Games like Planetary Annihilation: TITANS owe much to their inspiration. Just like Supreme Commander, it is a game that would not have existed without the success of the cult 90s hit, Total Annihilation. Players begin with a Commander unit that much like the king in chess, must survive. They construct bases, harvest resources, build armies, fight.

It might seem like any other RTS but TITANS has its defining points. Players can launch interplanetary nukes or even send a moon to slam into an enemy-held planet, already living up to the game’s title. Fabricators despatched to other worlds can construct teleporters to bring entire armies through to open up a new front.

TITANS can appear daunting at first. Armies that are successful on one planet may not be suited for a campaign on the next. Planet biomes vary from barren rocks to those nearly covered in water. Land, sea, and air units must all be used in your path to victory. High above this is the orbital layer where satellites and units can battle it out.

But of course, the real stars of the show are the eponymous TITANS, game-breaking units that cost the resource equivalent of a small army. Armed with super weapons, they can destroy entire armies and add an entertaining aspect to the game.

The game is challenging. The vulnerability of your Commander, the multitude of battlefields, the vectors of attack, they all require your attention and TITANS requires you to repeatedly shift from location to location. The AI is challenging and will take advantage of any lapse in your concentration. The multi-level terrain allows for tactical options that weren’t available in the original game. It makes bottlenecking assaults and forming stronger defensive positions possible adding greater depth to the ground combat.

A game that prides itself on its scale, TITANS patches up the mistakes made by its predecessor for a much more streamlined experience.