This time I will be lazy and put up a copy of a letter I wrote to a friend who asked me to write a little about what I felt about TA, as he was in the process of making an objective review about TA. He asked me for some of my viewpoints on TA, and so I started Blabbing.

NOTE: He's from a country that's geographically placed to the south of mine. :)

Here's the letter for ya all now:

One thing that TA has always been superior with IS their engine, and u mention you would "criticise" or compare it vs the "perfect engine". The thing is, that ppl are still messing with it and enhancing it. What it did in TA was great, but things could be done much better. But they're already doing that, enhancing the engine for TA:K. So it might turn out that the Engine itself is "perfect", but that which is being done with it is not. So criticising what's being done with the engine instead of how the engine is would maybe be more correct. I'm off on technicalities here, but still... Another thing, Right now the TA community has had an explosive growth in 3rd party unit/map making groups. And lotsa 3rd party units, good and bad, coming out. Also, ppl are making total conversions. A TA with Star Wars units is being made, and one with World War 2 units and so on. It can almost be compared withe the Quake community and all it's Mods.

But other than that, whether or not one likes the engine is again Preference..... once again that wonderful word, hehe. I found the engine to be very efficient and responsive right away. I bet many found it cold, sterile, ridgid and unpersonal. And those turned to StarCraft (mostly). As for Units in TA... I like em the way they are. And the weekly Free unit download was great, and doable with TA, whereas in other games any new unit would most likely screw up the balance severely, this was not the case in TA.

The music was GRRRRRREAT, greatest ever in my opinion. If it's not up to someone's preference, thats sad, but it was/is still some of the best quality of music ever made for any PC game. It was grande, epic, and symphonic. And it really fitted in, which is the most important thing in my opinion. And sounds, well, worked for me, again, it's preference whether u like the units just making noises, and not saying anything funny. Like in SC or RA. Some guy once mentioned that as a reason why he preferred RA over TA..... cause when u selected and moved the units, they said some cool/funny stuff... or something weird crap like that. Ok, i'm calling it crap now, thats not fair. It's just something that got him thru the night. BAH I say, hehehe.

All in All, TA did for me what It was set out to do, and I like(d) it the way it was/is. I dont see it as having any actual flaws as a game or in design, just has some specific choices made which make it the game it was, a game some ppl liked, and some hated. It's like asking: "Will ppl prefer it being mediveal or futuristic?" It's alot about design desicions. I actually LOVE the TA engine itself, and I believe I will love TA:K for that reason. Perhaps it's similar to the reasons why C&C/RA fans will(say they will) Love C&C2. It's in their "mold", it's Westwood thats making it, it will be the same "spirit" in it, some basic Design, engine and interface similarities. Well, I take it you get my point.... If not, I will have to come down there and smack you..... hehehehe :)

What I CAN critisice it's the online gaming. They should REALLY have done it a LOT more stabile and taken some countermeasures vs the LAG. A gaming network of their own where ALL of the TA community was at. Gathered in one big place, not spread out in weak, small threads all over the internet. As for the Lag, TA was probably too great/big a game for it's time. It really demanded too much power and bandwith, and it still does. It's kinda like Unreal, great game, but computer requirements are Huuuuuge.

And it does freeze up a lot, and kill ppl's connections and so on. And games can run a LONG way out of sync. It can be matter of minutes, and the lag BUG where units live on a while longer after having been d-gunned and they STILL do damage to your own units. Well, it's a BIG bug, they shoulda handled Lag better.

Well, that about covers it for me I think, I could go on and on about particular details, especially the depth of strategy and tactics. But thats all due to the diversity of the engine. To this very day, new strategies and tactics still emerge. Which is quite a remarkable thing for a game that's almost a year old.

Will most likely be back to normal BLAB next time. :)