Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Total Control places you at the heart of a procedurally generated world, where you command one of six rival parties vying for dominance. At the start of each match, you find yourself in control of a humble base nestled within your faction’s sector of the map. Your initial focus revolves around establishing a solid economy and defense, laying down the necessary buildings and factories to support an eventual war machine.

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Resource gathering is streamlined yet strategic: four distinct types of ore feed your cash flow, and careful placement of mines can make the difference between a sluggish build-up and a roaring offensive. Beyond resource extraction, you’ll construct defensive installations such as anti-aircraft guns and radar towers, while also investing in offensive structures like combat robot factories and aircraft production facilities. Balancing these priorities forms the core of Total Control’s engaging build-and-expand loop.

As your base grows, the Computer Central becomes an indispensable upgrade, boosting the efficiency and performance of all other buildings. Each structure can be individually upgraded, allowing for a highly customized approach to defense, production speed, and combat effectiveness. Whether you choose to pump out swarms of ground units or focus on swift, aerial assaults, the game’s real-time mechanics reward careful planning and dynamic adaptation to your opponents’ moves.

Scouting and reconnaissance play an equally vital role in Total Control. Deploying scout planes grants visibility of enemy positions on the world map, revealing weak points and resource hotspots. When the time comes to strike, transporters ferry your combat robots directly into hostile territory, setting the stage for heated skirmishes. While ground combat unfolds seamlessly on the main map, air battles shift to a dedicated screen, offering a more tactical view of dogfights and bomber runs. This blend of macro-level strategy and focused aerial engagements keeps the gameplay fresh and varied throughout each campaign.

Graphics

Total Control’s visuals strike a fine balance between functional clarity and immersive design. The procedurally generated landscapes vary from lush plains to rocky highlands, giving each match a distinctive look. Textures are crisp enough to distinguish forests, mountains, and resource nodes at a glance, making exploration and base expansion intuitive.

Building models are detailed without being overbearing, ensuring that you can quickly identify your structures in the midst of chaotic clashes. Anti-aircraft towers sport sleek rotating barrels, while robot factories hum with conveyor belts and assembly arms in motion. Aircraft hangars open their doors as bombers and fighters taxi down runways, adding a touch of flair to your production lines.

Unit animations are smooth and purposeful. Ground robots trundle across the terrain, their metallic limbs pivoting realistically as they navigate obstacles. In the aerial combat screen, planes bank and dive with convincing arcs, complete with smoke trails and dynamic lighting effects when explosions erupt. Although not pushing the boundaries of current-generation graphics, Total Control’s visual style remains cohesive, functional, and aesthetically pleasing for prolonged play sessions.

The user interface complements the graphics by offering clear icons, resource counters, and minimap summaries. Menus are cleanly laid out, ensuring that you spend more time strategizing and less time hunting for the right command. Whether you’re expanding your base or orchestrating a multi-pronged assault, the graphical presentation keeps you engaged and informed at every step.

Story

While Total Control is fundamentally a strategy-focused experience, its backdrop of inter-faction rivalry lends the campaign an underlying narrative drive. Six distinct parties emerge from political unrest and resource scarcity, each believing in its own vision for global supremacy. This rivalry forms the canvas upon which your tactical decisions are painted.

The game’s randomized world generator ensures that no two campaigns unfold identically, and the shifting alliances and betrayals among rival parties heighten the sense of unpredictability. You might ally with a neighboring faction one moment and find yourself fending off a surprise airstrike from the same group in the next. These emergent stories keep you invested in your faction’s journey from humble beginnings to potential domination.

Although there is no cinematic storyline or voiced dialogue, the sense of an unfolding conflict comes through in mission briefings and unit chatter. As battle reports ping into your command center, you feel the stakes rising: enemy parties grow stronger, resource nodes become contested, and every decision carries weight. The minimalist narrative approach suits the strategy genre, allowing players to project their own tales of triumph and defeat onto the battlefield.

Replayability is a key story asset. The dynamic world map, randomized ore distributions, and varied enemy AI ensure that each playthrough tells a new chapter. Whether you opt for a slow, defensive buildup or an all-out blitzkrieg, Total Control adapts to your playstyle and crafts a unique story around your strategic successes and setbacks.

Overall Experience

Total Control delivers a compelling blend of base-building, resource management, and real-time combat that will resonate with veterans of the RTS genre. The randomly generated worlds provide endless replayability, while the depth of the upgrade system and unit variety keeps your tactical choices engaging from the first skirmish to the final showdown.

The separation of aerial combat into its own tactical screen is a welcome feature, allowing for focused dogfights without cluttering the main map. This design choice underscores the game’s attention to detail, ensuring both macro-strategists and micro-tacticians find satisfying challenges. Meanwhile, the user-friendly interface and clear visual language mean that ramping up to multiplayer clashes or competitive matchups feels smooth and intuitive.

While Total Control may not feature a heavily scripted narrative or photorealistic graphics, it confidently stakes its claim on deep strategy and emergent storytelling. The clean art direction, varied unit roster, and emphasis on scouting and reconnaissance set it apart from genre peers. Add in the joy of discovering new resource-rich territories and the thrill of outmaneuvering rival commanders, and you have a package that’s both accessible to newcomers and richly layered for seasoned RTS enthusiasts.

In conclusion, Total Control stands out as a robust, replayable strategy title that rewards thoughtful planning, swift adaptation, and daring assaults. Whether you’re coordinating robot armies, calling in air raids, or fortifying your base against enemy incursions, the game offers a satisfying sense of command. For players seeking a fresh twist on real-time strategy with ample room for personal flair, Total Control is well worth the investment.

Retro Replay Score

6/10