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Suprisingly fun and long!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This was a curiosity purchase that sat for awhile. I finally fired it up on an XP machine. Do get the upgrade if you can find it.

There are 48 scenerios in the self play. The AI is ok. If you are a defensive player, you will like this game.

The scenerios range from what feels like a demo of new features. For example, when the cannons first appear, you get one scenerio defending a pass. I didn't ahve to do anything as the cannon fire wiped out that attackers that kept charging into the guns.

The hardest scenero for me was vengence. You are warned to set up before detecting and it is true. I got noticed and was swarmed. I built of up defenses in order to build the army. Unfortunatly, the AI dug in rather well and it took a constant barrage of air armadas of dragons and fairies to defeat the well placed towers. Each tower was coverd by the others.

The GUI can get annoying as if you don't pay attention and click you will send units or builders in a direction you didn't intend.

The gold dragon was a fun introduction. Though I will admit it made the fighting easier.

The story line is good. However, you will switch between sides during the play. It gets a little strange at times as you invade and set up a base. Then the next scenerio you play the otherside and are supposed to destroy the base.

Overall it's not a bad game. Especially at current prices.

I am going ot look for the addon.

Great sequel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

_I was very glad to find this title. It is worth many times the money I spent on it. The graphics are good, the music...eh...is repetitive but not very annoying, the units are cool, the strenghts and weaknesses with each of the 4 armies are well balanced and makes gameplay very interesting, and it doesn't have the savegame problems of the upgraded original Total Annihilation. This game is perfectly stable and provided me with many, many hours of enjoyment. My only major fault with it was: the game status bar from the original Total Annihilation wasn't brought into this one (so to find out how many units I have build verses the max, I have to write down my current losses, then self-destruct all my units and note the difference in the number, then reload the game. Insanity!).
_Most of the other problems are little things. Like a simple gate can ONLY be built by your Monarch (the head of your army, you start with him). That makes NO sense. And this has a problem the previous game had, but was less apparent. To upgrade a resource collector, you should be able to click on it and upgrade it, even if you lose it's collecting abilities while being upgraded. But no, here, you have to destroy it then build the advanced one over the resource. In the previous game, Total Annihilation, you could reclaim the previous collector, so at least there WAS that.
_Other than those sorts of things, this game has a very high replay value, and the story mode is very involving and proceeds quite interestingly. Except for one part...where you jump between two competing forces...and as you play one side, you establish a beachead on an enemy continent. Then you play the other side and drive them off the land again. Goes back and forth a good 3 or 4 times. Slightly amusing and irritating at the same time.
_The game also comes with a VERY fun map editor. It's easy to use, and you can load up maps from any upgrades/expansions you install on your game. I made many of my own maps, and was quite pleased with the results. Simple to use, worked perfectly, and increased the replay value of the game exponentially.

_In short: GET THIS GAME!!! You'll get hundreds of times your money's worth.

The best strategy game ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There is no reason why you shouldn't buy this game for only 4 bucks, even $10 is not to expensive. The buildings and creatures you can create are extra ordinary. By that I mean, awsome! You can build dragons, trolls, mage towers, warships, you name it! It runs on XP too. You can play the adventure where each level has a different map and battle senario. Or, just play a game against the computer where you chose the map, population limit, and which of the four empires you want to fight with. It's still fun after monthes of gaming.

Pros: Imaginetive creatures. Great maps. A large viriety of buildings and creatures. And basically everything.

Cons: Takes alot of RAM. Internet play is hard to set up.

Bottom line: I give it 9.5 out of 10, go get it!

Ok..... This is isn't what I expected

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: February 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

What I expected was another Total Annihilation, but obviously I was at err, I don't know who made this game but if it was the original design team of TA then they were smoking somethin that made pretty colors dance across the screen. Ok, bottom line, TA kingdoms is by far the worst possible stradegy game ever! It is SO slow on my P2 450mhz computer( after I got about 50 units or so) it was ridiculas! I mean it was like watching your units walk through glue because the game slows down so bad, it took my little army of 30 units 15 minutes to reach the enemy base! Also 3D acceleration for this game is non-existent! In the original TA the computer cheated, but it wasn't to an extream sence, here they made it ten-fold! Whenever you aren't looking over the enemy's base, they make units in 3 seconds or less, they can make thousands of units with only one lodestone in place! its ridiculously IMPOSSIBLE in skirmish(when you are just getting your defences finished they will have those plus a 30+ army coming to attack your base) and just plain weird in campaign mode. Do not buy this game, buy the original TA, its WAY better, trust me. Avoid Kingdoms like it is a urine cup used to serve apple juice!

Deserves its name...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: April 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Cavedog could not have come up with a better title for this game. For one, most of the campaign mission require you to exterminate the enemy. Second, everythng gets annihilated. After one skirmish map, I was given the statistics. I had built something like 186 units. I had lost about 180. I got this game a while ago, and then it sort of lapsed into disfavor when I stated playing titles such as AoE2 and Warlords Battlecry. Recently, I returned to TA and found it quite enjoyable. I don'tknow what the editorial reviewer was talking about when he said you can't tell one unit from the next. The units are distinct and original, as well as well-balanced. You can even download sme awesome new troops from Cavedog's website. There are, however, three problems with this game tha bring my score of it down to 4 stars. One, the unit AI is awful. Musketeers will stand idly by while the Warrior next to them is torched by a drake. Also, unless a unit can see another or is ordered to atack it, it won't attack. You army can be standing somewhere, and suddenly Mortar bomb begin raining in. Instead of going to investigate, your men (or women, as the case may be) will stand there and be blown to pieces. The second problem is the computer's will to survive. When you are sure you have eliminted te enemy, you find to your horror that you have let one builder run awaand he has constructed a town o rival yours. he third problem is minor; no cheats in the campaigns!

A Different View Makes This Game Rock!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I think that this game is awesome because it is soo different from games like TA. I love the fact that they used the medieval theme. If someone has a probelem with the game speed then maybe they should get a faster computer, defrag the hard drive, delete some of their other games, or get a faster computer. I have no problems with the game speed on my 533 megahertz pentium computer. Over all this game gets 5-stars from me partially because of its originality and also because of Cavedog's guts to try something new with the RTS genre. Way to go guys!

The Internet more than makes up

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: July 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Many people are coming off with a bad impression of TA:K. Yes, the game did seem unfinished at its initial release, but the online TA:K community more than makes up for it. You can get the units to make up for what the game initially lacked, and the player-made units are a lot of fun. There are even entire races that can be incorporated into the game.

Of course, if you're looking to buy TA:K, you should probably get Iron Plague while you're at it, and be sure to pick up as many Net add-ons as you can, since those are what really give the game the boost it needed.

In addition, the Multiplayer is fun, since you can go on the Internet and buddy up with another person. It's highly addictive to play with others, so if you get it, be sure to log on to the Boneyards.

Wonderful Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

A great game, and a worthy successor to Cavedog's initial Total Annihilation release.

Pitted in an epic struggle, you control one of four nations. On the side of order and good fight Aramon and Veruna, masters of Earth and Water, respectively. On the side of chaos and evil are Taros and Zhon, fire and air respectively.

Unlike most RTS games, Kingdoms allows the individual player varying levels of macro and micro management, allowing for endless build and tech possibilities.

The artwork is superb, considering the age of the game engine, and gameplay is generally fast and exciting. The single player adventure is well written, with cutscenes that beautifully illustrate the complex plots and subplots in the storyline. Highly recommended.

If you purchase this game, I also recommend looking for it's expansion pack, Total Annihilation Kingdoms: The Iron Plague, which introduces a unique 5th race, and a deeper and richer continuation of the story from the first.

Excellently done.

Older game, still great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: February 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game, though it is quite a few years old. I actually think it's a refreshing wake-up call from the depressing music and images of TA. Everything in TA is dark and dreary,(Although that doesn't bring down it's awesome gameplay.)
while on TAK maps, even the Tarosian ones, are lighter and more 'hopeful', and the music far more uplifting anf. (With the music in TA, you can believe the universe is coming to an end.

Both of these games are great picks, and I would highly recommend these for any gamer.

(. . .one last thing. Nothing at all is lost in the transformation from two energy sources to one source.)

Personally, I think it's quite cool... :-P

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I see alot of people on here griping and nitpicking about what this game has and doesn't have. Is it something groundbreaking? Nah... Is it something that hasn't been done before? Nah... Is it still a pretty darn nifty game? you betcha! It's a RTS, period, and all RTS games seem to suffer universally from similar ailments. These being certain tactics, units, et al that are very powerful, yada yada... just play it! I happen to think the graphics are pretty darn nice myself, and the elevation changes are quite good as well. FOUR sides to choose from gives a nice variety of units and such. Not alot to be said, some things could have been done better, but it's a cool game. I think, however, that the "super units" could be all together bypassed if Cavedog and other Designers (Blizzard for instance) would adopt the Tech Level variable, a la Command & Conquer, for multiplay games. Sometime I wana just batten down and have an all-out slug fest with the basic 'grunt' units in the game. All the upper-level stuff is cool, but it really does detract from the fun of the game(s) because there's no strategy involved in dropping a Nuke/Magic Death Spell/Whatever, on your opponent. Anyhow, I ramble, hehehe, did I mention this is a good game and you should buy it?

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