Well, I have to admit that I wasn’t really excited about this day, but here we are. I have a long and interesting history with the Command & Conquer series, going all the way back to Tiberian Sun. However, I never played Tiberian Twilight, which is widely considered the worst entry in the series. It was released in March 2010, exactly two years after the expansion to the excellent Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath. While most people today will tell you that C&C4 is complete garbage, reviews at its release were not that bad, although not great either. However, the Metacritic score tells a different story. Yikes! It’s fair to say that public opinion has not been kind to Command & Conquer 4, and it hasn’t improved with time.
Is it a good game?
The game has been criticized severely and deemed a disgraceful insult to the fans of the series. It has been accused of being the sole rIeason for the downfall of Command & Conquer. However, some argue that these complaints are voiced by a vocal minority of the ultra-enthusiastic gamers who yearn for the good old days of classic real-time strategy games and wouldn’t be satisfied no matter what the outcome of the game is.
Chronicle, on the other hand, is believed to be a decent game that has been unfairly judged due to its involvement in concluding the Tiberium saga and the entire series. In this article, we will explore whether these allegations against the game are valid or not. So, let’s get straight to the point and take an impartial look at Command & Conquer for Thai Beer and Twilight. Buckle up, as it might be a rough ride.
Tiberian Twilight serves as the concluding chapter of the Tiberium saga, and as such, it is expected to deliver a satisfying ending that matches the quality of its predecessors. However, that is not the case. While Tiberian Sun and Tiberium Wars were not masterpieces in terms of storytelling, Tiberian Twilight is on a whole different level of inadequacy. The plot is poorly written, the characters are uninteresting, and the overall tone is excessively serious. Even the iconic character of Kane cannot redeem the game’s shortcomings.
To elaborate on the game’s flaws, I must warn you that there will be a lot of spoilers ahead. If you’re sensitive to spoilers and somehow haven’t played the game by now, please be advised. Three, two, one, warning delivered.
Now that the spoiler alert is out of the way, let’s delve into the game’s issues.
Storyline
The storyline of Command and Conquer: Tiberium Twilight is a disastrous catastrophe, reminiscent of the Chernobyl disaster. Thirty years have passed since Tiberium Wars, and Kane has joined forces with GDI to build the Tiberium Control Network (TCN) in an effort to prevent Tiberium from engulfing the entire planet and causing humanity’s extinction.
The player assumes the role of a GDI commander, working under the leadership of Colonel James to maintain the Alliance and protect the leaders of both factions from the non-separatist’s wrath. The non-separatists are led by a character named Gideon, who believes Kane to be a heretic and accuses him of aligning with the enemy faction, Nod, for a prolonged period of time.
In this game, Command and Conquer: Tiberium Twilight, the player’s mortal enemy is GDI. The game begins with a tutorial that teaches the player how to play, and upon completion of the tutorial, the player must choose between joining Kane or Colonel James.
The story’s plot is poorly executed, and the choice between the two factions is forced into the narrative in such a clumsy way that it’s hard to believe. During the initial few tutorial missions, everything seems to be amicable, and everyone is working together for the greater good, despite the underlying tension. However, suddenly, the player receives a message that reads, “Commander, you’re quite the adept leader, but you should know there is much more.”
In Command and Conquer: Tiberium Twilight, the player is told that there’s more to the war and Tiberium network than what has been revealed to them. They’re asked to join Kane and leave GDI behind.
Colonel James tries to intervene and warns the player not to listen to Kane, as he is an untrustworthy character who has a shady past. Colonel James tries to convince the player that they should stay loyal to GDI and not be swayed by Kane’s words.
Kane counters by questioning what insanity is being referred to, as no one has suggested anything that is insane. The situation becomes confusing, and it’s hard to comprehend what is happening.
After the player makes their choice between joining Kane or Colonel James, the game continues. It’s hard to believe that many players would choose Colonel James, given that he’s a character that the player has only known for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Kane is a charismatic leader of Nod that the player has been interacting with for nearly 15 years.
The story then progresses with several filler missions, which is strange considering that the overall campaign is relatively short. It’s not until the final few scenarios where anything significant happens in the story.
In the end, nothing significant really happens until it’s revealed that Kane’s ultimate plan is to use the Tiberium control network to “ascend,” whatever that means, and that he’s actually a super being who has been on Earth for thousands of years. He has been working towards this final goal for all that time.
Regardless of which side the player chooses, the story concludes with the deaths of both the player character and Colonel James, and Kane’s ascension. The Tiberium manifestation recedes, and humanity is left safe and ready to continue into a golden age free from the threat of Tiberium.
It seems like the writers have forgotten about the conflict between Nod and GDI, except for the screen and the threat they still pose. After the end of CNC 301, there are none in Portland. I guess the whole story just feels so feeble, especially since we’re going to compare it to the previous games. The intricacy is gone, the characters and plot points are all surface level, and the conclusion is about as unsatisfying as this. They were super, super close.
Presentation
One of the biggest problems overall is the game’s presentation. Right out of the gate, the game tries to present this dark, gritty tone that is in stark contrast to the previous, interesting, campy B-movie feel. Needless to say, it completely fails in what it’s trying to do. The story takes itself way too seriously, and the bland, lifeless husks the game calls characters don’t help the situation either. Aside from Caine, who always chews up any scene, I can’t think of one character I actually liked to see on the screen. Caine was the only one who, when he popped up on the monitor, made me not want to browse on my phone. Except for Gideon, who’s such a cardboard cutout villain that it’s hard not to imagine how it could be any more cliche. His ridiculousness was at least somewhat entertaining. A good doctor will no longer be able to perform his duties.
The Duck Toner campaign is also in contention with the overall design of the game’s units and effects. Previous entries in the series, while clearly science fiction, have felt grounded in reality with relatable designs and special effects that you could imagine would be prevalent in its near future setting. But in Tiberian Twilight, a lot of the units for both Nod and GDI feel silly and more outlandish. It would be more at home in the Tiberium saga sister series, Red Alert.
Let’s look at a couple of the more offending Nod designs as examples. Here’s the Nod Scorpion Tank in Tiberium Wars and then in Tiberian Twilight,
here’s the Nod Avatar in Tiberium Wars and then in Tiberian Twilight. Here, that isn’t aberrant, you see what I mean? They’re cartoonish and they don’t seem to fit the tone of the game stories trying to portray. And saying all that, lo, I do want to give credit where it’s due.
And I do believe that’s earned in the standard line unit design overall. While we are cartoonish and all of them do look very cool, and visually, they’re rather interesting. The Nod Centurions are menacing with their size and huge shield, and in the GDI’s Mastodon heavy Walker, commands attention from its presence on the battlefield alone. The same can be said for the Crawlers, the game’s mobile command units that replace the traditional RTS trappings.
Like base building and resource gathering, each faction gets three separate Crawlers to choose from. Visually, they all vary drastically from the way they move around the battlefield to the way they unpack and set up when deployed, and I think particular credit needs to be given to the animation team here. The transitions between modes look excellent, and I don’t think I’ll be getting sick of seeing them our Crawler change from being a massive walking robot until deployed headquarters anytime soon. The effects are also excellent, which is no surprise. In my opinion, this is a clear upgrade for Command & Conquer 3, and everything from laser fire to explosions to missiles all look better than ever.
Graphics
Like I said, credit where it’s due. I’m glad to report that apart from the odd bland texture and uninteresting environment, graphically, Tiberian Twilight is very respectable. But unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the sound design, and that’s for both the soundtrack and the effects. Starting with the latter, man, I don’t know what happened between games, but battles in Command & Conquer 4 just sound so lifeless. Everything feels muted, like someone turned the volume way down and halved the quality. Have a listen and see what I mean. And the soundtrack, well, Ty Barrymore certainly didn’t wow me with her score. It suited the game well enough, but that’s about it.
Fours feels completely different from Command & Conquer. Its soundtrack is one of the most generic ones I’ve heard in a while. It’s hard for me to believe that this soundtrack was specifically made for a Command & Conquer game.
Apart from some impressive visual effects, Tiberian Twilight doesn’t seem to be doing well right now. However, presentation isn’t everything, and great gameplay can often make you forget about other flaws. Despite negative talk from experienced gamers, it can’t be that bad, right?
Not a traditional RTS
First, let’s address that Command and Conquer 4 is not a traditional real-time strategy (RTS) game, which is odd considering that every game in the series before it was. This game is supposed to be the conclusion to that beloved saga.
While Tiberian Twilight belongs to the category of real-time strategy (RTS) games, it takes a different approach compared to the traditional ones. Rather than being similar to its predecessors in the series, it is more comparable to games like War and Conflict.
In this game, both GDI and the opposition exist, but they have been split into three classes – offense, defense, and support. At the start of the game, whether it be a campaign mission or a skirmish match, you get to choose one of these classes, which is represented by your “crawler” – a mobile base that is your one-stop-shop for creating armies and applying research upgrades. Each choice gives you a unique set of options to use, and they vary freely. For instance, if you like using vehicles, there’s a class for that.
If you want to defeat your enemies with powerful and destructive forces, choose the offense strategy. You may prefer infantry squads that can construct turrets and emplacements. If you prefer a defensive approach, you can choose aircraft support. Each class has its own strengths, weaknesses, and unit counters, so you need to consider them and choose the best option for the situation. Fortunately, the game allows you to redeploy your crawler mid-match by decommissioning your current one. So, if your initial choice isn’t working, you can swap it out with no worries.
The class system makes sense in multiplayer as it’s intended for team play where each member fills out the weaknesses of the others. However, in the story mode, this system falters. It’s more like war and conflict where you’re not limited by class and instead given the tools you need for the mission. In the story mode, you get the same loadout as you would in multiplayer. If you’re playing solo instead of co-op, it can be a real drag as you’re limited to one crawler at a time. You can never fully counter your enemies to the extent you’d like, especially if they have multiple crawlers of different types. This happens frequently throughout the game and is surprising.
The game has a short run time, and you’re limited to having only one build queue and a very small unit cap. This means that you’re restricted in the amount of force you can throw into battle at any one time, which destroys any semblance of using tactics or strategy to complete missions. There’s only one option: build units until you hit your population cap and constantly replenish your forces until you overwhelm your enemy. This leads to games being extremely one-dimensional, and it’s not helped by the game’s mission design, which is simple and uninspired. The objectives are usually limited to capturing a point, which further limits the scope of the game.
In one particular mission, you have to destroy a crawler that’s part of a convoy moving into enemy firing ranges, even if it dies. Overall, the single-player gameplay is woefully lacking in ways to approach each mission and ends up being a boring mess of poorly thought-out scenarios. They often don’t feel like they were made for the class system that the game parades around as its defining feature. If you do want to play it, it’s better to do so in co-op mode with a friend to suffer through it with you. But what about the multiplayer? Well, multiplayer doesn’t have those restrictions, so you can just enjoy the class-based gameplay with some friends who are partners, and not worry about meaningless objectives. At least, that’s what I would say if it wasn’t the most stress-inducing and artistically challenging experience I’ve probably had.
Because there’s no base building, everyone has one command unit that does everything. Games are about one thing and one thing only – pure action. And while that may sound great, it’s actually just pure chaos, but not in a way that I would like. So games are won by capturing and holding points on the map, which means you’re constantly on the move to stop your enemy from taking your points while doing your best to take theirs. This leads to having no battle lines at all as you’re constantly relocating your crawler around the map. So clashes between forces just become huge piles of units duking it out.
It’s basically a MOBA, which for me is probably the furthest away from what I would consider enjoyable, and not the kind of game I’d expect from an RTS. I like building bases, making huge armies, and investing time and resources into powerful technology. Not intensely micromanaging a limited pool of units against enemies who are trying to do the exact same thing. Oh, and just to add to that, did I mention there’s a game-wide ranking system?
This means that if you haven’t played any of the single-player and proceed to start multiplayer at level one, you won’t have access to any of the more powerful, higher-tier units that you need. And this also leads to the wonderful side effect of the game requiring a constant internet connection.
I won’t even let you start the game if you’re offline, and this restriction still exists to this day. That was ridiculous on release, and it’s no less ridiculous now.
The gameplay for CNC, whether single or multiplayer, is just a complete shambles. It’s either too boring for the former or too chaotic on a ladder. The class system is poorly thought-out, and the ranking system is dumb. The always-on internet connection is just the icing on the cake. Considering this is a direct sequel to my favorite Command & Conquer, it’s disappointing.
EA
The game in question has left me with just one question: how did this happen? Although game development is a difficult and lengthy process, the journey that led to the release of Command & Conquer FOIA was particularly tumultuous. If we’re trying to pinpoint the cause of the disappointment that came with the final product, we can attribute it to one thing: EA. As many of you already know, EA doesn’t have the best reputation within the gaming community. As a publisher, they make short-sighted decisions that prioritize profit over everything else. They’ve also shut down beloved developers like Visceral Games, Pandemic Studios, and of course, Westwood Studios, the original creators of the Command & Conquer series. It’s because of this money-first approach that EA has become the corporate giant it is today. From a business standpoint, it makes sense to pursue things that generate the most profit, but it’s a shame that this mentality often results in disappointing games.
It’s a different story when the same amount of time is taken to create something. The problem is that EA doesn’t seem to care about what gets cut, changed, or bastardized in order to increase their profit margin and meet their yearly earnings goals. It seems that nothing is sacred in their eyes, as seen in what they did to Dungeon Keeper and what they almost got away with doing to Star Wars Battlefront. This is why I’m mentioning all this – because they did the same thing to Command & Conquer, and not just with the recently released mobile game.
Development history
Here’s what happened: originally, Command & Conquer: For a Barren Twilight was going to be an online-only version of Command & Conquer 3, made exclusively for the Asian market. Looking back on it now, you can see the roots of that decision still in the game: fast gameplay, cartoonish graphics, and always-on internet connection. But at some point during the game’s development, someone decided that it would make business sense to add a single-player campaign and call it Command & Conquer 4. Despite how it was never intended to be the final game of the Tiberium saga, there were apparently protests from the development team against this decision. They did what they could to make the game that the series deserved, but the time and resources weren’t available. So we’re left with the product we have today, and the fact that EA almost entirely killed off one of the most beloved strategy series in history just to make a quick buck.
Conclussion
In a vacuum, Command & Conquer 4 is an extremely average title. The gameplay is bland, the story is poorly presented, and the multiplayer is too chaotic. But at least it is functional, well-polished, and fairly good-looking even by today’s standards. However, as a conclusion to the Tiberium saga – a series that started back in 1995 and was renowned for its quality titles and overall advancement of the strategy genre – it’s atrocious. Tiberian Twilight is not what people wanted as a sequel to Tiberium Wars or as a conclusion to the series. The core of the game is completely different, and the narrative is presented in a wholly different manner to what fans expected from the series. Even then, it’s just not very good.
After playing through the game and writing this review, I think fans are right to joke about how the Command & Conquer series ended with Kane’s Wrath, and about how they’re trying to forget Tiberian Twilight even exists in the first place. It may carry the name and feature Kane on the box, but Tiberian Twilight is not a Command & Conquer game. It’s a product of corporate greed, a cash grab, and it’s something that EA is going to struggle to get fans to forgive anytime soon. But hey, some quality remasters are a good start.
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