Command & Conquer: Generals Review (no fat)

Game Description

Command & Conquer is one of those games that ends up like Star Wars of computer games industry, generating endless sequels and add-ons and still keeping a large fanbase ready to devour anything and everything they offer. Of course there's still a long way until Star Wars, but we've had C&C games, artwork, wallpapers, figurines and many others. After a while, C&C becomes a field of gaming in itself, and trying to innovate becomes more and more difficult. What we have here is EA's attempt at the C&C series, immediately after acquiring Westwood. Did they conquer us?

Command & Conquer: Generals Gameplay

If you have played any C&C game before, you'll feel like home here. You will encounter the same interface you were used to, the same mini-map and the same commands. Nevertheless, something here is changed: EA have surely put their fingerprint on the game, and the first thing you will notice is how the cut-scenes look now. Did you like the older, Westwood-style cut-scenes, featuring real actors? Good, forget about them. Their place is now taken over by TV reporters and admirably-built scenes created with the in-game engine, making up an interesting, darkened and tense atmosphere. There are some other, peculiar places where the EA can be felt, but more on this later.

The story shown on everyone's TV is quite pessimistic. The Global Liberation Army (GLA) sends its message of liberation through fight all over the world. The world is in terror; car bombs exploding everywhere and suicide bombers blowing themselves up in almost every hypermarket. In the end, it seems like The Global Liberation Army is really asking for nothing but war, and it's your job to give them just that.

You can choose on whose side you will fight: drink beer with the Americans, eat rice with the Chinese, or, just blow up along with the GLA. Each of these factions will provide an interesting game experience, and it's really nice that EA managed to create such diversity. In fact, three words probably capture the essence of this much better. It's not just that you have three armies, you have Command & Conquer...

Command...with a twist

The gameplay itself is unchanged in its structure. There is the same linear plot: build command center, build more units, harvest supplies, build more units, attack, defend, exterminate. This is the first impression you'll have, when you played with just one of the factions. Even the interface is the same, with the same annoying key bindings which cannot be remapped.

Moving along to the next one will be a bit of a surprise. After you've played with the Americans, seeing how easy it is to build up a squadron of MIGs will make you curse the days when you were squeezing some extra resources to build the third Apache. The expensive, high-tech toys of the Americans are replaced by the brute force of many Chinese.

The most interesting experience you will have is playing with the GLA, which is definitely something new in its field. The GLA don't have any air force (which may be a little bit out-of-date for a terrorist organization...), and their ground troops are not what you'd call "conventional". There are car bombs, suicide bombers, SCUD launchers and underground networks of bunkers that can be used to spring up behind the enemies. Almost nothing you know from the usual RTS games will work here.

The gameplay is balanced by a very good usage of resource management. The key here is holding up the points of economic interest on a map. Anything you build requires some money, money that can be obtained from supply depots. Supply depots don't grow like mushrooms though, and you should guard them well. You can also capture some important buildings, like oil rigs, but even so, resource management remains a very important part of the game.

The other major side of the game is the AI. The AI is hugely inconsistent, which made many believe that EA simply rushed the game out before the AI was finished up and tested enough. It's simply annoying to see how units that perform well individually get confused when they are in group, or that one of your tanks will simply sit quite while another tank is firing at it from distance.

There's also a twist added by the RPG elements in the game. Units gain experience, and not just the units. You, the general, gain experience points too, which you can spend on special units, like the Chinese nuke cannon.

When you grow tired of playing against the AI, you can go against your friends in multiplayer. It's a pretty interesting experience, because the game has a lot of new tactical options available. Few battlefields are plain. Most of them have heights, hills, roads, railways and other similar elements, making up some strategic points that you have to fight for and maintain. Not that it's too easy.

Command & Conquer: Generals - Everything under the Sun is in tune

What will strike you from the very first moment when you'll compare how everything feels now with what it used to be is the impression of humanity. Everything in Command & Conquer: Generals is more expressive. Even the battles start to feel like battles. The graphics themselves are dominated by the same expressive feeling, with the usual touch of common sense we were used to get from Westwood. Damaged units look damaged and dead people look, well, dead. Don't miss it.

Command & Conquer: Generals - Price

The game retails at 28.99$