Expect lots of explosions. And fire. And lasers. Definitely lasers.
Series fans will take to the new interface quickly, though others may need to make a few adjustments. In a departure from 2003's Command & Conquer: Generals, Tiberium Wars uses a throwback C&C interface with a few modern tweaks. The side bar has returned, along with the ability to queue up units and structures no matter where you are focused on the battlefield. At first you can build only a single structure at a time in the production tab, but that can be quickly upgraded. Unlike with most RTS games, including Generals, you never need worry about creating worker units, and once a structure is created, you can place it immediately at your base. Placing structures is often a pain, though, since the game is picky about where you can put them. Positioning something as simple as a turret or a power plant can take multiple tries, and it's never clear exactly why you can't put certain buildings in certain places, particularly when the terrain is smooth and the area is totally free of nearby obstructions.
C&C3 continues to shine in its excellent multiplayer mode, and it's obvious that Electronic Arts has devoted a lot of attention to it. There aren't a whole lot of options when you host an online game, aside from game speed and whether you want to scatter random crates on the battlefield. But no strategy game in recent memory has been more tailored to competitive play, thanks to fully featured leaderboards and clan support, as well as an original feature called BattleCast. You may broadcast your game in real time to anyone who downloads the free BattleCast client, and a commentator can provide real-time commentary while using the built-in telestrator. But if you're just in it to play, you'll find that skirmishing with others is even more fun than it is against the AI. There are close to two dozen maps for up to eight players, and the pitch-perfect placement of garrison-friendly buildings and central tiberium nodes will get you right into the action.
It helps that Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is terrific to look at, and the unit design is the most impressive part of its visuals. Scrin annihilator tripods lumber about with a commanding attitude, GDI orca bombers circle in believable formations, and Nod avatar warmechs advance with heft. Their stature and fantastical nature fit perfectly with the over-the-top nature of the action, as do the titanic nuclear explosions and lightning strikes. In the most extreme battles, your screen will fill with mighty blasts and streams of lasers, as if you were the main player in a sci-fi action film. Amazingly, the game's performance never suffers, with few noticeable drops in frame rate and brief loading times. Some of the maps and textures are somewhat bland, but you aren't bound to care for long.
Scrin vs. Scrin. It looks awesome, and kinda creepy, too.
Bad unit voice-overs are a common annoyance in strategy games, but they're all done well in Tiberium Wars. Again, EA pinpointed just the right amount of extravagance to lavish on the sound design, from mission voice-overs to the eclectic soundtrack, which is alternately tinged with orchestral fanfare and heavy metal grinding. While many of the sound effects are what you would expect from standard artillery and tanks, others, particularly those of the Scrin units, are ominous and appropriately alien.
Regardless of your history with Kane and his cohorts, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is one of the finest real-time strategy games in years. It's also a triumphant return to form for the series, because it's more than just a graphical update--it's an exciting, well-tuned experience with enough that's old and enough that's new to thrill old-timers and newcomers alike. Suffice it to say, you should play this game, and expect to be playing it for a long time to come.
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Where to buy
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC):
$34.99 - $59.99
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$59.99 | Yes |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$34.99 | Yes |
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