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Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency

 
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Game Description

Total Annihilation was named by some critics and magazines as the 1997 Game of the Year. It was a real time strategy game in the grand tradition of Command & Conquer and Warcraft II. Rabid fans of this rather overpopulated genre couldn't get enough of this game. And just like C&C and Warcraft II, which have had many, many updates and expansion packs, comes Total Annihilation - The Core Contingency. But this is no ordinary expansion pack...

Total Annihilation - The Core Contingency seems like a whole new game, or at least a sequel to Total Annihilation. Here's a "short" list of what's been added for you TA fans: 25 new missions for both the Arm and Core groups, over 75 brand new units, a map and mission editor and a whopping sum of 50 new multiplayer levels. The Internet play, probably the main reason this game is so popular to begin with, now allows players' to play against the computer AI. Needless to say, if you loved Total Annihilation before, The Core Contingency is a vital CD ROM for your collection.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Most expansion packs add a few new weapons, enemies and levels, as in Quake mission packs, and real time strategy games add a few new units and maps, as in Counterstrike for Command & Conquer - Red Alert. They tend to be skimpy on improvements and new things, rehashing what the actual game emphasized. But not THIS expansion pack. No, no, no! Total Annihilation - The Core Contingency (I'll refer to it as TACC) completely defies the above statements. In fact, TACC adds so much stuff to Total Annihilation that it's almost like playing a sequel (you do need the original TA to play this game). That or an extreme sense of overkill!

TACC features 25 brand new missions - a new campaign for the Arm group and one for the Core. The new missions take place on over six new worlds, featuring all kinds of new and improved terrain textures. There's also some more strategic elements too, thanks to the overwhelming 75 new units included. Some of the new units were pulled from Cavedog's homepage and some are brand new. The new units let you take your destructive warfare over or under water with new watercraft and flying ships. Heck, you can even build underwater bases! With the new units, everything is more balanced and equal. If there was a unit in Total Annihilation that may have seemed stronger than everything else and didn't have an equal match-up, there's one in TACC. Some of the units or buildings do seem a bit unnecessary, though. Some small or large units in TA now have middle units in TACC. That's okay though because there's so much to choose from. They can't be all ingenious or perfect!

Also included in TACC are over 50 new multiplayer maps for Internet play. Now THAT is a whopping amount of maps! Internet play is one of the reasons TA was critically acclaimed and received many awards in 1997, so these new maps are quite handy. If for some reason you can't find a multiplayer map that you like (doubtful), you can go into the Map and Mission editor and make your very own levels. This program allows players to make maps very easily, thanks to the user friendly interface. After all, it is the designer that Cavedog themselves used to make TA.

The only real problem with TACC (and this is quibbling) is that, like TA, it doesn't have too much personality. Starcraft is a perfect example of a real time strategy game with oodles of personality and story. The single player game in TACC doesn't really feature too much in the way of a good, solid story. Still, TACC is a must have for any fan of TA. There's an overwhelming amount of good, quality stuff in this expansion pack that's almost guaranteed to please.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

This game is a blast to play. Watching the nicely animated units move around is very pleasing and there's just a lot of strategy to the game.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

With six new worlds, there's plenty of new textures, all of which look pretty good. The unit animations are nicely done.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

There's some new unit sound effects, which aren't to shabby. No new music was added in TACC, unfortunately.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

With over 75 new units, 2 new campaigns spanning over 25 levels and a whopping sum of 50 deathmatch levels, there's always something to do. And of course, the Internet play adds tons of life to this fine game.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

The instruction manual isn't too spiffy (probably because if you have {*TA} you already know how to play). It does tell you how to install or uninstall the game and some of the new features included.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Production Credits

Project Leader: Chris Taylor; Lead Artist: Clayton Kauzlaric; Co-Project Leader and Mission Designer: Nathan Doster; Associate Producer: Jacob McMahon; Producer: Kellyn Beeck; Executive Producer: Ron Gilbert; Programmers: Bruce Dawson, Bartosz Kijanka, Steve Miale, Rick Saenz, Kevin Smith; Background Artists: John Baron, Kevin Chung, Mike Denlinger, Peter Fries, Jarrett Holderby, Clayton Kauzlaric, Mark West; Unit Artists: Rebecca Coffman, Dan Cole, Clay Corbisier, John Gronquist, Bob Koshi, Steve Thompson; Interface Art: Mike DiGiacomo, Peter Fries; Map Designs: John Baron, Nathtn Doster, Clayton Kauzlaric, Garrett Link, Mark West; Unit Designs: Nathtn Doster, Jake McMahon, Chris Taylor; Network Programming: Rick Lambright, Kurt Pfeifer, David Satnik; Total Annilation Engine: Brian Brown, Bruce Dawson, Bartosz Kijanka, Jason King, Jonathan Mavor, Jeff Petkau, Rick Saenz, Kevin Smith, Chris Taylor; Assistant Producer: Steve Kuo; Production Assistants: Shane Hendrix, Steve Snow; Sound Design: Frank Bry, Jeremy Soule; Writer: Dave Grossman; Foregin Languages: Ingrid Berendt; Qulaity Assurance Manager: David Nixon; Quality Assurance Lead: Ruth A. Lopez; Testing: Patty Bradley-Bunn, Kevin Collar, Eric "Frog" Elders, Bob Lenth, Brad Lyons, Bryan Macdonald, Joe Mullenix, Philip M. Nelson, Randy Ochs, Wade Racine, Matt Skau, Eric Snyder, Casey D. Stein, Jason "Crash" Stiney, TJ Wright; Special Thanks: Shelley Day, Scott Wallin, Joyce McNeil, Zibby Wilder, Frank Rogan, Michael Felicity, Ralph Guiffre, Monica Hoshide, John Uppendahl, Marci Knutson, Eric Boston, Patricia Lonergan, Janet Willis, Betsy Warren, Sam Linse, Cullen Hadersberger, Jennifer Martin, Christian Jamieson and Krogoth
~ Joe Lamb, All Game Guide
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Wikipedia: Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency
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Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency
Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency Box Cover
Developer(s) Cavedog Entertainment
Publisher(s) GT Interactive
Designer(s) Chris Taylor
Version 3.1
Platform(s) Windows, Mac OS 9
Release date(s) April 30, 1998
Genre(s) Real-time strategy (RTS)
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (T)
Media CD-ROM
Input methods Keyboard, Mouse

The Core Contingency (abbr. TA:CC) is a 1998 expansion to the popular 1997 real-time strategy computer game Total Annihilation. It contains extra units and maps, as well as a campaign of 25 missions and a long-awaited (although glitchy) official map editor.

Contents

Story

The Core Contingency picks up where the original game finishes with the Arm ending, in which the Arm achieved final victory over the Core in its homeworld Core Prime, in their Galactic War of over 4,000 years. With the Core supposedly wiped out of existence, the Arm undergoes one-hundred years of reconstructing civilization.

However, a lone Core Commander survives, hidden away in a distant system. The Core Commander, the heart of the Core's Contingency plan in case the Core would ever be defeated, is charged with a single mission: to search for a powerful and ancient alien artifact hidden in the region. With modifications, the beacon could supposedly be converted into an Implosion Device—a single, phenomenally powerful superweapon which, when activated, would cause the entire galaxy to implode into itself, with the Core's pure intention to permanently extinguish the Arm. The Core Commander would stay inside the gigantic machine as it causes the galaxy to virtually self-destruct, then step out unscathed and rebuild the entire Core race.

Meanwhile, rumors circulate amongst the mending Arm over the said Contingency Plan, so an Arm Commander is dispatched along with sizable reinforcements to confirm or eliminate the gossip.

Features

Missions

The Core Contingency expansion features 25 new missions, with 12 for each of its campaigns and a bonus mission, named "Krogoth Encounter."

Krogoth Encounter is an Arm bonus mission, set during the time of the original game (and thus could technically be considered a "lost mission") during the Galactic War on the metallic world of Core Prime, as the Arm was slowly making its way to domination. The level is available only in Hard difficulty, its highlight being experimental, super-powerful Krogoth Kbots which the player must overcome and whose production facilities the player must destroy.

The Core Contingency missions also feature native, hostile alien inhabitants of various planets, such as dangerously powerful sea creatures on the campaign's opening planet, Hydross, a water world.

Units

The 75 new units the expansion pack comes with include: seaplanes capable of landing underwater, aqueous metal deposits and structures (such as the floating "Naval-Series" heavy laser turrets and missile turrets), hovercraft, amphibious Kbots, pop-up turrets, and rapid-fire plasma cannons, among many others. It also, aside from the addition of new worlds, adds new natural disasters, particularly those of Temblor, a planet whose only habitable land lies on mountains high above clouds, whose unpredictable earthquakes can damage structures and ground forces.

Many of the CC units are included in the 3.1 patch except a few most important ones. For example:

CORE Krogoth is a heavy level 10 Experimental kbot that is produced in the Level 3 Krogoth Gantry. It high cost of 29489 Metal and 116664 Energy make it hard and slow to produce. It has a Heavy Blue Laser in its head, Heavy Plasma Cannons in its arms and two Starburst missile launchers on its back. It can wreak havoc if accompanied by radar and a Targeting Facility.

ARM Pelican is an amphibious level 2 kbot produced in the Adv. Kbot Lab. It moves on the surface of the water and takes little damage from missile fire. It is armed with a red laser and rockets. It costs 255 Metal and can dominate naval battles.

ARM Maverick is a level 2 gunslinging kbot, it has two high damage plasma weapons and a metal cost of 492. Few of these can take out a Commander easily.

ARM Vulcan & CORE Buzzsaw are Long Range Plasma Cannons or LRPCs with rapid fire. They requires huge energy supply to fire effectively but are devastating with radar and a Targeting Facility. The Buzzsaw has a lower rate of fire but longer range.

Maps

The expansion comes with 53 multiplayer maps, featuring all-new environments such as lush grassland/rainforest, slate, crystal, urban, and sea-coral. It also fixes various bugs and glitches from the original game. Many popular online TA maps come from the CCexpansion.

System requirements

Platforms

See also

External links


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Total Annihilation video games
Total Annihilation (The Core Contingency · Battle Tactics) · Kingdoms (Iron Plague)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency".  Read more

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