Planetary Annihilation

 PC
User Score
5.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 418 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 188 out of 418
  2. Mixed: 64 out of 418
  3. Negative: 166 out of 418
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  1. ce111
    Sep 12, 2014
    4
    The game itself is pretty awesome. It has all the best bits of Supreme Commander with an interesting concept thrown in. Unfortunately this is seriously under minded by its horrendous performance issues. The game eats up RAM like its going out of style which leads to crashes. The devs response to such issues is pretty much "Its probably your fault, not ours." You basically need to jumpThe game itself is pretty awesome. It has all the best bits of Supreme Commander with an interesting concept thrown in. Unfortunately this is seriously under minded by its horrendous performance issues. The game eats up RAM like its going out of style which leads to crashes. The devs response to such issues is pretty much "Its probably your fault, not ours." You basically need to jump through hoops to get this game to perform moderately well. Quite frankly, its not worth the time or the money. So do yourself a favor and just play Supreme Commander if you are craving a massive RTS.… Expand
  2. Viperjed
    Sep 8, 2014
    3
    Purchased this game this summer when it was still in development. It was really fun despite the problems it had and even more fun when I discovered how to create multiple planet systems. The downside is that this game is full of serious bugs and bizarre glitches. Try and snap to a tactical message and get a blank screen. Suddenly lose control of all camera functions for no apparentPurchased this game this summer when it was still in development. It was really fun despite the problems it had and even more fun when I discovered how to create multiple planet systems. The downside is that this game is full of serious bugs and bizarre glitches. Try and snap to a tactical message and get a blank screen. Suddenly lose control of all camera functions for no apparent reason. Play hour after hour only to have the game crash whenever a planetary annihilation is attempted. The last straw was when they released this game last week despite the obvious flaws and broken promises. Should change the name of this game to Improbable Planetary Annihilation!… Expand
  3. heskey30
    Jul 2, 2014
    7
    Well there's been something of an opinion war here, and many of the negative reviews are too negative because of a non-game issue that I won't go into. There are some overly positive reviews as well to counter this, so I will try to write a useful review. First, it must be said: this game is a blast - engaging, intense, and surprisingly well balanced. Fast paced tactics and strategy on aWell there's been something of an opinion war here, and many of the negative reviews are too negative because of a non-game issue that I won't go into. There are some overly positive reviews as well to counter this, so I will try to write a useful review. First, it must be said: this game is a blast - engaging, intense, and surprisingly well balanced. Fast paced tactics and strategy on a huge scale. But it's received a lot of legit positive criticism, so here's why I didn't rate it 10/10:

    First of all, and most detrimental to the game: it has performance issues. Lategame tank armies can slow the game to a crawl. Annihilating a planet can freeze the game for a long time and sometimes even crash it. The client occasionally crashes for no discernible reason (though you can reconnect), and there are other bugs, some of which are at least temporarily game breaking. Internet access is required to play, even singleplayer, though I've heard this will change in the 1.0 release. The game is in early access, so these problems are understandable, but they are still there.

    Secondly, there are balance problems. While most units have their uses and should be used to play optimally, things like tier two bombers are blatantly overpowered in the hands of a skilled micro player (they deliberately out-range all anti-air) and artillery units are a little strong as well. Bots, which are an entire tree of units, are considered very weak because they cannot defeat any of the other trees on their own. Balance is currently in progress, but there have been some worrying balance decisions by the team at Uber. This is the time to experiment with that, though, if there ever is one.

    Lategame can get rather standoffish. This can make for some slow games, especially in large free-for-alls, very especially coupled with the poor lategame performance, which is not only visual but also server-side. (So it slows down the game's actual mechanics.) There also is not much variety in interplanetary combat. It is also very easy early on in the game to get into a situation where winning is nearly impossible, but the game will still drag on for a long time - possibly without the player even knowing that winning is nearly impossible. This really punishes new players.

    Finally, system creator is rather limited. While you can set the general idea, you cannot sculpt your own terrain. This is not really a requirement, as that would be asking a lot, but just don't expect that and be disappointed.

    All that said, this game has already been a worthwhile purchase. Hopefully my rating will improve as the game becomes more finished.    … Expand
  4. System_operator
    Sep 8, 2014
    4
    Not a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination, but one full of missed opportunities.

    While it is stable it can be a lot of fun, especially with friends. PA is probably best surmised (in my opinion) as a dumbed down version of TA/Supreme Commander played across planets instead of flat maps. It does have a few interesting features to draw in the crowds; epic scale, planet    Not a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination, but one full of missed opportunities.

    While it is stable it can be a lot of fun, especially with friends.

    PA is probably best surmised (in my opinion) as a dumbed down version of TA/Supreme Commander played across planets instead of flat maps. It does have a few interesting features to draw in the crowds; epic scale, planet smashing and the metal planet 'anniahlaser' being the three.

    The reason I have only given PA a 4/10 is because of the missed opportunity this game represents. I was an early Alpha backer - paying upwards of £70 for the privilege. I backed after reading the promises made on the kickstarter page and the hope that we were going to get a 'supreme commander killer'. Unfortunately upon release I am disappointed. I feel like the game lacks polish (from wonky unit animations and odd planet smashing textures to poor strategic options when invading planets and the navy STILL feeling like a second class army choice) and has a pretty poor choice of units - none of which feel interesting or innovative!

    To compound matters elements from kickstarter and early development don't feature in the release version: where is the unit cannon?! where are the 40 player games?! where is the DRM free server?!

    I wish Uber had delayed longer, fleshed out the unit roster more thoroughly, really thought about planet invasion (instead of the JUST SPAM ASTREUS tactic) and ensured the promises they made in development were fulfilled.    … Expand
  5. mpmumau
    Sep 7, 2014
    0
    Uber Entertainment should be absolutely appalled by the way they handled the sale of this game from day one. They took complete advantage of the concept of crowd funding, and they have now "released" a largely unfinished, DRM-riddled version of their game to the public in return. If you buy this game, you are essentially telling developers "Please let us give you money so that you canUber Entertainment should be absolutely appalled by the way they handled the sale of this game from day one. They took complete advantage of the concept of crowd funding, and they have now "released" a largely unfinished, DRM-riddled version of their game to the public in return. If you buy this game, you are essentially telling developers "Please let us give you money so that you can half-ass your job for as long as you'd like and crap out whatever garbage you'd like in exchange for the public's showing of good faith." Shame, shame, shame on this company.… Expand
  6. bctwticzdfio
    Sep 7, 2014
    0
    Uber Entertainment really cashed in with this cash cow. There's nothing revolutionary about PA's gameplay, you win by superior micro and spam. The game has no save feature for the anemic singleplayer and every part of it is DRM'd. No private server hosting, no LAN (how can you have this kind of game without LAN?). Performance is just as bad as the pre-release. I'm shaking my head that IUber Entertainment really cashed in with this cash cow. There's nothing revolutionary about PA's gameplay, you win by superior micro and spam. The game has no save feature for the anemic singleplayer and every part of it is DRM'd. No private server hosting, no LAN (how can you have this kind of game without LAN?). Performance is just as bad as the pre-release. I'm shaking my head that I spent $60 on this turd. This company's practices aren't far off from publishers like EA. They edited things out of their KS campaign and Steam page about the release being DRM-free and coming with ACTUTAL LAN. Game doesn't support multiple GPUs properly, not like it matters because it's unoptimized. A bloody paid store for cosmetics in a retail game. Developers are drag queens that only answer questions about their development process when it benefits them. Would not recommend any Uber products.… Expand
  7. werrs
    Sep 7, 2014
    0
    Next-gen RTS without a save support? Are you kidding me?

    It's almost impossible to find any RTS in history which doesn't have the saving possibility, beginning from the very first Command & Conquer in 1995. Now it's 2014 and the caption on Kickstarter tells us that "Planetary Annihilation - A Next Generation RTS". Are you kidding us, seriously? Here is the quote from Kickstarter:    Next-gen RTS without a save support? Are you kidding me?

    It's almost impossible to find any RTS in history which doesn't have the saving possibility, beginning from the very first Command & Conquer in 1995.

    Now it's 2014 and the caption on Kickstarter tells us that "Planetary Annihilation - A Next Generation RTS". Are you kidding us, seriously?

    Here is the quote from Kickstarter:

    "Folks at Uber Entertainment have worked on games like Total Annihilation, Command & Conquer, Supreme Commander and Demigod. We are hugely passionate about Real-Time Strategy and can’t wait to show you our vision for the future of the genre."

    Is it a real future of RTS genre, where even save is not possible in single player campaign? Is it so hard to implement? We have tired from **** console ports on PC recently, but now we have got even worse release of the "PC exclusive". Even the backers who have financed the game production on Kickstarter cannot change anything, because nobody listens to them.

    Should we blame the online-only DRM which prevents game from saving because it's being played on the remote servers instead of local PCs? Previously developers were promising to make the LAN play possible, but what we have got at the release? Nothing except of online DRM.

    During the Kickstarter campaign developers should have warned all the potential backers about what will be the game's state on release. That it will have online-only DRM and no save possibility, etc. I believe that not a single cent would be given to them in this case.

    Honestly, developers should return all the money to the backers. Only in this case they will have the moral right to keep that online DRM without a save possibility and sell the game in its current invalid condition. It's not a next-gen RTS, it's even worse than every current-gen and past-gen strategy games.    … Expand
  8. SeriousMike
    Sep 8, 2014
    0
    I loved SupCom. And hearing about PA was just amazing. I dint buy it in the Early Acess program. I wanted a full game.
    Well I bought it 2-3 days before release. Played just a small bit. But than problems came. I wanted to convert my key to a steam key as their FAQ states, but they disabled it and left for PAX Prime. So no support for me. After a week I got my key. Finally nice.
    I started    I loved SupCom. And hearing about PA was just amazing. I dint buy it in the Early Acess program. I wanted a full game.
    Well I bought it 2-3 days before release. Played just a small bit. But than problems came. I wanted to convert my key to a steam key as their FAQ states, but they disabled it and left for PAX Prime. So no support for me. After a week I got my key. Finally nice.
    I started playing on Steam. Wait a second. WHERE THE **** IS THE SAVE BUTTON ? Yes. You heard me. There is no save button. No where.
    Ok. Well that is really terrible design, but the game runs good I intend to finish it. But the game started crashing. For no reason. After trying to do many stuff I updated my drivers,(which under any circumstances should not be necessary). It worked. NICE.
    In my recent game I got to the point where I can shoot the death star weapon. I had my recording software ready to record it and put on YouTube. I click and CRASH. What the **** ?
    Well I can of course load the game back right ? NOPE. No there is no save button anywhere. So 45 minutes of playing lost. And now after I click play the game crashes.
    Well this surely is not 0/10.
    Than I hover over something called a STORE. Yes a STORE. And that was even in the early access version. You can buy addtional commanders for about 10 DOLLARS ! Not to mention they are already selling DLC on their website.
    Well thats disgusting. But you don't need them.
    You think ? You are right. Yeah **** the commanders. But, the game is ALWAYS ON. No offline mode of any description. As they promised there will be one at the release.
    AVOID THIS LIKE A PLAGUE.    … Expand
  9. EuthaNAZI
    Sep 7, 2014
    1
    The development is slow as hell and in more than 6 months the game almost remains the same. Menus are very incomplete and all the content is barely playable. To avoid quoting the impossibility to save a game, it is literally to impossible to play 15 seconds without encountering a troublesome bug or a difficulty to hand the gameplay, and the IA is retarded.
    This game is all the time on    The development is slow as hell and in more than 6 months the game almost remains the same. Menus are very incomplete and all the content is barely playable. To avoid quoting the impossibility to save a game, it is literally to impossible to play 15 seconds without encountering a troublesome bug or a difficulty to hand the gameplay, and the IA is retarded.
    This game is all the time on sale at reduced price, something like all 2 weeks you can see it on the first page of the humble store, which tends to tell us this is pure scam. In addition there will be an in game cash shop.

    It seems fantastic when you see the videos but this is all but what you think, I never enjoyed playing this game in it's current state and you WON'T, not because the concept is bad but because NOTHING is actually enjoyable. People reviewving 10/10 haven't played the game yet, or are paid by the company to write fake comments.

    In conclusion, this is NOT sellable. It is good on the paper, but actually: unfinished (if not just started), unpleasant to play. All leads us to think that the game will never see the daylight and will be sold cheaper and cheaper until the very moment. So now you can vote my review as negative and stay into your disillusion, go waste your money.    … Expand
  10. Thoth
    Oct 11, 2014
    6
    With offline mode now this game is very good! Nice job! Coudnt you do this at launch Uber? Planetary Annihilation is simply an awesome, "epic scale" Real Time Strategy Game. Notice I said "epic scale," not "large scale." After all, multi planet gameplay, planet smashing, thousands of units, and 40 player matches can be described as nothing less than "epic scale."
  11. elonshadow
    Jul 1, 2014
    9
    Bear in mind this game is still in development, and I do rate this game as such.

    That being said however PA is a really promising RTS, where the emphasis is really on strategy as opposed to micro intensive clicking.. The scale is just gloriously large, and the battles are among the most intense I have ever seen. If you played total annihilation and.or supreme commander, then this    Bear in mind this game is still in development, and I do rate this game as such.

    That being said however PA is a really promising RTS, where the emphasis is really on strategy as opposed to micro intensive clicking.. The scale is just gloriously large, and the battles are among the most intense I have ever seen.

    If you played total annihilation and.or supreme commander, then this game would probably be something you massively enjoy. Hell if you want an RTS that breaks away from the star craft or age of empire way of doing things you'll probably enjoy this.

    The game still needs work though, orbital combat is clunky at best, UI bugs do occur, and other issues can arise. But in all fairness this is a game in development, and every new patch that comes out brings either more content, better performance, or gets rid of some bugs. So I can't really begrudge this.

    With regards to the pricepoint, PA has been on sale for $17 recently although it should soon go back to its regular price of $40. So bear this in mind while buying. While I heartily recommend picking it up when on sale, if you don't want to actively be involved with the game while it's being developed, you might want to wait until the full release.    … Expand
  12. ThiagoF
    Sep 9, 2014
    0
    Uber made us invest on their promisses and now at the "Release" they lied to everyone.

    The game is full of bugs, have an Always Online DRM, no Offilne Mode, no Save Game Option. They said in their FAQS, and i quote: "Is there Offline Mode? During Beta, an internet connection is required to play PA. When the game releases, offline play will be allowed, as well as LAN" Uber    Uber made us invest on their promisses and now at the "Release" they lied to everyone.

    The game is full of bugs, have an Always Online DRM, no Offilne Mode, no Save Game Option.

    They said in their FAQS, and i quote:

    "Is there Offline Mode?
    During Beta, an internet connection is required to play PA. When the game releases, offline play will be allowed, as well as LAN"

    Uber solution to the problem ? They take down the FAQ lol.

    They lied to everyone and made us support something we all hate, this Always Online DRM Crap.

    And guess what, there will be no refunds from valve.

    Stay Way from this. This guys don't deserve been called Developers.    … Expand
  13. BSlGuru
    Jun 27, 2014
    10
    This is a lovely game. As it comes not finished, it's still in development yet, but its good to play. Some little bugs, but great gameplay sessions. With the galactic war update you can conquer the galaxy.

    Build up the base, protect by towers, walls, build units expand and fight. This game isn't limited by its environment. You can build up strong forces an than start the "total    This is a lovely game. As it comes not finished, it's still in development yet, but its good to play. Some little bugs, but great gameplay sessions. With the galactic war update you can conquer the galaxy.

    Build up the base, protect by towers, walls, build units expand and fight. This game isn't limited by its environment. You can build up strong forces an than start the "total annihilation" :-)
    The best is the Multiplayer. I love it!    … Expand
  14. Moke
    May 21, 2014
    9
    This is one of my favorite up and coming real time strategy's. It is in early access but there is enough there to get some good play time in.
    You can create the solar system you want to battle in. Change the orbits of the planet or planets. Each type of planet has many options to play with. All in all decent customization. Minor drawback is you can create too much in the solar system    This is one of my favorite up and coming real time strategy's. It is in early access but there is enough there to get some good play time in.
    You can create the solar system you want to battle in. Change the orbits of the planet or planets. Each type of planet has many options to play with. All in all decent customization. Minor drawback is you can create too much in the solar system making it take forever to load. This will impact the load on you computer as well as impact how long it will take you to win or lose the match. There are also pre-made solar systems to battle in.
    As of right now there is no story mode but you can fight against the AI or go online to battle players. Free for all or team battles.
    The building and units have tiers to them so you have to build up to have the best. If you've ever wanted to play command and conquer across a solar system i highly recommend this game.    … Expand
  15. brianpurkiss
    Jul 1, 2014
    10
    Planetary Annihilation is simply an awesome, "epic scale" Real Time Strategy Game. Notice I said "epic scale," not "large scale." After all, multi planet gameplay, planet smashing, thousands of units, and 40 player matches can be described as nothing less than "epic scale."

    Planetary Annihilation introduces a number of genre changing mechanics. Primarily, the randomly generated    Planetary Annihilation is simply an awesome, "epic scale" Real Time Strategy Game. Notice I said "epic scale," not "large scale." After all, multi planet gameplay, planet smashing, thousands of units, and 40 player matches can be described as nothing less than "epic scale."

    Planetary Annihilation introduces a number of genre changing mechanics. Primarily, the randomly generated spherical planets and the ability to fight on multiple planets simply hasn't been done before. Not to mention features like Planet Smashing, Galactic War (randomized campaign), and the ChronoCam. The ChronoCam allows players to rewind and fastforward gameplay in the middle of a match to watch events that they may have missed.

    On top of that, Planetary Annihilation's gameplay is fast paced, exciting, and strategy intensive. It's very possible for players to out maneuver their larger opponents, or exploit weaknesses and beat someone with a much larger army.

    If you are a fan of RTS games, I highly recommend Planetary Annihilation.    … Expand
  16. TAG_MaximuS
    Jul 2, 2014
    0
    Can or might say this is a game to ipads or androids games only,PA its too plastic cartoonish, and really really the worst rts i saw play since 2007 poor design ,and worst idea make a rts on a Sphere for a rts on 2014....

    So Taking some other words since, i rts lover (Starcraft ,the amazing Nr1 best rts ever FAForever(http://www.faforever.com/?page_id=2) and soon Etherium) and some    Can or might say this is a game to ipads or androids games only,PA its too plastic cartoonish, and really really the worst rts i saw play since 2007 poor design ,and worst idea make a rts on a Sphere for a rts on 2014....

    So Taking some other words since, i rts lover (Starcraft ,the amazing Nr1 best rts ever FAForever(http://www.faforever.com/?page_id=2) and soon Etherium) and some others...

    Rediculously Overpriced, on Track to FAIL Miserably.

    When I saw the listing at $90 for a game in early alpha, that quite frankly looks pretty lame I was shocked and worst my sister bought the game and I can see why her displeasure .
    Graphics look below average, the idea is completely unoriginal, and quite honestly I wouldn't even pay $60 for this game. I'm just quite honestly confused as to who thought they could justify a $90 price tag. Anybody else think thisthis a good rts ?

    Then you guys never try a real RTS ,Planetary Anhilation will and is already a fail, almost 2 years build and still the same .

    Im totaly disappointed with Uber team ,Lot Rts gamers hope Chris Taylor bring again the epic rts like Supreeme commander.....And FAForever...    … Expand
  17. Cyliann
    Jul 4, 2014
    0
    An utter disappointment. Where the game Isn't absolutely smacking It's face down to 2-5 FPS on high-end machines with even the most modest of firefights at lowest graphics, Its instead delivering an overwhelming mainstreamed RTS experience whereas you simply spam, spam and spam to win. And I mean it. You can literally hunk up to thousands of queues to produce units in singular factoriesAn utter disappointment. Where the game Isn't absolutely smacking It's face down to 2-5 FPS on high-end machines with even the most modest of firefights at lowest graphics, Its instead delivering an overwhelming mainstreamed RTS experience whereas you simply spam, spam and spam to win. And I mean it. You can literally hunk up to thousands of queues to produce units in singular factories and have them run there, at the end of time with a nigh infinite amount of resources. And those factories? Why, they go up in mere seconds and can spout out workers even quicker which can also build more factories..

    These wouldn't be big problems if it was applied correctly with sufficient amounts of variation but anything can wipe out anything else.. If in a sufficient quantity. Which It will be, because everything has an astonishingly long range and the concept of "walls" in this game is perhaps the biggest laughable thing. Does it block flamers? Nope. It goes through. Does it block tanks? Nope, they do splash damage on say, turrets behind the wall. Do they block artillery? Nope. Do they block airplanes? Go guess. As of right now, literally any base defense is to counter "singlar scout" harassment ordeals and nothing else so sadly, It's a massive gimmick instead of being an integrated feature of the game.

    The same goes for alot of the units as well. Take, the flamer for example. Incredibly slow moving and stubby-ranged flamethrower on wheels, boasting "alot of armor" while being 2-3 shot by sniping semi-automatic tanks which do not only boast impressive HP themselves but can also more while firing. I mean, what were they thinking? "Oh, yeah this unit will be great to crawl into enemy bases If they're 95% defenseless, oh man It's gonna wreck so much havoc with that cool fire lol" The resource system is a pathetic collection of endless money pocket pants which can only be expanded upon by increasing your max storage cap with warehouses, the combat is an unitellgible, imbalanced and poorly implemented mess and the "universe seemless combat" ordeal is a gimmck, and nothing more as literally all conflict enders are either planet collisions or uber spaceship ra!p

    The fact that the devs were trying to sell this rubbish at first for about 90€ Is enough proof for me of their narrow-sighted child mentalities but playing the game really seals the deal on just how poorly made this game is right now, and how It will almost guaranteed be in the future. Stay away,    … Expand
  18. Phry
    May 13, 2015
    3
    Not often will I go to metacritic to voice displeasure. However, this game is special in that regard. Not only did they originally charge an absurd amount for alpha access (70£ or so, a scummy move and a I sorely mourn the loss of money for anyone who paid that price), but upon 'releasing' the game, it's still, in the eyes of myself and many other RTS fans, not complete. This game doesn'tNot often will I go to metacritic to voice displeasure. However, this game is special in that regard. Not only did they originally charge an absurd amount for alpha access (70£ or so, a scummy move and a I sorely mourn the loss of money for anyone who paid that price), but upon 'releasing' the game, it's still, in the eyes of myself and many other RTS fans, not complete. This game doesn't even have co-op campaign mode. Well, it doesn't even have a campaign mode, simply a galactic war clone that 2005 titles like Star Wars Battlefront II could provide. Pathetic. In terms of innovation, the planetary aspect of this game is cool, it's just not done or fleshed out enough to warrant it's price at the moment. And what's more, there are other games that are similar, are better supported, provide a better singleplayer and multiplayer experience, and are cheaper (e.g. Supreme commander). Mostly unfufilled promises that taint what could have been a standout for its genre.

    It's also disheartening to hear the devs have already moved on to their next game. I'd suggest you don't support their new endeavor nor this one.    … Expand
  19. vomov
    Aug 15, 2015
    8
    It is awesome. Simple as that. Building a MASSIVE army that swoops over a planet, then rolls through a stargate-like structure on to the next planet, only to be annihilated in a rain of nukes. Then use the the ultimate overkill to destroy the enemy stronghold; drop a moon on his planet. Awesome.

    However, then the downside: the camera rolls with every move, navigating between planets is    It is awesome. Simple as that. Building a MASSIVE army that swoops over a planet, then rolls through a stargate-like structure on to the next planet, only to be annihilated in a rain of nukes. Then use the the ultimate overkill to destroy the enemy stronghold; drop a moon on his planet. Awesome.

    However, then the downside: the camera rolls with every move, navigating between planets is difficult, if not impossible, units are frequently 'lost' (meaning I can't find them), and the speed of construction and destruction is such that the gameplay becomes a chaos of little icons. It's impossible to play the larger maps with this game.    … Expand
  20. theirrelephants
    Mar 7, 2016
    3
    Take Supreme Commander one. Now make the graphics a hundred times worse, remove most of the interesting units, and add one mildly entertaining gimmick and a whole load of bugs and framerate issues, lots of them. There, now you know what planetary annihilation is like. Oh, and I hope you have 60 gigs of ram as well.

    Worth picking up for an hour or two of fun if you can get it for a    Take Supreme Commander one. Now make the graphics a hundred times worse, remove most of the interesting units, and add one mildly entertaining gimmick and a whole load of bugs and framerate issues, lots of them. There, now you know what planetary annihilation is like. Oh, and I hope you have 60 gigs of ram as well.

    Worth picking up for an hour or two of fun if you can get it for a couple bucks. Otherwise, don't bother.    … Expand
  21. zwedizhfizh
    Oct 16, 2014
    6
    I paid way too much for this game, but I did have some fun. The overall experience is flawed with crappy UI and AI, but the multiplayer is expansive and worth trying. I loved the original Total Annihilation game and this wasn't like that, it was something different entirely. I just wanted to smash stuff together, and in this game I get to do that albeit very slowly.
  22. bluesmoke97
    Jan 12, 2015
    10
    With all the RTS games I have purchased this ranks #1 in my book age of empires coming in second.
    Why this game is getting such a bad rep is beyond me most people are rating it bad because there computer cant handle it or they cant micro enough once they have units on multiple planets, which honestly to rate a game like that isn't fair to the game at all its infact slightly ignorant of    With all the RTS games I have purchased this ranks #1 in my book age of empires coming in second.
    Why this game is getting such a bad rep is beyond me most people are rating it bad because there computer cant handle it or they cant micro enough once they have units on multiple planets, which honestly to rate a game like that isn't fair to the game at all its infact slightly ignorant of you. I can tell you right now microing in this game is actually easy once you get the hang of it but hey some people are ♥♥♥♥♥ who cant do 2 things at once.
    Enough of my ♥♥♥♥♥ing as to why this game is getting bad ratings lets talk about why the game is good.
    Now One of the big complaints i have been seeing on review websites such as meta critic and ign is that they are saying the game is unfinished now these reviews i have been reading are several months old and in my opion i think need to be removed.This game has so many units and so many methods of strategy and depth its insane and all i have been seeing is its unfinished and its gliching and there aren't enough units, And i cant understand why, this game has more means of combat then any other strat game i have played and to list some i have played age of empires all three of them Ruse, company of hero's, stronghold the complete collection, supreme commander, battle of empires, civ and several others. To list some means of strat you can do land air sea orbital you can freaking launch bots to another damn planet out of a cannon that is freaking badass, you can nuke them use cannons that have massive range or just straight up shoot there planet with a damn laser. This game is balanced i have also seen people rating it bad because it has one faction and that i don't understand as well most games have 1 or 2 factions and even with that they have issues staying balanced that is why age of empires is such a great game but with all the unit diversity this game has it might as well be all the civs in age. NOT to mention how big your army can get from what i have played thus far there is no limit to size its insane and with no lag as well and you can control of them even in age you cant select all of your military units over 60. SO I BEG YOU STOP RATING THIS GAME BECAUSE YOU ARE BAD AT IT OR CAUSE IT DOESNT RUN RATE THIS GAME FOR WHAT IT IS AND IF YOU WROTE A REVIEW AWHILE BACK PLAY THE GAME AND REWRITE IT. People need to rate this game on what it does good and bad and the bads are a minimal but lets talk about some.
    SO what does this game do bad not much actually i have encounter one screen glitch but it was most likely my computer instead of the game, sometimes all my units wont move up when the frontlines attack but that is easy to fix.
    So to end this i would give this game a a 9/10 and honestly from what i have played so far it deserves it. its the most innovative rts i have ever played and highly recommend you pick it up for 30$ and if it goes on sale buy it while you can.    … Expand
  23. SantoWare
    Oct 7, 2015
    10
    Planetary Annihilation: Best RTS ever, but not easy to play as a Hunter to get up in ranking games. Just learn to be fast to make a big army and every time you play you ll love PA more and more. PA must be Olimpic Sport.
  24. UnDeAdOvErLoRd
    Sep 28, 2014
    3
    If you are a fan of RTS's and strategy games in general stay away from this it will leave a bad taste in your mouth. I Backed this on kick-starter and was extremely exited for it. The betas had promise to them and im unsure how the release got worse than the betas however it did and im very sad i invested 90$ into this game let alone a few hours of my life. I highly encourage and RTS fanIf you are a fan of RTS's and strategy games in general stay away from this it will leave a bad taste in your mouth. I Backed this on kick-starter and was extremely exited for it. The betas had promise to them and im unsure how the release got worse than the betas however it did and im very sad i invested 90$ into this game let alone a few hours of my life. I highly encourage and RTS fan that is looking for a new game to get Supreme Commander Forged Alliance still the best IMO.

    Like other reviews have said single player is a joke as long as you spawn more units and are lucky with the tech you find its a guarantee win no strategy involved. I am not a huge multi-player on these games so I cant really comment on that aspect of the game however from reading other reviews not good. We were promised an RTS just as good as SC and TA and were given something that should be on the APP STORE for 5$.    … Expand
  25. James009
    Sep 28, 2014
    3
    This game was supposed to be the spiritual successor to Supreme Commander but I have no idea how they ruined this game so badly. Firstly, the interface is lacking for a modern RTS, this is especially blatant when you have multiple planets and areas of operations. I feel that, given the scope, it is just too difficult to control everything as a solitary human.
  26. BrotherAlpha
    Sep 11, 2014
    4
    Summary: An incredible vision marred by poor execution. The battles are epic but the interface and campaign bugs are overtly frustrating.

    Planetary Annihilation is a real time strategy game aimed to achieve epic battles over entire solar systems. It can almost be termed a 4E's game (that's explore, expand, exploit and exterminate) presented in the fashion of RTS. Unlike traditional    Summary: An incredible vision marred by poor execution. The battles are epic but the interface and campaign bugs are overtly frustrating.

    Planetary Annihilation is a real time strategy game aimed to achieve epic battles over entire solar systems. It can almost be termed a 4E's game (that's explore, expand, exploit and exterminate) presented in the fashion of RTS. Unlike traditional RTS games, battles are forged across a the spherical landscape of planets and between one planet and the next.

    The goal is simple - eliminate your competition. The game provides many means to achieve your goal, from standard land battles, to transporting units to other planets and even by exploiting moons to crash into your opponent's planet.

    It all sounds well and good. Epic struggles with a host of weapons at your disposal. The problems start to occur with the rather clunky interface which (somewhat understandably) has failed to evolve effectively with the scale of the battles. Navigating your solar system is unnecessarily time consuming and transporting units is painful at the best of times.

    There is a chronic lack of information on how to control your units effectively which may leave you hunting through Google for information repeatedly. The tutorial also did not work for this user. Key binding options are there, but there are no options to re-bind mouse controls.

    The Galactic War (campaign) is fraught with strife. Often battles will end in a stalemate because you don't have the technology to find the enemy commander (eg. they're in an transport unit over lava and the game hasn't yet provided the necessary technology for you to produce aircraft to shoot them down).

    The AI is both cunning and annoying. It is well aware of how to play guerrilla warfare tactics and will launch full scale attacks where you least expect it. The AI will make full use of resources it can find and use them to see to your demise.

    Planetary Annihilation is a game with huge potential, but the clunky interface and inherent problems in the campaign will soon lead to frustration. If you are the kind of player who can overlook these issues, you may find a true gem under the somewhat grimy surface.

    About myself: I am an avid RTS player originating from the Dune 2 era. I have played heavily Command & Conquer, Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander but never fell fond of the Starcraft/Warcraft series.    … Expand
  27. hw75
    Dec 1, 2014
    0
    The game is now down to 5 bucks but still not worth buying. Completely unfinished, many promises were made when it was still at a whopping 90 euros (!) in alpha stage. Without doubt this title was just aimed to make profit with early access rip off. The publishers even tried to create another kickstarter project while this one still had lots of work, plenty of bugs and lack of basic RTSThe game is now down to 5 bucks but still not worth buying. Completely unfinished, many promises were made when it was still at a whopping 90 euros (!) in alpha stage. Without doubt this title was just aimed to make profit with early access rip off. The publishers even tried to create another kickstarter project while this one still had lots of work, plenty of bugs and lack of basic RTS elements and simple game features like saving. People who wrote bad critics in Steam forums simply got banned.

    The concept and idea of planetary warfare was pretty nice, but the final result is just a joke. I wouldn't be surprised if the company dissolves and they come up with another name because their reputation is completely down the drain now.    … Expand
  28. GiantJunkBox
    Sep 11, 2014
    4
    Just picked up this game a few days ago with the hopes of a Supreme Commander like experience. No such luck ;(.

    The system requirements state that the game requires 4GB of memory and that 8GB is recommended. I have 8GB of memory, and even in small solar systems, the game quickly consumes the entire 8GB then crashes to the desktop - talk about a buzz kill... But between the crashes I    Just picked up this game a few days ago with the hopes of a Supreme Commander like experience. No such luck ;(.

    The system requirements state that the game requires 4GB of memory and that 8GB is recommended. I have 8GB of memory, and even in small solar systems, the game quickly consumes the entire 8GB then crashes to the desktop - talk about a buzz kill...

    But between the crashes I have a chance to play, what appears to be, a completely unfinished game. There is a very limited number of units, weapons, and strategies. Many of the game play mechanics are underdeveloped. Also I appreciate the idea of a plant down sphere view instead of the typical flat map. I can see how it could be really cool - but it isn't. It's hard to use and just awkward.

    I think if they actually finished this game it could have been and '8', but as they get a '4'.    … Expand
  29. Gamma117
    Sep 14, 2014
    3
    Planetary Annihilation is not a game that deserve the time or money it asks from you, especially when its predecessors will considerably over-deliver in every regard. The concept of the game is certainly unique but unfortunately it is to its own detriment as the game-play feels forcibly wrapped around the idea of fighting across different bodies in space. The game's existence is so focusedPlanetary Annihilation is not a game that deserve the time or money it asks from you, especially when its predecessors will considerably over-deliver in every regard. The concept of the game is certainly unique but unfortunately it is to its own detriment as the game-play feels forcibly wrapped around the idea of fighting across different bodies in space. The game's existence is so focused around this one idea yet it isn't particularly well executed nor is it actually rewarding to the player in any meaningful way. You will play PA wanting to love the ability of playing a real time strategy across a solar system but the experience is unfortunately severely hindered by many shortcomings in features and design. Here are my thoughts as to where Uber's game goes wrong:

    At its core PA is a basic RTS. Battle for resources, use those resources for development of stronger armies and then destroy your opponent's commander. You're most engaged when you can keep track of those tasks at the most basic technology level. The game shines when things are kept simple but that's not saying much because it doesn't feel like there's much of a strategy beyond building a mob of units of the same type and hurling them at your enemy's weakest point of entry. In order to win you'll have to travel to other planets and build more advanced units, this is where the game quickly breaks down. The game becomes frustratingly unforgiving when you're expected to always be making the best decision as to what to do over multiple planets, across the orbital layer, the air layer and the ground layer. Focus is a resource in its own right and it just becomes unreasonable to pay attention to so many things going on. It can be better to play on a system with one or two planets, which defeats the premise of the game entirely.

    Nothing makes planets particularly interesting beyond there being multiple planets. Each body in space is created through procedural generation by an algorithm which in turn means there's no level design to speak of. Literally most of the planets you come across are simply more-or-less smooth spheres which makes them devoid of interesting game-play situations created by map design. Earth-like and lava planets do have some features such as ravines and mountains but these aren't placed with any purpose. You can create your own planets but there's no way to place features or paint tools to increase height or draw water. Map balance goes out the window which might of helped to relieve some of the pressure of having to defend your every outpost and every base from all angles.

    The sense of scale is surprisingly poor. Whilst you fight in a solar system there's no way to immediately get a good idea of what's happening all at once. At any given point you can only see, at best, half the face of a single planet or less. You'll have to awkwardly navigate around the entire solar system to understand what's going on or deal with problems as they arise, further draining your attention.

    The single player component is pathetic. You're essentially briefed that robots of other colors are bad and that you need to kill them. That's it. You then navigate a procedural generated map of the galaxy made up of 30-50 star systems. You start with almost no tech and gain it from exploring systems. You're given 5-13 freebie pieces of tech, most of which will be useless, then expected to fight on every other star system with an AI to the point of completing the map. The game's AI is brutal, it can micro every unit everywhere which makes it almost impossible to beat after a certain point. Your best bet is to bum rush it soon after the match begins in hopes that you cripple it long enough for you to gain an economic lead. If you win, you gain a new technology (which will likely be useless) and move onto the next fight. I've always hoped there was a chance you find a pocket of empty star systems where you can find upgrades but you're denied this reward and expected to jump straight back into another fight. The galactic war is essentially a skirmish match but you're gimped in a randomly given way. There's no balance to this. You'll often be missing advanced tech in the early stages which disadvantages you considerably. This entire mode is a waste of time.

    The game is nowhere close to what could be considered a finished release, it's as if the game is still in alpha but has been pushed out to retail. There's no offline mode, so you can't even play the single player component without internet access. There's no laddering system, so you're frequently go up against better players who will considerably outperform you which is very disheartening. There's no documentation to speak of, you're expected to figure everything out yourself. Lots of promised features are missing. Naval is useless. The game performs extremely poorly, bringing even the most powerful computers to their knees. The list goes on.

    I can't recommend PA to anyone.    … Expand
  30. psyfox22
    Sep 12, 2014
    4
    This game was a beautiful concept, and it still has the chance to be great, but it is currently just not ready to move beyond beta. I've logged over 50 hours playing the beta. I'm a single player kind of gamer. It's what I like. The campaign map is great, though you can easily end up with an extremely underwhelming load out if you get a bad luck of the draw, to the point even the easiestThis game was a beautiful concept, and it still has the chance to be great, but it is currently just not ready to move beyond beta. I've logged over 50 hours playing the beta. I'm a single player kind of gamer. It's what I like. The campaign map is great, though you can easily end up with an extremely underwhelming load out if you get a bad luck of the draw, to the point even the easiest game play setting would be impossible to beat. Water units are next to pointless. Most of the planets with water are covered by more than 90% land anyhow. Also the game requires that single player missions occur on a remote server. It is not unusual for the server to freeze up and lag out on you. I had a great example of this today. I beat a campaign and it froze out. I still could move around the map and select units, they just didn't do anything because the remote server was locked up. I decided to test to see how long it would take the explosion for the enemy commander. I was done with the computer for a while anyhow. In the end it took over 4 hours for the final enemy commander to complete his nuclear blast and me to get credit for beating the map. I wasn't at the computer for most of it, I just walked off and would check on it occasionally.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

42
#42 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
62

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 18
  3. Negative: 2 out of 18
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Nov 1, 2014
    50
    A frustrating experience. [Nov 2014, p.60]
  2. GameSpot
    Oct 31, 2014
    70
    True, its best qualities can be obscured in the early going by its unforgiving difficulty and the absence of good tutorials, but even when you're overwhelmed, speedy combat and smart AI reel you in. Give it time, and the fast and furious combat smooth out the rough edges into a compelling and challenging strategy game.
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  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 25, 2014
    70
    Planetary Annihilation looks and feels underwhelming. Interplanetary combat might seem fun on paper, but gameplay-wise it's an absolute chore. And that's just it, Planetary Annihilation is missing all the FUN which was present on Supreme Commander - a much better successor to Total Annihilation. [Oct 2014]
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