spring: t-a

Ah, Spring; when a young man’s thoughts turn to Total Annihilation! Yes! Yes! Cavedog's seminal 1997 hit, arguably the best real-time strategy game ever (ever ever), is one of the best-balanced, nuanced, layered strategy videogames. The original had a fixed-view camera that looked directly down onto a pre-rendered landscape, over which excessive numbers of actual 3D vehicles could be moved. The pre-rendered visuals matched a lower-resolution collision-mesh for determining action, reaction, display angle of vehicle, and so forth. The remake is in complete 3D and has a user-controlled camera. It is in beta. I can count on one hand the number of games that turn me into a fanboy; T-A is likely the middle finger. (slashdot)