Welcome back, Commander!
As they say, “he who controls the past commands the future, and he who commands the future conquers the past.” So, please stand by for the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection.
The collection includes remastered versions of both Command and Conquer and Red Alert in stunning 4K resolution, courtesy of the former Westwood Studios team. It also features all three expansions, rebuilt multiplayer, and a modernized user interface.
New features
So, is it worth your attention? Let’s take a closer look at the words of the developers themselves.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s finally here! The Command and Conquer Remastered Collection boasts an impressive lineup of features, including a map editor, bonus footage gallery, and over seven hours of remastered music.
Personally, I’ve been playing this game non-stop since it dropped. But before we dive into the gameplay, let’s take a quick look at the graphics. Unfortunately, there aren’t many options available – just a few resolution settings and other minor details.
New Graphics
However, the graphics have undergone a huge overhaul since the game’s original release back in the 90s. In fact, I remember playing it on DOS even before 1995!
These are the graphics from the original Command and Conquer game released in 1995,
and these are the graphics from the remastered version released in 2020. The new graphics look fantastic and preserve the classic Command and Conquer theme even better than before.
But the real star of the show is the remastered music. This game has one of the best soundtracks, especially if you consider both Command and Conquer and Red Alert, which are both included in the collection along with all their respective expansions. There are even console-specific add-ons where you can find dinosaurs and other fun features. If you want to access those add-ons, simply click on the four nuts icon on the user interface.
New soundtrack
There’s no doubt that the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection has an incredible soundtrack. Every track has been remastered and redone from the original Command and Conquer game, including hundreds of phenomenal scores that really enhance the gameplay experience. From “Mechanical Man” to “Doom,” the soundtrack is filled with so many great tunes.
Gameplay
But let’s get to what you really came here for – the game itself. I often find myself saying that games were better in the past, even though they weren’t as technologically advanced. Command and Conquer is a perfect example of that. This game was one of the first real-time strategy games ever made (although technically the second, as I played Dune 2 first). So, if you’re a fan of classic games and love RTS, then you’re in for a real treat.
I remember playing Dune 2, which was fantastic. I would love to see a remastered version of that game, but Command and Conquer was even better. After that, I played Red Alert, and both of these fantastic games were released back in 1995. Now, they’ve been remastered and are available for all of us to enjoy.
Map design
There are so many things that make these games great. The first thing that struck me was the map design. It’s way better than modern-day RTS maps, and I don’t know why people today can’t make maps as well as they used to. Some of the missions were incredibly tough, and you really had to multitask and plan ahead in order to succeed. This is something that modern games tend to lack – they’re often dumbed down and don’t provide the same level of challenge. Playing these old games really reminded me of how difficult games used to be, and it was a real wake-up call.
Compared to modern RTS games, the maps in Command and Conquer are exceptional. The map designs are way better than what you see in modern day games. Some of the missions are so tough that you get your ass whooped a few times playing this game. For example, there are maps where you are on one island and the enemy is on another, and you have to build landing craft to get across while being harassed by the enemy’s air force. One thing that makes the game exciting is that nearly every mission starts with an immediate attack, which puts you on the back foot right from the start. You need to establish a foothold and get your base going. Some of the missions are so challenging that you may have to restart in the first 10 minutes because you get overwhelmed. Playing on easy mode would be too simple.
Difficulty
Hey guys, I’ve been playing Command and Conquer on medium difficulty and now I’m trying it out on hard. I’ve played almost all the GDI missions and also the Red Alert missions with the Allies. I’ve also tried playing a bit of Nod and Rusher. I’ve been playing this game a lot lately just to relive some of the old times and it’s been great.
Improvements
One thing I really like about this game is that they have not only remastered the music and updated the graphics, but they’ve also added some options that are in modern RTS games that weren’t available in Command and Conquer back in the 90s. For example, you can now just press the right mouse button to move, whereas back then it was all left mouse button.
Recently, we’ve been using the right mouse button more often and it’s just a better way to play. It’s a nice touch that the game developers have added this option, but let’s not forget that this is a review and not just a video about nostalgia and reminiscing over the 90s.
Significant problems
The main question is whether this game is worth buying now, and unfortunately, I have to say that there are some significant problems with this game that I didn’t expect to see in 2020. However, it’s essential to remember that this game was originally made in 1995, and we should view it with that perspective in mind.
When Command and Conquer first came out, it was groundbreaking for its time. Of course, we had Dune 2 before it, but the developers, Westwood Studios, were one of my all-time favorites. Unfortunately, what Electronic Arts did to them was simply criminal, in my opinion.
Bad mechanics not patched
All the bad stuff that was in the original game has been brought through to the remastered version as well, which was quite shocking to me. I thought they would have at least addressed some of the glaring issues that I remembered from playing the game back in 1995 or whenever it was.
One of the major issues with the original game was the pathfinding, which was atrocious. I remember being frustrated many times while playing the game due to the poor pathfinding.
Units have their own lifes
Another frustrating issue with the game is that sometimes when you give a unit a command, they would just ignore it and do their own thing. For example, if you told them to go attack an enemy, they might just drive past them instead. The pathfinding in the game is simply awful, and units often get stuck on rocks or go in the wrong direction.
On one particular map, my harvester was traveling from north to south every 30 seconds, and every single time, it went the wrong way. This was extremely frustrating because it meant I had to micromanage almost every unit. I couldn’t just select a group and tell them to go attack because one of them would attack while the rest would just drive by.
To overcome this issue, I found that micromanaging smaller groups of units was the way forward.
Pro’s and cons
The frustrating thing is that these issues could have been fixed, but they haven’t been. This is a problem because if you’re going to remaster a game, don’t just update the graphics and music; fix the issues like pathfinding. I’m pretty sure they could have done that.
However, if you do decide to buy this game, bear in mind that you’re buying something that isn’t really good in 2020. On the positive side, there’s a lot of content and tons of maps, and many of them work great with few pathfinding issues. It really just depends on the map you’re playing on.
Skirmish improved a lot
The skirmish mode is huge and it’s so easy to set up now. The whole UI has been redone, and it’s a complete relief compared to how much of a pain it was to set up games back in the 90s. The way they’ve redone the entire UI for this skirmish mode is just fantastic; it’s all been brought up to date, and it’s so much more intuitive.
Why no attack move?
The gameplay itself has been left pretty much the same, with a few different commands that you can use. However, there’s one thing that I can’t help but come back to: why didn’t they add attack move? Attack move is essential, and it’s something that should have been included in this remaster.
Having an attack move feature is essential in real-time strategy games. However, it was not present in games released in 1995 such as Red Alert or Command and Conquer. It was added in a later version of Command and Conquer. This lack of a crucial feature can be frustrating. Fortunately, the game has full mod support and it is possible that mods will be created to add the attack move or fix other issues in the game. Despite these issues, the game has great map design, a fantastic skirmish mode, and amazing campaigns.
Good old FMV Cutscenes
The full-motion video (FMV) in the cutscenes is incredibly bad. However, I still enjoyed them and never skipped them. They were still enjoyable to watch and brought back so many memories. I remember playing Command and Conquer on DOS 6 and it was awesome to watch. Playing it now still brings me joy, even if you’re not interested in nostalgia, it’s still worth buying due to its affordable price and amount of content. Most maps are fine with well-designed units, but some are not up to par. It’s just a shame that this issue wasn’t addressed.
Conclusion
I can’t stress enough how it could have been better. However, it is what it is, and I hope that the upcoming releases of Command and Conquer, especially Generals, won’t import the same issues. Generals had a memory problem that caused issues in multiplayer when there were too many units. It would be disappointing if the developers only focused on the graphics, sound, and UI without addressing these fundamental issues. Even simple additions like attack move and pathfinding could have made a massive difference in this game. Unfortunately, the developers didn’t address these issues, which is a real shame. Despite this, the game is still good and worth buying, and I’m still enjoying it.
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