Posted August 24, 2010
This game really was a suprise to me. I still remember the day I bought it. Is was during a school excursion, and I had absolutely no Idea WHY the heck I chose this game. No advertising, no Hype created by the press... in fact, the gaming magazines I read at this time wrote more of a slating review, giving this title only half a page,whith 6 out of 10 Points, if any. But I did not remember I had read them, so different was the image of how this game could be I got while staring at the screenshots and reading the game´s specs.
I just had a feeling, an hunch, so to say that there was something special inside this box. So I bought it...
It promised:
1) Fully scalable graphics!! While Starcraft or C&C still worked with 640x480 (or worse) resolution, TA could be maxed out to 1600x1200 or even beyond. It was unbelievable for us little boys! How could one game be so advanced??
2) Large maps. Even larger maps for those whith 64megs of RAM !!! How awesome was that?? A RTS that used all of your aviable RAM? And let you play even bigger maps if you upgrade your pc?!
(Needless to say, this was the sole reason me and my friends were standing at the local pc-dealers shop demanding MORE RAM shortly thereafter! )
3) Hundreds of units. AT ONCE! On one map. How could that be playable? SC was almost unplayable for me if more than 30 units were on screen. Not to mention c&c, where a pack of 9 bigger units often won the game. I was intrigued.
4) Orchestral Soundtrack. By Jeremy WHO??? Why would a game need an Orchestra ? If I remember correctly, they went to Prague to record it whith the Chech´s National Orchestra. Wow! That was something. But Classic? Not heavy metal? That´s not good! (I did not know HOW WRONG I was back then..)
So to shorten things a bit:
All, and I repeat ALL the things promised on the back of the package were (playable) reality!
You could max out your monitor, and for the first time, a game matched the desktop resulition !!! WOW !!!
It was plain awesome to get 8 (or UP TO 10!! when everyone fullfilled the RAM-prerequisites) in a LAN-game fighting each other in a war which really felt like it was heaving to and fro.
You were leading a "tide of iron" towards your enemy´s base, only to get pushed back by his well organized counterattack.
But never was there a time when you ran out of units and had to wait for your new "3 mighty units " to be produced, like in SC or C&C.
How nice it was to tell your factorys to produce countless units one after another. Yes, no "unit production cue" like in all the other RTSs. Ordering 500 units? No problem. Wait for the first 20 to become produced, take them to battle and when you return to your base, 40 new ones will be waiting for your command. Sweet!
This game IS the best RTS, if you are into large scale battles. If you like small skirmishes, go for SC or C&C.
Even the newer SupremeCommander, which is made by the same team who made TA back then, does not quite offer the same dynamic battle experience TA did.
(I use mods for SupCom to make it "feel" more like TA - that should say all, does it not??)
´Nuff said ! BUY it, if you have´nt already !
I just had a feeling, an hunch, so to say that there was something special inside this box. So I bought it...
It promised:
1) Fully scalable graphics!! While Starcraft or C&C still worked with 640x480 (or worse) resolution, TA could be maxed out to 1600x1200 or even beyond. It was unbelievable for us little boys! How could one game be so advanced??
2) Large maps. Even larger maps for those whith 64megs of RAM !!! How awesome was that?? A RTS that used all of your aviable RAM? And let you play even bigger maps if you upgrade your pc?!
(Needless to say, this was the sole reason me and my friends were standing at the local pc-dealers shop demanding MORE RAM shortly thereafter! )
3) Hundreds of units. AT ONCE! On one map. How could that be playable? SC was almost unplayable for me if more than 30 units were on screen. Not to mention c&c, where a pack of 9 bigger units often won the game. I was intrigued.
4) Orchestral Soundtrack. By Jeremy WHO??? Why would a game need an Orchestra ? If I remember correctly, they went to Prague to record it whith the Chech´s National Orchestra. Wow! That was something. But Classic? Not heavy metal? That´s not good! (I did not know HOW WRONG I was back then..)
So to shorten things a bit:
All, and I repeat ALL the things promised on the back of the package were (playable) reality!
You could max out your monitor, and for the first time, a game matched the desktop resulition !!! WOW !!!
It was plain awesome to get 8 (or UP TO 10!! when everyone fullfilled the RAM-prerequisites) in a LAN-game fighting each other in a war which really felt like it was heaving to and fro.
You were leading a "tide of iron" towards your enemy´s base, only to get pushed back by his well organized counterattack.
But never was there a time when you ran out of units and had to wait for your new "3 mighty units " to be produced, like in SC or C&C.
How nice it was to tell your factorys to produce countless units one after another. Yes, no "unit production cue" like in all the other RTSs. Ordering 500 units? No problem. Wait for the first 20 to become produced, take them to battle and when you return to your base, 40 new ones will be waiting for your command. Sweet!
This game IS the best RTS, if you are into large scale battles. If you like small skirmishes, go for SC or C&C.
Even the newer SupremeCommander, which is made by the same team who made TA back then, does not quite offer the same dynamic battle experience TA did.
(I use mods for SupCom to make it "feel" more like TA - that should say all, does it not??)
´Nuff said ! BUY it, if you have´nt already !