In Total Control the player controls one of six rival parties which want to gain control of a random generated world. The game starts in the sector of the map were his base lies. The first tasks is to build all necessary buildings and troops. Mines are used to get four different kinds of ore which ensure the cash flow. Other buildings have the use of defending the base, e.g. anti-aircraft gun or radar towers, or attacking the enemy, e.g. combat robots or aircraft fabrics. A computer central improves the performance of all other buildings. Every building can be upgraded separately.

The main goal is to military defeat the other parties. At first the player needs to know where the enemy sits and uses his scout planes for this matter. With transporters the robots get to the enemy base. The combat is completely in real time but air combat gets fight out in an extra screen as opposed to the world map were the rest of the game takes place.