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Command and Conquer Epic Gaming HistoryBy forum member OvermindScroll down to view the entire article, or use the links below to jump to a particular section.
Command & Conquer
"He who controls the past commands the future. And he who commands the future conquers the past." Command & Conquer: Generations
Above all rivals in real time strategy at the time, Command & Conquer (a game produced by Westwood Studios) takes the steps toward a unique concept that was to have a bright and shiny future. The game is set in a future world where Government and anti-Government forces fight for supremacy. The player is given the choice to choose between the Government 'oppressor' forces, represented by the Global Defense Initiative, and the freedom 'terrorist' force, the Brotherhood of Nod. Each side is offering different types of infantry, vehicles and weapons. The game features a wide range of missions with varied objectives and sometimes multiple goals. The war is presented with the help of over 40 minutes of complex, vividly-rendered, cinematic presentation. It starts with an intro that shows a video sequence of the bombing of the fictional Grain Trade Center in Vienna. This act is blamed on Nod and their leader, Kane. The first war between GDI and Nod starts. The conflict centers on control of the Tiberium resource, an exotic and alien substance that extracts minerals from the land it sits upon and deposits them in toxic, above-ground crystals that can be processed into usable materials. Tiberium is never fully explained in the series, and is constantly surrounded in a mystery which only deepens as the storyline progresses throughout Command & Conquer (including the other C&C games). The shroud that covers tiberium is disturbed only by EVA, according to whom, Tiberium is a new non-carbon based life form. While the GDI focuses their research on making Tiberium into useful materials and ways to prevent any damage to Earth's people and ecosystem, Nod's position is exactly the opposite: to embrace Tiberium as the way towards evolution. Kane, Nod's leader, appears to have plans to convert the entire world to a Tiberium-based ecosystem. "Men of war have long known that warriors must often abandon those verities they defend: peace, honesty, kindness... for they hold no meaning to the enemy. And so, to win, do we become what we despise... and despise what we become?" The GDI was created by status quo nations (the old U.N.) to counter Kane's plans for a new world order. GDI started to impose rules, regulations and restrictions until ultimately they had to impose everything by military domination. I do not see the GDI-Nod issue as a good vs. evil situation. Each has its good and its evil parts. It is our nature to fear a dark purpose in that which we do not understand. But true evil may lie more in ignorance than in suspicion. Each side wants the overall good, but they want to obtain it by any means necessary. "As long as an enemy is judged solely by his appearance, his victory is assured." Who won the first tiberum war is somewhat unclear. In the GDI campaign, the First Tiberium War comes to an end when Kane's temple in Sarajevo is destroyed by a final GDI assault. The Nod campaign results in a Nod victory over the GDI, however the series assumes a GDI victory when the storyline is revisited later on in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. The Covert Operations add-on has various missions that however show a concurrent campaign occurring. At the end of the conflict, GDI has won the war in Europe by capturing and destroying the Temple of Nod with the aid of the Ion Cannon. To prevent the loss of Nod controlled Africa, the player must take a Nod strike team and destroy an advanced communications system located on the continent in order to ensure that GDI does not regain dominance. Other missions (i.e. "Infiltration") suggest an ongoing attempt by GDI to deploy back into Nod controlled Africa as the map uses desert terrain textures. The overall evidence suggests that the Nod campaign ended prior to GDI success in Europe. Further, as the introduction video introduces a GDI taskforce somewhere in the Mediterranean, it is very unlikely that the Nod campaign ended before the GDI campaign starts.
The Covert Operations add-on for Command & Conquer features 15 new missions, new music tracks and multiplayer maps. Unlike the original campaign, these can be played at any time and in any order, and are not accompanied by mission briefing cut scenes. Covert Operations was originally unlocking the secret dinosaur missions, which were later enabled by a patch to the main game. The following release consisted of Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor, which was a multiplayer addition of the original Command & Conquer. It featured a death match-like style game in which each player controls a unit of the original Command & Conquer game and travels around the game arena collecting crates to increase this unit's firepower, armor, speed and RoF. The original Command and Conquer also featured a hero class unit called Commando, equipped with a sniper rifle and C4 charges for buildings.
"Our choices define us and sometimes... doom us." The Red Alert series is set in an alternate time-line, created when Albert Einstein goes back in time to assassinate Hitler before he ever comes to power, in an attempt to prevent World War II. The plan works, and with Hitler out of the picture, Nazi Germany never materializes. "Idealists often dream of having the power to save the world. But would that dream turn into a nightmare if saving the world could also mean destroying it?" Einstein's plan worked, but it had unforeseen consequences. Stalin is now turning the war machine towards the West, invading Europe and raining destruction and terror on those unfortunate enough to find themselves standing in his way. And that's where the player comes in, either Allied or Soviet. Allied players will rely on stealth, spies, tricks and surprises, while the Soviets will place their money on brutal force. In Red Alert, we get to see the best units' design and functionality in a real-time strategy game. The variety of forces and structures is unmatched, providing players with an almost unlimited stock of possibilities with which to terminate their enemy. The hero unit for the Allied faction is Agent Tanya. She has the ability to kill infantry in one shot and plant C-4 explosives on structures, demolishing them instantly. In Counterstrike and Aftermath, the Soviets gain their own heroes, the cybernetic super-soldier Volkov and his canine companion, Chitzkoi. Volkov is equipped with C4, like Agent Tanya, and can kill infantry and vehicles with a few shots. Chitzkoi can jump up cliffs when attacking, and is quicker than the normal Attack Dog. Red Alert comes with a level of depth and complexity that will keep any future designer in shadows. The level design found in Red Alert's single player campaign is also a very big plus. A large number of levels scale between quick assaults and long-term strategic planning, hostage rescue and enemy extermination. Red Alert doesn't necessarily require an overwhelming force to win. With the right mix of units, good timing and a good plan you can win against an enemy that otherwise would be considered superior. The action is supported by cut scenes which dramatically illustrate results, actions and conclusions. The animated cut scenes are simply awesome, surpassing even the ones in the original C&C. The mission briefings with live actors are also impressive and fit well into the story line. The advanced graphical effects (for that time) were also a superb addition to the game. Chain explosions, smoke trails, animated Hinds and a lot more special effects make the visuals very pleasant to look at. The sound system was also up to the expectations. Realistic sounds combined with intensive techno-military music make the Red Alert experience unique. The multiplayer part is not forgettable either -high protocol compatibility, a good AI usable in skirmish and unlimited strategy possibilities. It's a legendary game, one of the best you'll ever find in the world of PC games. "Good and evil are just a matter of perspective." Although the game provides Allied and Soviet campaigns, Red Alert 2 will follow the result of the Allied Campaign, although the overall influence is not high, since Red Alert 2 action happens in the USA, not Europe.
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Released in 1999, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun was a highly-anticipated sequel to the original Command & Conquer. It was built on a 3D engine that utilized isometric perspectives with varying terrain height, dynamic lighting (which allowed real-time day/night cycles), as well as several special effects such as ion and meteor storms. Tiberian Sun also featured urban maps, allowing the player to use that environment to his advantage. Tiberian Sun's engine introduces voxel technology, later improved and used in Red Alert 2. The terrain is deformable, allowing the formation of craters of varying depths and bridges to be destroyed. In addition, Tiberium fields could be detonated (intentionally or not). Tiberian Sun used traditional cinematic shots differing from Red Alert's FMV sequences, filmed from first-person perspective. The music is different from the original, being slow and moody, good to fit with an apocalyptic background. There was also a release of one audio CD containing the in-game soundtracks. A few very special additions to the game were the composite defenses and the gates to go alongside the already existing walls. Two futuristic mech-walker units were also introduced to GDI's side (the Wolverine and the larger Titan), replacing the more conventional tanks the faction had used within the original Command & Conquer. This was somewhat expected from the end of previous C&C related previews that showed an experimental mech-walker prototype. "Religious devotion can lead people away from temptation and evil. But is the path as clear if that devotion is blind?" Tiberian Sun's storyline followed the continuing struggle for world domination between GDI and Nod. Nod's leader and GDI's public enemy #1, Kane, resurfaces from an apparently faked death nearly 40 years after the initial conflict, which sets off the Second Tiberium War between the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod. The Tiberium issue becomes even more complex and foggy because things start to revolve around the question of why Tiberium actually came to Earth. The discovery of an Alien spacecraft and a mysterious object known as the Tacitus deepens the mystery even more. Tiberian Sun is overall a controversial game. Delays caused a total development time of four and a half years. The game performance was found to be sluggish on all but the latest computers of the time. Many of Tiberian Sun's innovative features, (intelligent and adaptive skirmish AI, unit veterancy and real-time lighting) had to be reduced as a result of the time constraints. The Second Tiberium war finally ends with the battle in Cairo and Kane's attempt to launch a MIRV-ICBM into the upper atmosphere to spread tiberium throughout the atmosphere. However, GDI finally defeats Nod in Cairo and Kane is supposedly killed by McNeil himself. "Evolution is inevitable" Westwood Studios later would eliminate many of the performance and stability problems of Tiberian Sun, and would reuse its 3D engine for the production of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun - Firestorm
Firestorm, the expansion pack of Tiberian Sun, introduced several new missions for each faction which followed the conclusion of the main game's GDI campaign. Firestorm featured several new units and structures for both factions, and followed a story where GDI and Nod were shown as being compelled to reluctantly join forces in order to overcome Nod's renegade artificial intelligence, CABAL. "Each of us is forced to make choices about our destinies. Those choices can turn an ordinary man into a king, or reduce him to little more than a simple pawn. With the fate of the world in your hands, what would you do, what would you choose?" Before the release of C&C3: Tiberium Wars in 2007, Firestorm's campaign line was unique in the Command & Conquer series as it was the first to feature ending sequences for the GDI and Nod. The actions took place simultaneously, both endings being considered 'official' storyline. Until then, unfortunately for the overall story, only the actions and events which occurred during the GDI campaigns were considered canon story throughout all other Command & Conquer games, with the events portrayed in the Brotherhood of Nod campaigns having traditionally been treated as alternate realities. Following Nod's defeat in TS, GDI battles the remaining Nod forces, which are once again without a leader. Eventually, Nod's AI computer system CABAL, will be reactivated, become a renegade faction of its own and start to build a full cyborg army. GDI and Nod eventually call a cease-fire and unite their forces in order to destroy CABAL. However, it is unclear if CABAL was really destroyed. In Tiberian Sun, hero units consisted of Umagon (infantry eradicator - single player only), Ghost Stalker (equipped C4 for structures and rail gun for units) the Cyborg Commando (multi-killer of anything with 3 shots at most, including buildings) and the Mutant Hijacker (who could steal one's vehicle). Only one of these hero units could be trained at a time. Another hero-like unit was the Mammoth MK2 walker that was equipped with two SAM launchers and two rail guns that could cause very large amounts of damage.
"What is our last line of defense? Is it the military, with all of their power and might? Or is it the courage of a solitary man?" Renegade is a first-person shooter in which the player takes the role of Captain Nick "Havoc" Parker, a GDI commando during the war against Nod. The game timeline is set in the final few weeks of the storyline portrayed in Command & Conquer. There's plenty of story - including missing scientists, a civilian resistance, top-secret technology and super-soldier experiments. The story is not very clear from start, and bits and pieces of information are often flung at you (via radio) while in the heat of battle, making it hard to absorb, but interesting to analyze. The game engine, called "Westwood 3D", was developed in-house by Westwood. It could support real world physics and allowed seamless movement from indoor to outdoor environments. The game also took on one of the most unique approaches to the FPS genre: through the game, the player can enter and destroy enemy structures with C4 explosives, and drive mammoth tanks, MRLSs and other classic Command & Conquer vehicles. At the time, these were unique FPS concepts. Only after a few years later, other FPS games started to implement some of these elements. The engine also supports switching to third-person mode at any time. The missions themselves are massive. The W3D engine is capable of rendering spectacularly huge areas. If you can detect a structure far in the distance, there's a good chance you might soon find yourself standing outside it, or probably even inside it. In many ways, this is a huge plus because unlike games created with the Quake or Half-Life engines, you're not constantly interrupted by loading screens, and the game has a good flow because of it. Oh... and I forgot to mention, you get to shoot an obelisk using a Mammoth tank. There are some bright spots for the game's audio. Many of the sounds and voices from the original C&C have been included in Renegade, including the nice, classic, female "unit ready" voice. The music is good, even if it doesn't compare to a piece like Red Alert's "Hell March", and it serves its purpose well. The multiplayer mode is one that combined RTS and FPS elements. The player could individually purchase and drive vehicles within a given budget. A vehicle could also be manned by a team of two players, one being the driver and one being the gunner. The player could even target and launch the Ion Cannon or Nuclear Warhead superweapons. Destroying specific enemy buildings would, depending on the structure type, cripple electrical power, Tiberium gathering, or unit production. The ultimate objective was to fully eradicate the opponent's base. The game overall had enough unique elements to make it a very good experience even years later.
Renegade 2 was to be another first-person shooter game using an updated version of the "Westwood 3D" engine. The game had two build versions; the first version of Renegade 2 was drafted as a connection to Tiberian Dawn from Red Alert 2. However, this was terminated in favor of a Red Alert 2 based FPS that was supposed to take place in the post Yuri's Revenge world. The storyline was about a rogue Soviet commander attacking America to avenge the honor of Premier Romanov (The commander was of Romanov bloodline). Most units designed were based on Red Alert 2 styles. It is very unfortunate that there was no release. What could a C&C player want more than driving an Apocalypse Tank?
Command & Conquer: Continuum was to be Westwood's second MMORPG, developed on the "Westwood 3D" engine, set in the Tiberian Universe. It was canceled, due to the unfortunate termination of Westwood Studios in 2003. As said by Adam 'Ishmael' Isgreen and Rade Stojsavljevic, it was supposed to be a non-stand-and-swing MMORPG, featuring:
Unfortunately, the game did not get to see the light of day.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
"Along with futures we dare not imagine, come choices we dare not make." In Red Alert 2, the Soviet Union invades the United States, using mind control technology to capture US forces and render useless the United States' nuclear arsenal. Unlike Red Alert, the Red Alert 2 games do not make any explicit or passive references to the Tiberian series. Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 is the sequel to the popular 1996 spin-off of Westwood's superb real-time strategy game. The game isn't a dramatic technological improvement over any of its predecessors, and its hammy alternate-World War II setting borders on being tasteless. However, Red Alert 2 is a very polished game that combines tried-and-true play mechanics with enough new features, improvements, and enhancements to make it both an excellent sequel and a great real-time strategy game in its own right. The voxel system used in Tiberian Sun is improved and the units look very good for this level of technology. Red Alert 2 retains many of the conventional rules established in the various Command & Conquer real-time strategy games. The view is an isometric perspective typical of most other 2D real-time strategy games, and you play using most of the same exact controls from previous Command & Conquer games. You can easily select and move your groups of units, which generally do a good job navigating the game's environments. The units are autonomous (this is a very important aspect that functions flawlessly) in more important ways - they're good about automatically acquiring enemy targets, and they're generally responsive to orders, if only because the game itself plays very smoothly. The right vertical interface bar in Red Alert 2 will seem instantly familiar if you've played other Command & Conquer games before. The difference is that you'll find that this particular interface is actually much better. The lower portion of the interface, which is used for building all the various units and structures available to your faction, is divided under four tabs and you can click on the respective production tab to see all your available base infrastructure, base defenses, infantry units, and vehicle units. This division makes it easy to quickly find the right unit or structure you want to build. Red Alert 2 also lets you queue up multiple units for production, set rally points, and customize the keyboard hotkeys to your preference. Overall, it brings a lot of very good improvements. You can build land vehicles, ships, and air units all at once from the vehicles tab. The infantry has a different tab. The game looks better than Tiberian Sun, although similar because it's the same engine. The graphics in Red Alert 2 are colorful and detailed. The custom color palette really makes the environments ok for the given circumstances. For the audio, each unit audibly confirms whenever you select it or tell it to move and each one sounds different. Red Alert 2's soundtrack is a departure from the previous Red Alert and comes with straightforward heavy-metal guitar riffs. You can also control the volume for the sound effects, speech, and music independently. Overall, the music is not like in Red Alert, but is good. Like in all other Command & Conquer games, you must harvest your resources from mineral patches of ore by using special mining vehicles that are very different for the two sides. The Allied chrono-miner can instantly teleport back to its refinery as soon as it's full. If you need to rescue it in a pinch, you can also make it teleport back to base at will. It' a great advantage in critical situations. The Soviet miner is more self-reliant: heavily armored, and packing a powerful machine gun that can shred groups of infantry and light vehicles. Neither of these vehicles is susceptible to early-game attacks that might otherwise cripple a player's economy before he could assemble a sizable force. This is a great thing that prevents early spam, a big problem Tiberium Wars was to have. Also, for early rush prevention, main battle tanks have a build time multiplier, meaning that they will actually build slower that the rest of the units. The new unit in-game mini-movie presentation is also exceptional. Units are described very well, especially the Soviet ones. The Soviet Apocalypse presentation as 'expected to be the last unit standing' just makes you go boom. As the other C&C games used to, Red Alert 2 introduces a number of unique units and structures too. The Soviet vehicle-shredder Terror Drone, the Allied neutron Chrono Legionnaire and the Weather Storm Superweapon are just some examples. The Campaigns are worth playing with both the Allies and the Soviets. In addition to a short, optional tutorial, the campaigns each have enough missions, and they won't take too long to finish if you know what you are doing. At the same time, they offer a lot of variety, and they're generally of very high quality. You can actually garrison your troops in various buildings on maps populated with structures and lay claim to neutral structures such as hospitals, airports, machine shops. The full-motion video sequences use live actors, just like its predecessor, to show the continuing story in between each mission. The video sequences are well made and generally amusing. (I found Crazy Ivan blowing up the ready-to-kick-a$$ Allied General Carville very funny.) In Red Alert 2, the hero units were Tanya (Allies) and Yuri (Soviets). Tanya has almost the same 'specs' as in the original Red Alert, while Yuri is able to mind-control enemy units. Red Alert 2's true lasting value is the great multiplayer mode. Multiplayer Red Alert 2 plays smoothly and seems stable over a fast Internet connection, unlike the newest C&C3:TW. The multiplayer balance is ok. The Soviets have a slight early advantage, while the Allies will dominate the end-game. Overall, both sides have good chances of winning with a small overall advantage to the allied side. For example, the Allies get both the Spy Satellite and Gap Generator, while the old Red Alert Spy Plane is not given to the Soviets. The game offers several different multiplayer variations, in addition to options for disabling superweapons and more. In multiplayer and skirmish, you actually choose a specific nationality (choice that gives you access to a particular unit unique to that nation) rather than just the Allied or the Soviet faction. This is the first instance of a sub-faction idea in the C&C series. Red Alert 2 is overall a very good strategy game, from its interface to its play sub-system and its multiplayer, remaining one of the most enjoyable RTS games to this date.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - Yuri's Revenge
"They say seeing is believing. But the true question is... what do you believe you've seen ?" In the expansion Yuri's Revenge, Soviet Premier Romanov's adviser Yuri attempts to overtake the world using his psychic dominator technology. Yuri's Revenge picks up immediately after the end of the Allied campaign in Red Alert 2. The Allies have captured the Russian Premier Romanov and imprisoned him in the Tower of London. Unfortunately for them, the Soviet agent Yuri has escaped. Yuri's ability to control enemy units with his mind makes him an adversary not to be taken lightly. While the Allies celebrate their victory, Yuri reveals himself. He has created his own army of psychic warriors and genetic freaks. He has researched a number of new technologies by which he can control or destroy the enemy. Now, the allies must active a time machine created by Professor Einstein in order send a force back in time to prevent the deployment of Yuri's Psychic Dominators. The Soviets have their own separate plan to steal the time machine and not only to stop Yuri but also reverse the outcome of the Soviet-Allied war. In both versions of the campaign, Yuri is eventually defeated, but in different ways. The Soviet ending is particularly interesting; while Yuri tries to escape with the time machine, because the machine was overpowered, he's sent many million years back in time, where he meets dino-world. As heroes, the Soviet side gets a new one - Boris - that can punish multiple infantry units and even light vehicles with high efficiency. Yuri is transferred to Yuri's side and a new hero - Yuri Prime - emerges. Yuri Prime is a hover unit that than also take control most of the structures. In Yuri's Revenge, Tanya and Boris are immune to mind control. The multiplayer part was good, but unbalanced compared to the initial Red Alert 2. The Soviet's armor advantage has been totally cancelled by the units introduced to the Allies, while the Allies maintained all their advantages intact. Also, Yuri's side was very overpowered against infantry. Still, the multiplayer offers intensive and strategy experience and unlimited tactical possibilities.
The Red Alert - Tiberian Dawn connections Westwood Studios initially designed Command & Conquer: Red Alert as the prequel to Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, and by proxy of the Tiberian series as a whole. But things will become more and more distorted with the evolution of C&C. Throughout the Soviet's campaign, Kane is seen to make some appearances as a mysterious counselor to Joseph Stalin, and the story subtly implies that he may have been the one that instigated the world war between the Soviet Union and the Allied nations in order to secure a future for the Brotherhood of Nod. Nadia (one of Stalin's other closest advisors and evidently a member of the Brotherhood herself as early as the 1950s) instructs the player to "keep the peace" until Nod would "tire of the USSR in the early 1990s" upon the campaign's successful conclusion. Kane, however, shoots her without provocation or warning, and proclaims to the player that he "is the future". (Tiberian future?) Also, in the Allied campaign, an announcer is reporting (referring to the Allies' loss of Greece) that the United Nations are in the process of creating a special military task force intended to deal with future globalized conflicts. This task force is commonly assumed to have been "Group Echo: Black Ops 9", the international peace enforcers of the United Nations and the precursor of the Global Defense Initiative. Between Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 there is an apparent timeline error that could be solved by considering the original Red Alert as the genesis of two parallel storylines. "Professor, is that a temporal distortion or a sub-space anomaly ?" If the Soviet campaign were to be successfully completed in Red Alert, then the Soviets would emerge as the dominant power and the Brotherhood of Nod would subsequently take control of this new already very powerful empire. If the Allied campaign were to be completed in Red Alert, the Allies would emerge victorious and the timeline would instead lead into the events of Red Alert 2. So, following the first (Soviet) timeline, the Soviets in Red Alert actually won the 'official' war with the Allies, becoming dominant in Asia and Europe. It should be however noted that this theory is in direct contradiction to the official Tiberian Dawn manual, which states that Nod is an African group in its origins. There is no mention of the Soviet Union there whatsoever. Also, a GDI FMV mission briefing sequence in Tiberian Dawn features a map with all of the GDI member states of that time, Russia being among the members. Further, during Red Alert's Allied campaign a newsman refers to the United Nations having approved "a unique military funding initiative", calling for the formation of a "global defense agency". This of course results in the creation of GDI by Allied forces. Additionally, if the Allies had been defeated by the Soviet Union in Red Alert, the future Group 8 would not have existed to have first set up the Global Defense Initiative by becoming its founders. Following the second (Allied) timeline that leads to Red Alert 2, we can get to GDI/Nod situation too. No matter who won the Red Alert 2 war, the Yuri factor comes in. Whoever the winner, the Allied and Soviet sides could of formed the GDI and Yuri's Rogue forces the Brotherhood of Nod. In both cases of Yuri's Revenge endings (Yuri captured and Yuri back in time), the return of Yuri as Kane is possible. Further information can support this scenario. The development of the Obelisks for example, can be related to the experimental research of Prism technology by Yuri that can be seen in one of the missions of Yuri's Revenge. Also, there are large similarities between the Soviet / Allied / Yuri technology in Red Alert 1/2 and GDI / Nod / Scrin technology in TD/TS/TW. The Tiberian series Mammoth tank can also be the original RA as Soviet Mammoth and in RA2 as the Soviet Apocalypse Tank. A lot of other connections can be followed, so even the second scenario could be somewhat valid to create a connection between the Red Alert and Tiberian universes. Also, a very large part of the Soviet Units, structures and even tech tree can be seen at GDI in Tiberium Wars (i.e. heavy and mammoth tank vs. light tank for the enemy; armed harvester - just like the Soviet War Miner). According to former C&C designer Adam "Ishmael" Isgreen, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn does follow the events of Red Alert's Allied campaign. At the same time, Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge take place in a parallel reality created by an attempt to alter the past in "Tiberian Incursion" (working title of Westwood's cancelled sequel to Tiberian Sun: Firestorm). Isgreen also suggested that Nikola Tesla's experiments were responsible for attracting the attention of the Scrin (that arrive to Earth in Tiberium Wars). When the Command & Conquer: The First Decade compilation was released (02/2006), Electronic Arts split the Command & Conquer series into three distinct universes, thus violating the storyline connections between Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn initially established by Westwood Studios. This was one issue the C&C players did not take too well. "The easy path can be a path with no return." Although some suggested that even RA/RA2/TD events can be made to consist with each other perfectly, we'll just have to wait and see what path EA will follow. For now, their decision was to split the C&C universe in 3 distinct ones.
Being very different from the other C&C games, the plot line of 'Command & Conquer': Generals is completely unrelated to the other games of the Command & Conquer series. In fact, lots of players stated that this game should not wear the name 'Command & Conquer'. The game uses the "SAGE" engine (short for Strategy Action Game Engine) and is the first fully three-dimensional Command & Conquer RTS game. The most plainly obvious change is of course the graphics engine. This is mostly what made Generals a relatively appreciated game. High-res textures, advanced particle Fx, complex animations and good shaped polygons really look good in the eye of the beholder. The sound, comes in addition and adds to the overall good feeling. Some of the music matches very well with the single-player in-game action. This game was the first ever C&C RTS game that did not include full-motion video cut scenes to tell the story and it also departed from the unique interface and base-building system that had characterized all of the previous C&C RTS titles in favor of a different construction system based on vehicles. "How is the world to survive once technology makes possible the day when one man holds our fate in his hands?" In Generals, there are three different factions which fight for power: the USA which adopts advanced technologies and very good support units; China, which swamps defenses with vast numbers of heavy tanks and troops, and the Global Liberation Army (GLA), a global freedom/terrorist network which uses low-tech ingenuity and guerrilla warfare tactics, their overall technology being very old and simple. While China uses heavy units like the Overlord Tank to dominate the battlefield, the USA uses very advanced support powers and advanced technology to overcome any possible scenario, while the GLA is more a hit, recycle and run faction, some of their units being able to upgrade using enemy destroyed vehicles. The story mainly follows the line of a GLA attack on the US. In-game single-player missions are above average and even contain funny moments (like the US president running for its life from a bunch of GLA attackers). The multiplayer part is somewhat fair, but with an overall + for the USA side. Nothing left to say here except this was a good game, but that had nothing to do with C&C universe whatsoever. In the Generals series each faction has or course hero units. The USA faction's hero is Colonel Burton, who can use a knife sneaky attack on infantry and also has remote timed C4 explosives. The China faction's hero is Black Lotus, a computer hacker, who has the ability to capture enemy buildings, temporarily shut down enemy vehicles or steal money from enemy supply centers. The Global Liberation Army (GLA) faction's hero is Jarmen Kell, who has the special ability to eliminate the driver of ground vehicles, rendering vehicles inoperable (neutral) and open to commandeering by any infantry unit of any side.
"Command & Conquer": Generals - Zero Hour
The expansion pack for Generals, named Zero Hour, extends the original game's plotline. Zero Hour makes a few additions to the original game while retaining the three basic factions. The term sub-faction is implemented, a somewhat new version of the already created Red Alert 2 sub-faction (country-based) system. The difference in Zero Hour is that the sub-factions are not countries, but specialized generals. Each team may choose one of three different generals. Each general has a specialty, which translates into prioritizing particular units and abilities and/or having some additions. As an example, the USA's superweapon general is based on many very advanced superweapons. The single-player story follows the original one and the USA campaign is especially easy, due to the fact that in the expansion USA sides are way too overpowered. I was able to finish 6 out of 7 USA expansion missions only using 4-5 Humvees with diverse infantry types inside them. The drones orbiting the Humvees made sure the main units themselves took light to no damage. In addition, the drones were very cheap to rebuild. The multi-player is not different either. USA Air Force General and Superweapons General come above anything else, being able to totally dominate any other side. With the two sides, the player practically needed nothing more than a good start defense, in order to later overcome the enemy without actually ground-attacking. In my opinion, the expansion comes with a nice single-player but also with a multi-player balance disaster. It may not take itself seriously, but Command & Conquer: Generals and its Zero Hour expansion are still very well-designed real-time strategy games.
Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars
This game uses an improved version of the SAGE engine, impressing almost anyone with the graphical possibilities. The story of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars begins in the year 2047, a little more than 16 years after the events of Firestorm. Tiberium infestation has begun to reach critical levels and continues to destroy the Earth's ecosystems at an alarming rate. GDI divided the tactical map of the world into three different geographical zones based on the levels of tiberium infestation. 30% of the world's surface has been designated as "red zones", which have suffered the worst contamination and can no longer support carbon-based life. 50% of the regions in the world have been designated as "yellow zones", which are dangerously contaminated yet contain most of the world's population. The remaining 20% of the Earth's surface is untouched by Tiberium and is relatively untouched by war. The "blue zones" are considered the last refuge and hope of the human civilized world and have been placed under the direct control of the Global Defense Initiative. "We believe ourselves to be an essentially noble race. But would that same assessment be made from a truly objective view?" The storyline starts when the Brotherhood of Nod suddenly attacks the vulnerable link in the GDI's space-based military assets, the Goddard Space Institute, taking the A-SAT missile defense systems offline and permitting Nod to fire a nuclear missile at GDI's orbiting command station 'Philadelphia'. Since the end of the Second Tiberium War, Nod silently built up its influence and military potential into the status of a true superpower. Now they have the support of a significant percentage of the world's population. Due to 60% of the bases having been de-commissioned over the revisions of their budget in the last years, GDI was unprepared to handle the offensives led by Nod forces across the entire globe. GDI decides to strike back, eventually launching an attack upon Nod's rebuilt temple prime in Sarajevo, determined to achieve a new victory over Nod. Upon capture of the temple they discover that Kane has locked himself away below the temple and that he has also been working on a new devastating weapon called a Liquid Tiberium Bomb. GDI then captures all of the components of the Liquid Tiberium Bomb and decides to make Kane come out. GDI Director Redmond Boyle orders the firing of the Ion Cannon Superweapon upon the temple, despite opposing advice from his military advisors. The Ion Beam strikes the temple and causes a truly massive explosion as the blast strikes a deposit of Liquid Tiberium hidden below the temple. This causes a cataclysmic chain reaction, devastating red and yellow zones across the world. As the conflict ensues, forces of alien origin known only as the Scrin, suddenly enter the battle and alter the nature of the Third Tiberium War entirely. At this point in the Nod campaign, Kane reveals his plans, and the fact that he knew that a Liquid Tiberium detonation would alert the 'Visitors' to Earth. In his experiments he could not find a detonator powerful enough to give the blast yield needed for such an explosion. The only thing which his scientists calculated could provide enough yield was GDI's Ion Cannon. So that's why the GDI had to be tricked into using it. The storyline of Tiberium Wars appears to be in the same fashion as the story of Firestorm was. In one faction's campaign, references are made to events and missions that occurred in the campaigns of the other factions, therefore it appears that the events in all of the campaigns are canonical. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars also uses hero units. GDI and Nod have a Commando (the GDI one has jetpacks while the Nod Commando is stealth while not moving) that is equipped with C4 and good anti-infantry weapon. "It is said we are judged, not by our words, but by our deeds. And yet, how many of us are ready to stand up to such scrutiny?" Unfortunately, the game lacks a lot of things a dedicated C&C player would expect. Walls are a good example of something that supposed to be there. Same goes for a lot of the old TS/FS units. The majority of the C&C community also did not agree with the big list of bad modifications and so-called innovations EA brought into the game. The radar is missing from the radar structures and it has been implemented directly into the Construction Yard, therefore practically rendering the actual radar structures useless. The economy is over-excessive, allowing the almost instant construction of dozens of units and structures, turning any multiplayer 1v1 into a 5-minute bloody mess. In addition to that, multiple units and structures can be constructed at the same time. The crane allows multiple build tabs for structures, while multiple factories allow simultaneous construction of units. This is bad from a strategy player's point of view. Instead of advanced tactics and unit/resource management, C&C 3 multiplayer is currently just Spam Wars. Whoever creates more early efficient units wins. The stealth system is not of help either. Most of the units in the game are detectors, so stealth tactics have little chance of success. And least but not last, the overall technological regress of both GDI and Nod did not make anyone happy. The patches that followed did not help either, simply because the approach was all wrong, each balance fix causing a lot of different new issues. Although, some most of the balance issues were eventually fixed in patch 1.09, the other issues still wait to be solved. The multiplayer remains a lot below what C&C players expected. To conclude, one might say that C&C3: Tiberium Wars is not what it might been.
Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars - Kane's Wrath
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath comes with a new single-player campaign supported by a fresh story that will bridge the gap between Tiberian Sun and Command & Conquer 3. The expansion campaign will cover 20 years of C&C history, taking players from the end of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun all the way through 2050 (three years after the events of Command & Conquer 3). As a new feature, a system called 'global domination' will be implemented. An overall strategic layer added to the classic RTS system that allows you to wage war across the entire planet. The player will have increased freedom to choose his own course of action toward the objectives. Sub-factions with new units and structures for each of the sides will also be introduced. We'll just have to wait and see what C&C3 will become. "Have hope if not for us, but for Earth... and also be aware that if the hope remains alone, then it is already too late."
The Command & Conquer series has a very rich history of special devastating weapons called superweapons that provide each faction in each game with at least one such destructive device. Tiberian Series The Global Defense Initiative (GDI) has access to an orbital platform that can fire a concentrated beam of high frequency ion particles. This weapon is called Ion Cannon. In Command and Conquer 3, the Ion Cannon has been upgraded. Rather than striking a single target, it fires a series of 8 beams in a wide arc that converge to a point which triggers the main blast. The main blast causes a big explosion that is strong enough to wipe out quite a number of enemy structures and units. In 'Tiberian Sun' and the expansion 'Firestorm' GDI also gains a new superweapon - the Firestorm Defense - energy walls that are able to block missiles, other projectiles, and even air units passing above them. The Brotherhood of Nod can build the Temple of Nod - a religious center that incorporates a missile silo capable of launching a tactical nuclear missile. This weapon has greater destructive power compared to the original Ion Cannon, but it also recharges slower. In Command and Conquer 3, the nuclear explosion has about the same damage as the Ion Cannon blast. C&C3's new faction, the Scrin, has a superweapon called a rift generator. The rift generator creates a singularity that absorbs units into it and damages surrounding structures. Red Alert Series In the initial C&C Red Alert titles, both Allied and Soviet sides can build a missile silo, which is identical for both sides. This missile, however, was not as devastating as any other present in the entire history of the game, being barely able to destroy anything other than light tanks, infantry, and light structures. The area of effect is also small. Each side also has a distinct secondary superweapon that is designed as a support superweapon rather than a damaging one. The Allies have the Chronosphere that enables the player to teleport one vehicle to any location on the map. The Soviet have Iron Curtain, that makes a vehicle temporarily invulnerable. Both have big drawbacks, however. The Chronosphere creates vortices with prolonged use and the teleported unit will return to its pre-teleport location after a period of time. Using the Chronosphere on a transport unit is of no use. The Iron Curtain can be easily taken down with a large mass of constant fire. It also cannot make suicide units (demolitions truck) invulnerable. In Red Alert 2, both superweapons are upgraded. Instead of being usable over only one unit, they can now be used over a 3x3 cells area, therefore covering a maximum of 9 units. The new Chronosphere also does not pre-teleport the vehicles back to the main location as it did in the first game and the Iron Curtain is completely invulnerable. In Red Alert 2, the Soviets control a more powerful version of the nuclear silo (with nuclear missile). The missile upon impact, irradiates the ground zero, causing further damage to units. The Allies have the Weather Control Device that can generate a massive lightning storm that covers a large area and randomly strikes at different ground targets, while in the middle area, the rate of lightning occurrence is very high. Overall, the Weather Storm is more devastating, but the Nuclear Missile has the extra radiation. Yuri's faction, has the Psychic Dominator as primary superweapon, that permanently mind-controls all units in the target area (3x3 cells), control of the units being given to the current user. Also, it damages near-by buildings heavily. The secondary superweapon of Yuri's side is the Genetic Mutator that instantly mutates infantry in the target zone into Brutes. It's very useful against sides that use excessive infantry. In the Yuri's Revenge expansion, there is a tertiary superweapon - the Force Shield ability available for all factions, provided the player has a Battle Lab. The Force Shield functions similar to the Soviet Iron Curtain, but can be activated only over structures and if activated it will drain all the power available, causing a power-down that lasts longer then the Shield itself. Generals Series Each of the three factions in the C&C Generals titles (China, the GLA and the USA) have a separate superweapon. Also, for a first time in C&C, multiple superweapons can be constructed by building more than one superweapon structure. China has nuclear weapons and can build missile silos to launch a nuclear missile. The missile deals heavy damage to a considerable area around its ground zero, and can destroy multiple structures and/or units in an instant. The nuclear explosion will also irradiate the area, just like in Red Alert 2, damaging any units that stay near the impact area for some time after the initial explosion. The Global Liberation Army (GLA) has a cluster of 10 SCUD missile launchers bundled together, called the Scud Storm. The Scud Storm launches a salvo of 10 SCUD missiles that fall down upon the target area. The missiles carry biological warheads (that can also be further upgraded to carry a deadlier strain of anthrax), and contaminate the target zone causing damage to units (especially to infantry). The USA has the well-known Particle Cannon which is a better version of the Ion Cannon of the GDI. Instead of a single burst, it fires a sustained beam which can be moved around to hit various targets. In addition to superweapons, Generals and Tiberium Wars feature additional support powers that can be enabled with enough experience points (for Generals) or obtained directly by constructing structures (TW).
From all the series, the Red Alert 2 superweapons are the only ones that are devastating enough, are very useful in a large number of situations, but in the same time do not cause imbalance and do not assure victory by themselves.
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