Sometimes a game is a genre. Subsequent releases will always invoke the spirit of that game. Many titles can claim to be the original first-person shooter, but we don’t call them Wolfenstein or Ken’s Labyrinth games. They are first-person shooters (btw, I dig the name of the new sub-genre for retro FPS, the boomer shooters). And many games will argue they started or helped create the real-time strategy market, but we nonetheless refer to them as RTS games.
Unless they mimic Total Annihilation or its superior sequel, Supreme Commander. Then, there can only be one. And the one has just crowned a new successor.
If you head over to beyondallreason.info right now, you can sign up for a free copy of Beyond All Reason (BAR), a game that, for all intents and purposes, IS Total Annihilation/Supreme Commander. All that seems to be missing is the actual developers of those classics. Maybe they are involved. Do I look like I do research? I’m too busy blowing stuff up. And, boy, do I blow stuff up. Nothing quite says “This is TA” like sending hundreds of robot units over the hill to crush the enemy, which I’m already pounding with long-range cannons and swarms of nukes.
BAR is vintage TA/SC. You can create swarms of robotic units, represented by two factions and split among four classes: mechs, vehicles, hovercraft and aircraft. You have two resources – metal and energy – and each faction has a controlling Commander robot that can accelerate builds, fight in battle… and if they die, you lose. You can zoom out to see the entire map, give elaborate build orders, and – yes – build weapons that will shoot across the terrain. Nothing is safe in BAR.
Then the game adds a lot more. The different AI opponents vary significantly and can be incredibly relentless. You can share resources with team players, and play with up to 16 people (max 8v8). You can draw on the map for others to see and use drawn gestures to create troop formations. In many ways, BAR is the RTS game that TA and Supreme Commander always tried to be, but due to limited technology could never quite pull off. Don’t get me wrong: TA and SC were awesome for their time, but only now do I appreciate their full vision in BAR.
Fans of this sub-genre have long tried to coax the entire TA genie out of the bottle, notably through free projects such as the Spring Engine and Robot War Engine. You can also still buy TA and SC on Steam – Supreme Commander 2 is a mere R37! But BAR, erm, sets the new bar. Seriously, it’s well beyond what we’ve seen before in this insane corner of RTS mayhem. Best of all, it’s free! You can send donations to the devs, which is an exciting approach that I hope works as it will fund continual development. Even though it’s in an alpha state, the game is very stable.
BAR is now your weekend. The total download is 1.2GB (an installer plus the game download), and you need to register for online play. But then you are good to go. Play with or against friends, take on the AI, and start launching massive warfare as no other RTS genre has ever accomplished.
Long live Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander. Their new name is Beyond All Reason.
