Minimum system requirements System:

Pentium-100 or equivalent

RAM: 16 MB

CD-ROM speed: 4X

Video Mode: VGA with No requirement of video memory

Hard Drive Space: 35 MB

Sound Board: Yes

Operating System: Windows 95

Total Annihilation is the next generation in real-time strategy gaming. Its technological and graphic advancements, including true 3D terrain and real-time 3D rendered units and buildings, make it the most challenging and visually stunning real-time combat game around.

Here is the story, Long ago the galaxy had known peace. Paradise was ruled with the hand of science, and the hand was that of the galactic governing body known as the Core. Paradoxically it was the ultimate victory, the victory over death itself, which brought about the downfall of their Paradise and started the war which would decimate a million worlds. The process, which was called "patterning", involved the electronic duplication of brain matrices and allowed the transfer of consciousness into durable machines. Effectively it meant immortality, and the Core decreed the process mandatory for all citizens in order to ensure their safety. There were many who were unwilling to toss aside their bodies so casually, many indeed who regarded patterning as an atrocity. They fled to the outer edges of the galaxy, where they banded together to form a resistance which became known as the Arm. War began, though it was never officially declared by either side. The Arm developed high-powered combat suits for its armies, while the Core transferred the minds of its soldiers directly into similarly deadly machines. The Core duplicated its finest warriors thousands of times over. The Arm countered using cloning. The war raged on for over four thousand years, consuming the resources of an entire galaxy and leaving it a scorched wasteland. Both sides lay in ruins. Their civilizations had long since vanished, their once vast military complexes were smashed. Their armies were reduced to a few scattered remnants which continued to battle on ravaged worlds. Their hatred fueled by millennia of conflict, they would fight to the death. For each, the only acceptable outcome was the complete and utter annihilation of the other. Long ago the galaxy had known peace, and it would soon know peace again.

Large, diverse maps transport players across radically different landscapes, such as lava worlds, ice planets, desert valleys, artificial metal worlds, alien tundra, towering mountain peaks and vast, island-dotted oceans. Mega-maps for 32Mb and 64Mb users made of thousands of screens promise hours, even days, of multiplayer campaigns and battles.

Players can drive true 3D tanks up mountains, into valleys and even underwater. Units are made of hundreds of individually articulating parts. Cannons recoil and vehicles shake after each hit. Aircraft wings fold and unfold on takeoff and landings. Because each vehicle is 3D rendered in real-time, aircraft can bank gracefully during turns while under-belly cannons rotate to track targets. Ships leave a wake behind them when they move. Total Annihilation is full of great features. The 3D terrain - pre-rendered maps with tall mountains and deep valleys - plays an important part in strategy, as units situated at higher elevations have a much wider firing range. Units can take cover behind trees, but these trees - and whole forests - can go up in flames with a single stray shot. When units are destroyed, complete with bass-heavy explosions and a slight shaking of the map, shrapnel flies everywhere, and structures and troops unlucky enough to be hit by the flying debris take damage, adding to the need for strategic placement - just standing and firing at the enemy will cause your units to get destroyed very quickly.

With 150 units in the whole game, Total Annihilation gives you a large choose of units to use. From robots and tanks to massive Battleships and small scout boats, Total Annihilation as a unit for nearly every contingencies But the main unit in Total annihilation is the Commander. The Commander is the ultimate weapon, it is the most armored and most powerfully armed. Armed with the most powerful weapon, the D-Gun, capable of destroying any unit and a lot of units at the same time. To balance the game out they made the D-Gun the shortest range weapon. The reason for this units power is it the unit that creates your armies and bases. And if this unit is killed it is the end of the game. He is also able to capture other units.

In Total Annihilation units have modes - there's "hold position", "maneuver" and "roam", and units can be told to "hold fire", "shoot if shot at" and "fire at will". The most common combo is "fire at will and maneuver", but using "hold position" is also important. The behavior of units is good - on "maneuver" they'll chase an enemy away then drop back if they go too far or come under threat. Sometimes some units will do annoyingly stupid things, but it's pretty rare and as such adds to the excitement rather than being a perpetual irritation.

Resource management provides a great tightrope you must walk to keep the army strong, both in numbers and brute force. You need the two resources in the game, each are metal and energy, to power and build your units. Unfortunately, metal is usually rather scarce in the early parts of a mission (later you can salvage wreckage from destroyed units), but you can build generators to convert energy to metal. This solution to the metal shortage poses another problem entirely: Your units need energy to fire their weapons, and these generators use a great deal of power to produce a small amount of metal. Building a massive army of units is fine, but won't help you much if you don't have enough energy to keep them firing.

Total Annihilation is definitely not a easy game. But if you're looking for a game that is challenging and rewarding on entirely new levels, I highly recommended Total Annihilation.