Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars - Review
Added June 19th, 2007 by James Bolan
Command & Conquer has been one of the leading RTS (real-time strategy) games since its PC debut in 1995. As of 2007, eight C&C games have been made. Multiple series and new game-play mechanics have been introduced along the way. Despite the other directions its predecessors have taken, Command & Conquer 3 has returned to its roots. Does the latest incarnation pack as much firepower as the original? Yes, it does.
Those familiar with the C&C games will feel at home right from the start. GDI (Global Defensive Initiative) is back as well as its religious extremist nemesis, Nod. When starting a new campaign, the player has to play through the GDI story arc. Upon completion, the Brotherhood of Nod campaign will be unlocked. Each side has their own objectives and extremely cheesy live-action cut-scenes. If you’re not a C&C fan, the live-action cut-scenes will be a fantastic surprise. Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Michael Ironside (Sam Fisher), and some lesser known TV stars join the cast. Their characters will give you mission briefings and keep you up to date on the plot for their corresponding campaign.
The campaigns in C&C are pretty straight forward if you’ve played an RTS before. Although some of the missions try and break away from the standard “kill this, capture that” objectives, they’re nothing we haven’t seen before. Resource management is limited to mining the green glowing Tiberium fields with a harvester. Don’t distress about having enough peons to harvest wood and lumber. C&C is all about massive battles with little worry in this regard.
The first few missions build upon the tutorial and ease you into the technology. For example, in the first mission you won’t have access to an armory that allows you to make advanced infantry. With each mission you gain access to more units and improved technology. While this does making the learning curve very manageable, it’s also frustrating if you’re already familiar with the series. Each side’s campaign is lengthy and will take you more than a few hours to complete.
If Campaigns aren’t your thing, you can still hone your skills against the A.I. in Skirmish mode. In this mode you can choose individual A.I. behaviors. If you dive into multiplayer and keep getting killed by a GDI player that rushes, you can set the A.I. to mimic that jerk’s personality. There are 4 personality types you can set the AI to in Skirmish mode:
Turtle – concentrates on defense while slowly building a massive army.
Rush – builds small amounts of units very quickly to try and take you out before you have a chance to build anything.
Steamroller – builds a gigantic army to overwhelm you.
Guerilla – uses movement strategies such as flanking.
The multiplayer mode is the most challenging of all. Why not try your luck against a closet racist with an Xbox Live Vision camera? See the face of evil itself. While I will admit the Live camera is a cool feature, it begs to be misused and often is. Why not celebrate your victory by mooning your opponent? I’m just kidding, please don’t. With the camera aside, this is where the most fun in C&C is. Out thinking your opponent and having him scream into his microphone at you is absolutely hilarious. The downside to the multiplayer mode is that the first to build the GDI Mammoth tank (by far the most overpowered vehicle in the game) usually wins. Not only do the Mammoth tanks have a main cannon and mounted rocket launchers, when upgraded the rail gun attachment allows them to do insane amount of damage to vehicles and structures. There are answers to that mammoth of a dilemma in all 3 forces. Yes, three. I won’t reveal any information about them due to their sudden appearance in the campaign, but there is a bigger threat than GDI and Nod. Believe it or not, there's an even bigger threat than GDI and Nod and it's not exactly from this world.
A major concern for anyone looking to buy C&C on the 360 is the controls. Movement orders, stance, formation, building queues, how could a controller handle all of these functions? The 360 controller does a great job actually. It definitely takes a while to get used to and the tutorial will help you with that. By the end of the tutorial, you’ll have a firm grasp on the controls. What threw me off is the auto-lock on units when you move a cursor over them. In a huge battle you don’t need to waste time fighting the game on which unit to lock on to. Luckily, this option can be disabled in the menu. Another flaw in the controls is free form selection of units. In the PC all you have to do is left click an open area and drag a box around the units you want to select. In the 360 version, you hold the A button down in an open area and then quickly move the cursor over to the units you want to select. The problem is that holding down A with units selected is the method of setting formation as well. Sometimes you’ll end up sending 2 units or so into formation rather than selecting the 10 you wanted. With those few problems aside, the controls really do translate quite well.
Graphically C&C3 is a picture perfect port from the PC version, so don’t worry about any downgrades. Performance gets a little sloppy when there’s a large amount of units on the screen. Don’t let that bother you too much, it’s not terrible.
Summary:
Command & Conquer 3 is proof that the 360 is just as able to deliver a solid RTS experience. If you’re looking for some strategic fun on XBL, or just want to show the A.I. how it’s done, you’re guaranteed a good time. Dust off your controller Commander, it’s time to show the pre-pubescent population of Xbox Live who’s the best.
Those familiar with the C&C games will feel at home right from the start. GDI (Global Defensive Initiative) is back as well as its religious extremist nemesis, Nod. When starting a new campaign, the player has to play through the GDI story arc. Upon completion, the Brotherhood of Nod campaign will be unlocked. Each side has their own objectives and extremely cheesy live-action cut-scenes. If you’re not a C&C fan, the live-action cut-scenes will be a fantastic surprise. Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Michael Ironside (Sam Fisher), and some lesser known TV stars join the cast. Their characters will give you mission briefings and keep you up to date on the plot for their corresponding campaign.
The campaigns in C&C are pretty straight forward if you’ve played an RTS before. Although some of the missions try and break away from the standard “kill this, capture that” objectives, they’re nothing we haven’t seen before. Resource management is limited to mining the green glowing Tiberium fields with a harvester. Don’t distress about having enough peons to harvest wood and lumber. C&C is all about massive battles with little worry in this regard.
The first few missions build upon the tutorial and ease you into the technology. For example, in the first mission you won’t have access to an armory that allows you to make advanced infantry. With each mission you gain access to more units and improved technology. While this does making the learning curve very manageable, it’s also frustrating if you’re already familiar with the series. Each side’s campaign is lengthy and will take you more than a few hours to complete.
If Campaigns aren’t your thing, you can still hone your skills against the A.I. in Skirmish mode. In this mode you can choose individual A.I. behaviors. If you dive into multiplayer and keep getting killed by a GDI player that rushes, you can set the A.I. to mimic that jerk’s personality. There are 4 personality types you can set the AI to in Skirmish mode:
Turtle – concentrates on defense while slowly building a massive army.
Rush – builds small amounts of units very quickly to try and take you out before you have a chance to build anything.
Steamroller – builds a gigantic army to overwhelm you.
Guerilla – uses movement strategies such as flanking.
The multiplayer mode is the most challenging of all. Why not try your luck against a closet racist with an Xbox Live Vision camera? See the face of evil itself. While I will admit the Live camera is a cool feature, it begs to be misused and often is. Why not celebrate your victory by mooning your opponent? I’m just kidding, please don’t. With the camera aside, this is where the most fun in C&C is. Out thinking your opponent and having him scream into his microphone at you is absolutely hilarious. The downside to the multiplayer mode is that the first to build the GDI Mammoth tank (by far the most overpowered vehicle in the game) usually wins. Not only do the Mammoth tanks have a main cannon and mounted rocket launchers, when upgraded the rail gun attachment allows them to do insane amount of damage to vehicles and structures. There are answers to that mammoth of a dilemma in all 3 forces. Yes, three. I won’t reveal any information about them due to their sudden appearance in the campaign, but there is a bigger threat than GDI and Nod. Believe it or not, there's an even bigger threat than GDI and Nod and it's not exactly from this world.
A major concern for anyone looking to buy C&C on the 360 is the controls. Movement orders, stance, formation, building queues, how could a controller handle all of these functions? The 360 controller does a great job actually. It definitely takes a while to get used to and the tutorial will help you with that. By the end of the tutorial, you’ll have a firm grasp on the controls. What threw me off is the auto-lock on units when you move a cursor over them. In a huge battle you don’t need to waste time fighting the game on which unit to lock on to. Luckily, this option can be disabled in the menu. Another flaw in the controls is free form selection of units. In the PC all you have to do is left click an open area and drag a box around the units you want to select. In the 360 version, you hold the A button down in an open area and then quickly move the cursor over to the units you want to select. The problem is that holding down A with units selected is the method of setting formation as well. Sometimes you’ll end up sending 2 units or so into formation rather than selecting the 10 you wanted. With those few problems aside, the controls really do translate quite well.
Graphically C&C3 is a picture perfect port from the PC version, so don’t worry about any downgrades. Performance gets a little sloppy when there’s a large amount of units on the screen. Don’t let that bother you too much, it’s not terrible.
Summary:
Command & Conquer 3 is proof that the 360 is just as able to deliver a solid RTS experience. If you’re looking for some strategic fun on XBL, or just want to show the A.I. how it’s done, you’re guaranteed a good time. Dust off your controller Commander, it’s time to show the pre-pubescent population of Xbox Live who’s the best.
