Welcome back, Commander! Today’s threat level is low.
However, we must address the deteriorating state of our planet, as the Tiberium infestation has reached critical levels. Command and conquer three Tiberium wars, is it worth it?
Let’s reflect on the words of the developer: The year is 2047, and a massive nuclear fireball explodes high in the night sky, marking the dramatic beginning of the third Tiberian war.
This also signifies the long-awaited return of the most groundbreaking real-time strategy franchise of all time.
In my opinion, the Command and Conquer series is the best!
Can we just forget about Command and Conquer 4, the one where they took away the resource management?
Command & Conquer straight off of Steam
What were you doing? Anyway, this is the third one, and it was great, really good!
The best part is that it’s straight off of Steam, and I didn’t have to twiddle or tweak with any files or anything like that to get it to run in 1080p, for example.
I just selected 1080p in the settings, but it crashed because there’s a knack to it.
By default, it starts off at 800 by 600, but what you do is you put it in 720p first, click accept or done, and then it puts it in 720p.
After that, you go back into the settings and put it to 1080p.
If you do it in increments, it works fine. I haven’t had a single crash, and it’s running absolutely brilliantly!
I’ve been having an absolute blast playing through the GDI and Nod.
I’ve been playing through the campaigns and doing some skirmishes as well.
So, if you’re a real-time strategy fan and haven’t played this game, you should definitely give it a try!
It brings back the Nod, and Kane is just absolutely great in this one.
He’s hilarious, delivering his lines perfectly.
It’s all tongue-in-cheek, but it just captivates you when you play the game.
GDI Actors are great
In my opinion, this was Command and Conquer at its best!
On the GDI side, Michael Lyonside is the top honcho, and Landor Calrissian (I forget his real name) is also a great addition.
I’ll call him Lando Calrissian, and he’s in the game as well.
C&C Babes
Of course, you have all the babes – what’s a Command and Conquer game without them?
You’ve got to have them!
GamePlay
But anyway, how does the game play?
Well, you have your two campaigns, like I said: GDI and Nod, and you also have your skirmishes.
There’s also a Scrin in this game, but I don’t want to go too much into it because I don’t want to spoil anything for anybody.
It’s hard to give a spoiler for a game that was out in 2007, but still, I don’t want to get too far into it.
So, let’s just talk a little bit about why I like it.
Playable with good AI
You all know what it is, to be honest with you.
It’s been out for ages, and it’s one of the best Command and Conquer games.
The reason I picked it for a retro review is because it’s so playable today without any mods or patches.
Like I said, you can just pick it up and play it today, and it’s bloody good.
It’s quite tough, yeah. You know what?
The AI in this game is better than a lot of first-person shooters or RTS games that I’ve played.
It really holds up well today, and it runs well on your computer as well.
It’ll give you a good run for your money.
The campaign itself is very well done because it’s sneaky.
It’s a bit easy on normal – I was just breezing through it on normal – so you just turn it up a little bit to hard and you’ll…
Challenges and progression
When playing the game, you’ll face increasing challenges as you progress through the missions.
Some of the earlier ones are quite basic and can be completed in just a few minutes.
However, as you advance, you’ll encounter tougher levels where the AI is very well designed and sneaky.
Even in skirmish mode, where you can fortify the front of your base, the AI will always find a way to probe and attack from the sides.
They’re quite intelligent and if you turn up the difficulty, you’ll have a really intense experience.
I’ve had some really great co-op skirmishes with a few AI opponents, and it’s been really enjoyable.
Unit types
But what makes this game stand out are the different types of units available and the numerous upgrades you can make to them.
They’re not just basic units that are all the same. You can upgrade them by building higher-tiered buildings, and the animations are fantastic.
There are huge, hulking artillery units like mechs with a line of guns on the front of them.
They reminded me of the pitbulls from the game Earth Siege.
Stealth buildings
I don’t know why, because Pit Bulls only had one big gun on them, whereas these were four.
But never mind.
Going forward with mammoth tanks and these artillery things, and filling PCs with grenade-launching guys, machine gunners, rocket troops, and then having your helicopter air support come in as well.
Get into the enemy base and find out you can’t see it because it’s all stealth.
You can put these stealth things up, NOD, so that you can’t actually see where the main buildings are, like the construction yard, and you’ve got to take them down first.
Tiberium looks beautiful
It’s all a bit different to your usual commanding conquer stuff, which is why I liked it.
It made you think.
But you know what? This sounds crazy, but one of the things I like the most about this game is the Tiberium, the green crystals.
They just look awesome on the map. They make you want to harvest them.
They look juicy.
One thing you’ve never heard in a review before is that I actually enjoy commanding and conquer.
The crystals you harvest in the game just look so juicy and colorful, particularly the green crystals, which are scattered all over the map.
It’s really satisfying to harvest them all.
In addition to the visuals, the game also has some great effects and atmospheric maps in skirmish mode.
Cutscenes
The cutscenes in the campaign are also pretty good, featuring real actors and actresses.
Michael Einstein’s character, in particular, is hilarious and engaging, as he speaks directly to the player as if they were the cameraman.
Kane
Playing as Nod is also really interesting because Kane is just so unpredictable, always shooting his own people and generally being a total nutter.
It’s one of those games that came out during a time when games were truly great, and while I’m not sure how it was received by mainstream reviewers, it’s certainly got a very positive rating on Steam.
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