Amazon.com: Command & Conquer 3:Tiberium Wars Kane Edition DVD: PC: Video Games

40 Reviews

5 star:		(19)
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4.2 out of 5 stars (40 customer reviews)

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shiny new paint on an old-school game (still fun, though), May 21, 2007

By	Andrew C. (USA) - See all my reviews

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

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

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Quick Review, March 29, 2007

By	Lok'Var (USA) - See all my reviews

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

Quick Summary:
PROS:
*BEAUTIFUL Graphics - The visuals and special effects are spectacular, EA really outdid themselves this time. Easily the best looking RTS out there.
*Incredibly Smooth - Load times are nearly non-existent, and I never experienced even the slightest drop in FPS which is incredible since I had well over 50 mammoths on the screen all firing at different targets.
*Balanced Forces - All three factions are relatively balanced (NOD is somewhat weaker in late-game but a upcoming patch will fix that), and each plays very different. Not as much variation as RA2, but still very good.
*Same Old Game - Just like the original C&C this game is simply fun to play. The speed has been substantially increased, making it much more intense.
*Multiplayer - Brutal and not for the newcomer, but loads of fun.

CONS:
*Repetitive Campaign - The single player campaign gets repetitive towards the end of the game as the same simple strategy is all you use over and over. Could have used something more to keep it interesting.
*Same Old Game - There is very little new here, many of the units are the same, although they do look a lot nicer.
*Weaker Story - Acting and actors are great, but I just felt the story wasn't developed enough (might be due to my speed of running through it)
*Short - This will vary for each person, and I have been playing these games forever so I really know what I'm doing, but the campaign is really short. I finished the GDI campaign completely in under 6 hours. Kind of a let down there.

Bottom Line:
C&C3 is a great game, and more fun then most things out there. Great characters, fast paced action, and wonderful graphics easily make this game well worth the money. In the end, however, it is just the same old game as before. For most people that will be more then enough. For the rest of you, go buy Supreme Commander.

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22 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Respectable Single Player and Flawed Multiplayer, March 31, 2007

By	R. Cole - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars

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.

So, what makes the Kane Edition different from the standard? Roughly $10.00 in price. ;) The complete differences are available in the various descriptions (a few multiplayer maps, unit skins, blooper vid, making of vid, tips, etc..). In the end, though, you won't be missing much if you just get the standard edition. Fans of the series and/or the actors might consider it, but most people will use the extras once (at most) and never bother with them again.

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.