this game had going for it was AOE1, Starcraft, KKND1/2, C&C games, etc. Everything changed in September 1999 however, with both AOE2 and Homeworld released within two days of each other. Then additional great titles like Earth 2150 and Shogun TW came out the following year, and really left TAK behind. It was a great time to be a RTS fan. It makes me sad to see the genre stagnate for the past 10 years, with MOBA's effectively hoovering in all the new players and cash.

[@thesacredlobo]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries in that list. Though, I'll admit that franchise pretty much died after the third game.

[@RetroAmateur1989]

I recall it run fine on my machine. I had an ASUS TNT GPU with a PIII at 500mhz and 64mb of ram.

[@xaGe__]

yeah, same here on similar hardware.

[@Wolfstanus]

Total Annihilation does stand the test of time though and just because its simpler than a more modern RTS Or age of Empire that is a different type of RTS doesn't make it a bad game. I think your personal tastes color your judgment

[@adammason4314]

Oh I so wanted to pay this but, as you said, my pc would refuse to even load it. I read the instruction manual and the factions looked so interesting but never got past that. I swear I loaded it up once but never really got to see what the gameplay looks like.

[@DWTerminator]

You aren't missing much, honestly.

[@bistendope]

Do you have an error like "0xc0000022" ? i had it too, i managed to play it anyway. :) There are several things i had to do in order to play decently: - Put the compatibility to 98/Me (mandatory, if put on Windows XP the game will crash every 5 minutes, and doesnt even launch otherwise) - Activate DirectPlay in the Windows Functionnalities (hard to explain where that is, but Google is here) I think this should do, I'm on Windows 10 by the way, and sorry for my potentially bad english.

[@bistendope]

It's a great game for a lot of people, you can't say that like if it was universal.

[@f9w99]

I loved the demo. Then I found the full game and wasn’t as into it where catapults could essentially launch across the entire map and kill your base.

[@myriad9597]

Catapults can be killed with quick melee/ranged/air units, their range is pretty reasonable for a ranged seige unit.

[@ImagesOfAustin]

Watching your gameplay makes me think that not knowing the available hotkeys made your experience much worse than it needed to be. And also much more of a slog. There are ways to set the buildings to never stop building. A way to select all or a portion of the units you want to attack (more than dragging a square). And patrol will have them go to a point attacking everything along the way. So, if you didn't utilize those things, a number of the campaign missions would have taken much, much longer. That said, I agree. Main reason to like this game is nostalgia. Though I think the graphics still have a great aesthetic. Also, I am not sure why everyone you spoke to thought creon was OP. The prism towers, while quite nice, were very expensive and took a long time to build. They also could be almost instantly destroyed once you got archers close, even at gold tier. Their range was not as far as the trebuchet and with either of those units you want them to focus on the buildings anyway. So overall, trebuchet won out on its intended role. The hanging in the air on the trebuchet didn't usually matter all that much even with units because units tend to be clumped together and it will get some of them most of the time, if not the actual target. Most of that is moot, however, because you rarely had enough resources on regular maps to build either of them. On newb maps where your base is lined with 10 lodestones you could, but as I said, trebuchet worked better. Plus, once you figured out where one of those or any other buildings were, you could tell your long ranged units/buildings (all factions have them, fire demon, stone giant, trebuchet, treb ship, morter) to kill it using the minimap. I played multiplayer on cavedogs servers when it first came out, and later when it was on gamespy for a year or two. Creon was the least selected faction because it was generally considered to be the weakest.

[@TheBrendon67]

I actually still have the original game somewhere. I mean, it really wasn’t as good as some of the other games out there at the time, buuuut it was still good.

[@stevenbeaubien]

I like this game way better than the original but both games are great.

[@charliemeyergibbs]

are there any games that play like this game?? was one of my favorites growing up

[@DWTerminator]

Closest things to the Total Annihilation series are Supreme Commander and Planetary Annihilation, but both of those are sci-fi games like the original TA was.

[@tH4ttUs]

this game need a remaster!

[@fightingfortruth9806]

I think the TA games are vastly better than Age of Empires. Not even close.

[@fatarchon]

Had me until you said even the original TA isn't a good RTS :L

[@DWTerminator]

It isn't a good RTS. It's mediocre at best.

[@artecno882]

my HUD doesnt appear ? help

[@guzm]

Any recommendations for modern games like this?

[@DWTerminator]

The only modern-ish games I can think of in this style are all sci-fi games inspired more by the original Total Annihilation, like Supreme Commander or Planetary Annihilation. I can't think of any fantasy/medieval strategy games in a similar vein.

[@guzm]

@@DWTerminator I tried planetary annihilation and loved it. I'll check out your other suggestion as well thanks!

[@deathshadow1701]

This guy CLEARLY has no idea about the original Total Annihilation 😂

[@SRM13]

watching this in class, love your videos DW

[@icqme8586]

I wanted to like this game but got frustrated with the poor pathfinding and unresponsive units. Every battle turned into a slog with no real strategy or special unit abilities.

[@URYyyTebra]

GOLD! Still one of the best RTS games to date, and a mother of story telling! Only other game that has a better story is Shiny entertainment Sacrifice!

[@D64nz]

I had to run it with the +Kenny command, which basically switched off the animations and the units just drifted around, aka Kenny from Southpark.

[@Timmeyy]

But is it .... archaic?

[@DWTerminator]

Borderline paleolithic, even.

[@nothere1578]

DWT, what do you think of Halo Wars 2?

[@DWTerminator]

I think it can go f--- itself. Halo Wars 1 was one of the most miserable RTS experiences I've ever had, and I'm never forgiving Microsoft for making Ensemble crap that game out and then close down.

[@mammothmk3355]

DWTerminator Well, the game was make exclusive for console, so compare to PC focus title, it's meh. But for the console, the game is decent.

[@joelkiflemariam]

so much hate lol

[@thischannel1071]

This review is like listening to you moaning nonstop. It's really grating. BTW, the graphics in TAK haven't aged poorly at all. They still look fantastic. A 3D RTS whose graphics have aged very poorly is Warcraft 3. I played TAK in its day (though, not a huge amount), but more recently have been playing the original TA. I'm finding the original TA to be more complex than TAK. Like you said, TAK is just churning out as many units as you can, then swarm the opponents. There's not much more to it than that. But I'm finding there's more to the original TA than that - more strategy involved in battles, in choosing which units to make, in handling resources, in base building.

[@jamesbond1986007]

first comment

[@swahiliranger1022]

This game is insulting and disrespectful to the original Total Annihilation. Its streamlined down to one resource, it has one of the worst campaigns in a real time strategy game I've ever seen, its soundtrack is terribly bland, the sound effects are ear-piercingly bad, and the mechanics seem to directly invite ridicule from anyone with an idea of what makes an actually good strategy game. Cavedog seriously had no idea how to follow up the sleeper success of Total Annihilation, and quickly bungled together a complete one-hundred-and-eighty degree pseudo-sequel with none of the charm, challenge, or innovation that the original has. Its disgusting to look at, the style of 3-D polygonal "human" or "mythical" units completely clash with the outdated engine. The animations of actual units moving is stiff, laughable and frustrating to watch. It takes a decade for units to reach one end of the map, the A.I. is atrociously poor, the 2-D maps are much too small and its such a drawn out chore to play that's its unfathomable to me that original game was made by the same group of people. My biggest gripe, and its been mentioned in countless reviews, is that actually voice-work for units, the sound effects themselves are so compressed, that I typically mute the game while playing. It sounds that bad. So seriously, what is the deal with this lame ass music anyway? What the hell happened? They couldn't even go with anything modern, so they just dug up some renaissance festival music from someones basement and threw it on as the soundtrack. What were they thinking? Who on earth thought that was a good idea? Its clear that Cavedog really thought they were gonna catch lightning in a bottle twice, and pretentiously pushed this game out too early for release, which is why the expansion fixes* (read: makes the game actually decent)* so much of the base game. I never even heard about this game till years after it was out. The most egregious mistake of all, is that this game had so much time to gestate, to be carefully developed by a team of very hard working and talented people. They just couldn't push past the shadow towering over them from Total Annihilation, and it absolutely tainted this release. I mean think about this, regardless of whether you agree or disagree, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms came out in June of 1999. Do you know how many fantastic games there were to play in 1999? Good lord almighty. Homeworld, Warzone 2100, Dungeon Keeper 2, Age of Empires 2, Battlezone II, Age of Wonders, Seven Kingdoms II, C&C: Tiberian Sun, and those were most of the critically acclaimed ones that year. Kingdom's poor sales should not have lead people to believe (nearly two decades later I might add) that its a "cult classic" by any means, its far more indicative that the game was fucking awful and a disaster for the fledgling developer to bounce back from. Trust me, I've been playing videogames for a long ass time, Kingdoms does not deserve respect, if you enjoy it that's fine, but there are so many other games to play, it'd be a waste of time to spend it playing this rubbish. -tl;dr Original was better, they tried some new ideas and they didn't work out to well. The end.

[@W-3301]

is sure warcraft is copy game