A couple of years ago, a new game company was getting set to release its first title. The name of the game was Total Annihilation and the company was Cavedog Entertainment. This was a strategy game that some people immediately lambasted as a rip-off of other games in that genre. But the game ended up not being at all what the detractors thought and became a top selling game. It helped that the parent company for Cavedog was GT Interactive. Thinking to make a good thing better, Cavedog last year released a sequel to TA called Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. Once again, this title became a top seller. It became so popular that Cavedog decided to release an expansion pack for the game. This new title is called The Iron Plague and went on sale in March.

In The Iron Plague we are introduced to a whole new civilization for us to play with. This makes a total of five different civilizations that can be utilized in the game. This new race is called Creon. They are a people of science and technology. This race is a direct opposite of the people of Darien, who use their magic to win battles and vanquish enemies.

Some of the new things that make this expansion pack worth playing are 25 new single-player missions, 25 new multi-player maps and a new multi-player game called The Darien Crusades that is played via Cavedog's online gaming platform, Boneyards. There is also a 2.0 update for the Kingdoms game.

The storyline for The Iron Plague goes something like this: The Great War that pits the races of Aramon and Veruna against Taros and Zhon is now over. Aramon and Veruna have proved to be the victors in this war. The races are in the midst of restructuring and rebuilding their lands. A chance discovery makes the two victors wonder if there is another race out there that will challenge the peace that had been established.

The Creon race has a lot of nifty toys and gadgets. They have a pedal powered underwater travel machine called a Submersible (think submarine). There is also a flying machine called The Barnstormer. The pilots on these machines are very daring. The Tortoise is a steam-powered tank with one gun and an iron covered turret. The Mechanic is a multi-purpose unit that does a lot of construction and repair. A neat little machine called the Bomb Sprinkler can wreck havoc on the enemy. It will spray out bombs as it spins around. It may not look like much, but the Bomb Sprinkler is very deadly. Another cool weapon is the Gatling Crossbow, which shoots arrows from a ratcheted wheel.

The game draws a lot from American history and science fiction for the weapons and vehicles that are used. The Iron Clad was taken straight from the history books, as was the stern wheeler. The Submersible is something out of Jules Verne's fantasy/ science fiction novels.

If you like a strategy game that is heads above the rest, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is the best. The new expansion pack, The Iron Plague makes a great game even better.

In order to play The Iron Plague you will have to have a copy of Kingdoms installed on your computer.

For more information about The Iron Plague, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms or anything else about Cavedog Entertainment, visit their web site. It can be found at www.cavedog.com.

Copyright © 2000 Bruce E. Von Stiers