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2 The Release 3 The Lesson that is Kingdoms 4 Platforms 5 External links |
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms was the much anticipated second installment of the Total Annihilation franchise. Cavedog, taking in mind the criticisms it received for its first, highly successful game, modified the general focus of their development greatly in an effort to appease their critics.
The criticism about lack of storyline resulted in the majority of the missions becoming "story based". They also added an intricate tapestry of "behind the game" background information that would compare in quantity to the amount found in Star Wars publications.
The criticism about complexity was responded to by the reduction of the unit number by three fifths despite the increasing the number of sides to four. They also by reduced the number of resource types to one: mana or magical energy.
The criticism regarding unit similarities was overcome by adding magic spells, and special abilities. The sides were also made to vary to such an extent that one side is completely devoid of sea units, another is devoid of structures and another has more ships than the rest put together while having laughable land units.
They also scrapped the idea of a campaign sequence for each side in favor of a single linear path that alternates between the four sides: Aramon, Tarros, Veruna and Zhon. This alternation gives one the unusual experience of having to maliciously destroy what one created in the level before, and it allowed the developers to put all of their effort into a single narrative and its associated artwork.
Kingdoms was released in 1999 with huge fanfare and great expectations reaching the top of the weekly game sales chart at its release. Kingdoms' success unfortunately was short lived as it alienated fans of the original game due to its deviation from its predecessor, and it did not contain enough changes to win over those who did not like the original. It disappeared from the public eye soon after. Despite Cavedog's effort to resuscitate it with the 2000 release of its expansion pack "The Iron Plague" it never attained real cult status.
Kingdoms was arguably the beginning of the end for Cavedog, who never released another title. Their fan-base had abandoned them after becoming disenchanted with the lack of units and very different strategic structure that Kingdoms possessed.
Kingdoms is however still a playable game and indeed it is still played. However it stands above all as a lesson that appeasing critics is fairly unimportant compared to keeping ones dedicated followers satisfied.
Modifications and Motivations
Story
Complexity
Units and Sides
Campaign Trails
The Release
The Lesson that is Kingdoms
Platforms
External links