Customer Reviews

Command & Conquer 3:Tiberium Wars DVD

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The Command and Conquer series is one of the most developed, longest-lived in strategy game history. What we get with Tiberium Wars is a continuation of that tradition, streamlined and with a few new features. The problem is, the "new features" (mainly in the form of multiplayer) tend to be painfully flawed, leaving us with a playable but not entirely complete game.

First, the single player campaign. Single player starts with the option of two different campaigns - GDI (the "good guys") and NOD (the insane rebels that some players will find slightly cooler). Supported by video footage that includes many known faces (Michael Ironsides, Billy Dee Williams, Grace Park, and Joe Kucan among others), you'll battle your way across the Earth in numerous missions. These missions are often short, but they tend to be both interesting (often with unique situations) and numerous enough where you won't feel you were short-changed by the developers. If you've played C&C before, everything will feel similar. In fact, not a lot has changed besides a slight update to the graphics.

Multiplayer, however, is where a lot of new features are added - and everything falls apart. A number of new features appear in an attempt to make this RTS game a viable "sport" with fans. These features include broadcasting games as a sort of internet TV channel ("battlecast"), various challenge systems, and clans. The problem is, at the time of this writing, multiplayer is painfully broken. Patch updates can cripple players and force them to re-install the entire game if they want to compete online; the interface makes it hard to select games; the network itself appears unstable at peak times. Actual play, if you can get to it, is OK (there are three different races/groups you can be) - but it can be extremely frustrating getting to that point. Hopefully, in the future, the online play will also be streamlined - and I can give the game a much higher rating.

In summation: For those that enjoy single player RTS (real time strategy), this game would rank four or five stars - the story arc is interesting, well-supported by video footage, and diverse enough to keep player interest. For those that want multiplayer action, you may be sorely disappointed until that aspectis fixed/overhauled - buy with caution.

I am new to the Command and Conquer series, so I bought C&C3 with no particular expectations. I thought that the demo--which I recommend you play before buying--was merely decent, but decided to give the game a shot. If you are into real-time strategy (RTS) games, this one is worth a try. It is fairly easy to pick up and play, has lengthy campaigns, and it looks great. However, this is, at best, second-tier gaming in my book. When compared to the likes of Dawn of War or Battle for Middle Earth 2, C&C3 doesn't fair well. However, it does have its moments and can provide some good entertainment.

Gameplay: This game has a late 1990s feel to it. It's an RTS game where back-and-forth resource collecting, tank rushing, and unit spamming still rule the day. But to its credit, these throwback features are put together fairly well. The game does allow for some strategic decision-making, despite itself. For example, you can tech fast to big tanks and the super-weapon and hope that the enemy does not show up in the meantime. Or, you can depend on air power to take out strategic targets and take a chance on the enemy not having good air defenses. Or, you can raid the enemy base with an expensive commando early on. Or, you can take a chance and construct turrets all over the place and play a defensive game, at least for a while. Sometimes, tank spam will win the day, but not always. A mixed force is usually best if you don't know what your enemy is up to.

The campaigns are somewhat interesting overall. Each of the three races (GDI, NOD, and Skrin) have their own story lines, which will allow you to become familiar with each side. There are a good 35 missions in all which should keep you preoccupied for a while. The missions are uneven in quality and difficulty. Some are fairly easy and straightforward and can be completed in 10 minutes. A few will require repeated, frustrating efforts and are based on questionable design decisions. The stories are tied together by cutscenes that are generally decent, especially for NOD.

The AI holds its own pretty well in skirmishes. It switches up its strategies, flanks your base, and fights aggressively. You can set the AI to behave in various ways based on your gameplay style and skill level. Unfortunately, the game ships with only about 20 skirmish maps, with the typical over-abundance of 2-player maps. However, a map editor has been released by the developer, and a few decent player-made maps have appeared. I assume that the inevitable expansion pack will include more maps, missions, and units.

C&C3 flaws are largely tolerable and relate primarily to it being a re-make of an older game. Its familiarity as a traditional RTS is both its greatest strength and weakness. The resource model is straight out of classic RTS games like the Age of Empires series, Warcraft games, and other C&C games. Some will find this enjoyable. However, it leads to the ugly base sprawl and pathfinding problems that are the bane of such games, as well as games that degenerate into who can destroy the other player's harvesters and refineries the fastest. Very few of the newer gameplay mechanics that are found in recent RTS games are found here, such as hero units, RPG-style leveling (well, units do gain experience, but you hardly notice), or alternative win conditions (you must annihilate the enemy in every game to win). Since you can climb the tech tree so fast and spam units so ridiculously, you never feel any attachment to any of them. And gameplay is fast and furious. I hope that an expansion introduces some sort of hero units or roleplaying elements to the game, along with some caps on the number of super units that can be made (at least things like Mammoth tanks should be more expensive). Anyhow, as I said before, some people are going to like this traditional style of gameplay. At least the game has modern amenities like hotkeys, save/load options, and easily adjustable difficulty levels.

Visuals: The game looks great, especially on high settings. Explosions, heat exhaust effects, unit animations, and map features are very well done. Each side looks distinctive. The interface is a lot like that of Battle for Middle Earth 2; necessary information is easy to get to without being in the way. The cutscenes, while a bit to melodramatic at times, do tell the story well, and the actors are all usually convincing, besides the fact that they are talking to the camera most of the time.

Sound: Units make appropriate sounds and have decent voice acting. They don't have the personality of a game such as Dawn of War or even Warcraft 3, but they're good enough. The game's music is also decent, but not memorable.

Technical issues: The game comes with a good manual that explains the basics. The tutorial mission is only for GDI; there should have been a tutorial mission for all three races. The game has run nearly flawlessly on my computer, with only one crash in about 50 hours of gameplay. I suppose it should run well on most mid-range and better computers.

Replayabiity/Value: Since RTS games probably offer the best replay value for the dollar of any gaming genre, anyone who likes RTS games should get good value from C&C3. There is an online community, and the AI poses a good challenge. I would not be interested in replaying the campaigns any time soon, but could see running through them again at some point. If you are a fan of the C&C series, I imagine this is a no-brainer buy. For those (like me) with no previous experience with C&C, play the demo first. I overall recommend this game.

Pros:
--Great graphics, scalable to various computer set-ups.
--Good AI, entertaining campaigns, decent skirmish mode
--Easy to pick up and learn
--Some strategic depth, despite itself
--Fast and furious gameplay

Cons:
--Fast and furious gameplay
--Spamalicious; badly needs either caps on super units, more balance, and/or increased costs
--Old-fashion gameplay, with unsightly base sprawl and tired resource collection model
--Only 20 skirmish maps, with too many 2-player maps
--A few very frustrating campaign missions

Let me make it clear from the beginning: GREAT GRAPHICS! Physics and details are AMAZING! I particularly liked the exhaust distortions, the dust of the passing mammoth tanks and the burning debris falling from destroyed flying units!
And for graphics like that it does not require the moon an the stars hardware-wise! Even my office 3year old system, sporting a 3.2MHz P4, 2GB RAM and an nVidia 7600GT can manage the highest settings.
Why is this important? I have STALKER gathering dust waiting for my next PC - only, when it will eventually be playable, it will also be...obsolete!

The story moves along, new units get unlocked, you gather, you built, you defend, you read the terrain, you amass your forces and you push forward hoping for the best. No try it again with the Bad guys.

Where it misses the 5th star: one cannot hold a battle formation while moving as most major units move at different paces and (although the AI has improved) they keep bumping on each other. May be the next C&C could have some TOTAL WAR infused into it, with battle formations options.

- Is it balanced? Mostly YES.
- Does it require tactics? As much as one might expect from a COMMAND & CONQUER Game.
- Can you still hog resources until you tank-rush the opposition? YES (sometimes the only solution)
- Is it GENERALS 2.5? Definitely NOT. It has a clear C&C character!

True, I could do without the wooden acting of Michael Ironside! (Gone are the days of Kari Wuhrer...Lock'n'Load!)

I am absolutely shocked that there are people giving this game a bad review. So much so that I had to log on and write my own review to get some of these issues squared away.

First off the graphics of this game are beautiful, every unit is well detailed and uniquely different from each other. Each faction (GDI, NOD and Scrin) have there own completely different tech trees to start from so you will never get bored of playing each side. The levels are well designed and fun to play as well, each are designed to allow all sides to have an equal chance to securing choke points or resources.

Single player campaign is a lot of fun, each level differing enough from the previous to give you a new experience every level.

A review above me wrote that this game is severely unbalanced and the highest leveled units (I.E. Mammoth Tanks) Are the only units seriously used for fighting. This is totally not true. He is a newb. When playing online if you sit in your base building the tech tree just for mammoths your going to get squashed by rushers. Alot more strategies are available then just one. Even if you play the AI, your forced to use many different strategies to get a win. You will be bombarded by Terrorists and cloaking tanks or planes will be dropping bombs on your powerplants hindering your production.

The only reason I can think of for something to not use any of the other units in the game, is they are playing the EASY AI on skirmish. Easy AI is really easy, you can build a few turrets and just sit back and let the money role in as you tech up. But under HARD AI you have to expand your base ASAP or you will be squashed.

Online play is not hard or confusing at all. Its easy to find players to rumble tanks against.


If your unsure about buying this game check out the demo. It lets you have a skirmish mode and the first level to the GDI campaign. You can test out before you buy for free. Thats what I did.

Overall: This game is a well designed strategy game for all players. You wont be disappointed with this purchase at all.

The changes are many, this game is vastly different from any other Command and Conquer game. Despite that, it is great fun, and devotees of the earlier games will know how to use the interface well within seconds. Use of multiple build queues is probably the biggest and best change, it speeds up the gameplay considerably without sacrificing the fun of the series. HD cut scenes are excellent, with actors deserving of the money they earned, unlike almost all other games.

Well worth the money either to fans of the series, or even better, as an introduction to the series that defines the RTS genre.

Command and Conquer 3 is great. I have shared it with my fellow Soldiers and we all agree. This is a great relaxer for us and very entertaining. Thank you.

First of all I would give this game a 4.5 overall and 4.5 for fun because it is definately not perfect. After a near 5 year drought of any command and conquer games (due to the end of westwood studios), Command and Conquer 3 is released. It is set in 2050, where tiberium has decimated 30% of the world(red zones), affected 30%(yellow zones), and left 20% untouched(blue zones). The Global Defense Initiative (GDI) is at a peaceful stage, which is interrupted when the brotherhood of Nod, lead by the yet still alive sociopath Kane, when they nuke their space command center, the philadelphia. The fallout is a war between GDI and Nod, with aliens intervening later in the war.

Enough with the story, The three factions of this game are very diverse and fun to use: Scrin uses air power and technology, Nod stealth, flame, and nukes, and GDI uses the classic brute force and heavy armor. The only resource is tiberium crystal (blue is twice the value of green) The game has a great skirmish mode with an acceptable but not outstanding variety of maps. The ability to manipulate scenarios and even CPU personalities (difference not always prominent) is a definite plus to the game. The graphics meet the par of this generation, they are outstanding and the explosions are great. The campaign mode is the best by far. Both the GDI and Nod campaigns are based on unpredictable and exciting plot lines. The missions are fun and have enough diversity. The campaigns are enough to challenge but are not impossible. They are long, but not tedious giving you many hours of gameplay. The campaign has many twists and even unlockables.

Now the negatives. Gameplay can be frantic and hard to keep up with for non-experienced RTS (real-time strategy) gamers. Being only an average gamer myself, I do not find it to be too difficult though. Also, tech trees are easy to climb and you often find yourself dueling with elite units early on. Harvesters have pathfinding issues ( one once crossed my protected tiberium field to use an enemy tiberium field). Besides that, bugs are minimal. Now, to recap:

Skirmish mode: 8/10, Average maps but good customization features

Multiplayer: N/A, never used it

Graphics: 9/10, what you would expect but not groundbreaking

Bugs: 10/10, thank goodness there are very few

System requirements: 9.5/10, need a good computer but I haven't heard anything of requirements being excessive

Campaign mode: 10/10, very rich storyline, few monotonous campaigns, interesting and non-tedious, unlockable alien campaign along with GDI and Nod campaigns

Overall: 9/10, a very good, near perfect game with great story, fun, graphics, factions, challenges, and scenarios.

All Command and Conquer game junkies, know that these games are highly addictive. It is true that some significant changes have been made to the controls on this game compared to the previous versions, but I would argue that once you learn them fully, you will like them even more.

The graphics are excellent.

The best part about this game compared to previous, is the improvement on the multiplayer game play. Previous versions would hang or crash frequently, but this one is smooth. Even playing online is like playing a single player campaign.

If you read this, invite me to your online game. Yeah, I really like it that much!

Command & Conquer 3 is a definite "must have" for C&C and RTS fans all around. Once again, you get to choose whose side you want to fight for. The Global Defense Initiative or The Brotherhood of NOD. The graphics are great, you don't need a super computer to play and the controls are relatively easy. The only thing I didn't like about the game is after you beat it playing both sides, you unlock a third race called the Scrin. The army is cool but there are only 4 single player levels to their story mode. I can assume there will be an add-on coming out eventually.

Pros:
Graphics are much improved
Video sequences are longer, of higher quality, and more well developed, as well as there being more of them
Sound is high quality as always
Longer campaigns
Story is more well developed
Ability to change the difficulty of each mission independantly and you can replay them at any time to go for the gold in each
A bonus 4 mission campaign upon completion of GDI and NOD campaigns
Much improved AI for skirmish games.

Cons:
Story is discontinuous, at the end of C&C Tiberian Sun, at the end of the NOD campaign, the Philidelphia is taken down by a mobile ICBM, ending the Second Tiberian War. However, at the beginning of either campaign, the first mission is all about how the Philidelphia is shot down by a silo-based nuclear missile after NOD takes down the A-sat systems.
Blue Tiberium cannot be blown up with flames or explosions like in Tiberian Sun.
In skirmish and multiplayer games, there is no option to set the maximum tech level (like in Tiberian Sun) or deny the use of Superweapons (like in C&C Generals), which takes some fun out of the game
Very few maps included, and none like the C&C Generals map Tournament Island where there were 3 well defined choke points to each start position.
No in-game random map generator like in Tiberian Sun
Scrin side (for multiplayer and skirmish) is much overpowered
Superweapons much to powerful, capable of basically eliminating an entire base, vs in Red Alert or Tiberian Sun where only one or two buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged, eliminating alot of the defensive strategies and forcing a huge base of sparsely placed buildings, or expending many resources on taking out their superweapons before they fire.

Other Thoughs:
This is definetly one of the best C&C games i have played, and i have played them all. It is missing a few features that would have definetly make it nicer, like a No Superweapons option, but they still may add that in at a later date.