Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Developer: EA Los Angeles (EALA)
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Release Date: 5/8/2007
Players: 1 (Live 1-4)
Rating: T (Teen)
“The only way to win World War III is to prevent it."
-Dwight Eisenhower
Thirteen year’s ago Westwood studios re-introduced themselves into the RTS world with a highly addictive title, Command and Conquer. After spawning 2 main titles with an abundant expansion packs, EA breathed new life into the series with Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars releasing it for both PC and Xbox 360 and this gamer folks grabbed both. Now you must be saying to yourself “RTS on a console, it must be garbage” don’t turn those back’s just yet, sit tight and unwind while we plunge into the new world of Command and Conquer.
There goes the Neighborhood...
Welcome to the year 2047, the worlds global supply of Tiberium once sought after by the nations now has been polluted and considered dangerous. As always Earth can depend on the great members of the GDI (Global Defense Initiative) to take action and restore the balance, that is until the Brotherhood of NOD, led by commander Kane decides to intercept. With the GDI to busy trying to clean the global disaster, Kane is trying to harvest the polluted Tiberium predicting total control but the nightmare isn’t over when NOD and GDI are halted in their tracks by an alien race known as Scrin wanting the Tiberium for their own intention.
Prepare for scorched earth.
First off let’s have a discussion about the colossal world of single player campaigns, now when I said the word colossal I justly meant it. Players get to side with their preferred faction of Command and Conquer as always, take on the world’s plague with GDI, harvest the world’s Tiberium for your own with the NOD or take it a step further and blanket the world for death with the Scrin. Gamers take on the single player campaigns through a 36-mission battle unlocking each faction by completing a certain number of missions respectively. The game beings with an remarkable opening movie that will have even the most unconvinced gamers glued in, before jumping into the missions you are presented with a 13 level Boot Camp bringing you up to date with the controls, buildings etc. and trust me with all the new artillery it’s needed. When you’ve started your first mission it may take a while to grasp the controls even though you’ve been through boot camp, I admit it’s a giant change over the PC’s mouse and keyboard but EA did a great job incorporating a brand new function for the 360. Gamers are now armed with quick commands to dispatch their troops, the command tab is now located at the bottom and can be accessed by pulling the trigger buttons respectively and easily grabbing mass amounts of troops with the push of a button. Now don’t get me wrong the controls every now and then can be frustrating while in the heat of battle, trigger pull after trigger pull will slow you down a tad until you get the preverbal groove of it, sadly you’ll always have that wish that EA would’ve considered an attachment for this port.
Let me peer deep into your thoughts…
In today’s age of gaming, graphics are about as important as gameply so you’d expect nothing but a marvelous showcase full of visual treats, well gamers I recommend you take a doggie bag to this graphics buffet. Now for those who’ve played several RTS titles knows the let down of individual personality when it comes to the same class of troop’s, characters move motionless as they are programmed to and seem to just lug about across the screen, well gamers that age is over. Command and Conquers visuals beyond excel throughout the game, each unit is detailed individually and moves across the map in it’s own unique way. Another amazing feature added to C&C3 falls under the visual damage category, instead of just relying on the health bar above your unit now can also be judged by the condition the unit. Ground troop’s actually bleed and hobble while armored units whittle away and show signs of war, let me tell you nothing beats trudging down the highway with a heavily built group of NOD mechanized avatar’s all stalking differently and mowing down all that have the courage to resist or simply are to wounded to continue. Everything is brilliantly accompanied by an outstanding display of weather related visuals, massive explosions, nuclear outbreaks and lasers galore everything that makes a great RTS. Regrettably, the only demise that fall’s upon having astonishing graphics is the frame rate, yes you’ve heard right, once in a blue moon while in battle with a enormous amount of troop’s you’ll get minor frame rate issues though safely to say it’s not a major annoyance nor will it constrict gameplay. Music and effects in C&C3 are greatly enhanced compared to its earlier titles, no longer will the gamer have to tolerate the same voice line repeatedly throughout the game, EA took everything into consideration and hired a massive cast of voice talents to finally sink the single liner era and finally giving us individuality when selecting a unit. While trekking across the map you can’t help but hear the beat of your enemy drawing near and while in combat a harmonious cyclone of explosions, gunfire, troop’s grunting and yelling at each other and death will chime through the air freely. Something that shined it’s way to the top for this gamer would be the soundtrack, every moment is filled with the perfect compliment of ambitious tunes on an orchestra level from battling to heavy metal to building your home base with trumpets, drums and a little vocals mixed in playing about, not a disappointment in sight.
When it all boils down, the Online play through Live can be described in one word, phenomenal. Just when you think C&C3 is ready to stash away and forgotten its Live potential elbow drops you and shines the light into your eye’s. EA presents us with the standard versus skirmish allowing you to battle another player or the CPU. Siege mode pit’s players inside a ring and with a timer, players then must build up their enormous army before the walls come down or suffer complete defeat at the hand of another players troop’s. Capture the flag and King of the hill are completely self explanatory but for those who are still scratching their heads, in Capture The Flag players must obtain a single flag located on the map and have it remain in their possession until the game is over and in King of the Hill players must hold a certain spot located on the map until the game is over. Not only does Command and Conquer 3 support headset capabilities, it also supports the newly introduced Xbox Vision Cam allowing you to be broadcasted on your opponent’s screens to boast about your imminent victory and put them to shame or chat during the battle. With the massive Live functions united with an intriguing storyline of the single player campaigns, it’s safe to say that Command and Conquer 3 would definitely be a recommended buy for it’s previous supporters of the title and even if your new to the C&C world. Well there you have it gamers, seldom will you find an RTS title ported to console that’s actually interesting to play, so pick up your copy soon and I’ll see you on the battlefield.
Final Judgment
(Rating 1-10)
Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Audio: 10/10
Controls: 7.5/10
Graphics/Visual: 9.5/10
Replay Value/Features: 10/10
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Linear Mode
