Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is a fantasy tag-team match on a global scale. It's melodrama. It's excitement. It works. Like some classic tag-team grudge match, TA: Kingdoms features two good kingdoms (Aramon and Veruna, representing the powers of Earth and Water respectively) against two evil kingdoms (Taros and Zhon, representing Fire and Air). The wrestling ring comprises an entire world called Darien, where ambient magic called "mana" powers everything. The kingdom of Aramon resembles a magical version of the Roman Empire - benevolent imperialists - while Veruna is more cosmopolitan (think Venice during Marco Polo's era). Taros seems a near-demonic depiction of totalitarianism (complete with landscapes from hell), while Zhon has all the chaos of a sorcerous Third World nation set on a primitive continent. All four civilizations use magic, but the good kingdoms escalate warfare with gunpowder, while the evil kingdoms up the ante with sorcery.

In multiplayer terms, it's easy to imagine double crosses and stabs in the back. The global wrestling ring comes to life in a four-player struggle for domination. In single-player terms, the game features one continuous story from beginning to end, but you'll have to change sides (as the gamer, not as a character within the story) from time to time in order to experience the entire story. Designer Clayton Kauzlaric likes to think of the story as a novelized perspective. When you shift sides, your viewpoint changes, complete with differences in interface art and music, as well as different units, spells, and powers at your disposal. Since the mage kings (the commander units) of the four kingdoms are the offspring of the same immortal mage emperor, the storyline in TA: Kingdoms adds the spice of sibling rivalry to the standard good-guys-versus-bad-guys conflict.

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Next: Kingdoms continued