Command & Conquer: Generals

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• The U.S. and China have been fighting to rule the world -- but now a new group called the Global Liberation Army(GLA) is gunning for the both of them. Step into this three-way power struggle and take command as a General, to lead your side to victory.
• Command U.S., Chinese or GLA troops, each with their own unique abilities, weapons and strategies
• Use your tactical skills to lead the Chinese with their nuclear and fire-based weapons, or the U.S. with their advanced technology & air superiority, or the GLA with their guerilla tactics & scavenging skills
• As you play and win in these multi-level campaigns, you'll earn General Points you can use to break out the Super Weapons - Nukes & Particle Beams are waiting for you to deploy them
• Unique new missions and campaign goals combined with all-new multiplayer modes bring up the challenge, as you fight for the right to Command & Conquer!

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007LVJD
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: February 11, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (200 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #10,994 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

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  Software > Outlet

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

In Command & Conquer: Generals gamers choose from three radically different fighting forces, build an army from the ground up, and seek out and destroy opposing players' armies and bases. Your three choices are the USA, the Chinese, and the Global Liberation Army (a group of freedom fighters/terrorists). Each force has unique strengths and weaknesses; Generals does a good job making the three forces differ in more than aesthetics. The USA has costly but technically advanced units along with a stunningly powerful Air Force, the Chinese have weak but cheap ground units that gain advantages when attacking in large groups, and the GLA has a ramshackle army that relies on stealth. Each force caters to a completely different style of play, and playing around to find the group that you'll like the most is a lot of fun.

One of the game’s most important innovations is the Generals point system. This system allows both the player and his units to gain experience points for each enemy kill. Experienced units will become hardier and more dangerous, and the player will gain points to spend on new technologies or special attacks. Each force has its own selection of bonuses you can purchase in this manner, and more experienced generals have access to increasingly powerful items.

Generals is the first title in the Command & Conquer franchise to go fully 3-D, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. All of the models and environments in the game look really good, and it's both cool and useful to rotate the camera around to get different perspectives on the battlefield. The tradeoff here is that Generals has extremely high system requirements, and you're going to have to go even higher than the posted minimum if you want consistently smooth gaming performance. In fact, you're probably going to have noticeable slowdowns if you're not running approximately the equivalent of a 1.5GHZ processor and a GeForce 3 or better.

Ever since the release of the first Command & Conquer game in 1995, the C&C franchise has practically defined real-time strategy gaming. With a half dozen original titles and a handful of expansion packs released on a multitude of gaming platforms, any new C&C game has some seriously large boots to fill. Fortunately for gamers, Command & Conquer: Generals has not only met those previous expectations, but raised the bar once again.--Jon "Safety Monkey" Grover

Pros:

• Great looking, fully 3-D graphics
• All 3 races are fun, yet fully distinct from each other
• Innovative Generals point system
• Fun single-player campaigns; exciting multiplayer over Internet or LAN

Cons:

• Very high system requirements

Product Description

Command & Conquer: Generals brings real-time strategy fans the excitement and combat action they crave, in this fast-paced, intense new adventure!

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Strategy in Multiplayer Mode, March 15, 2003

By	Lisa Shea "LisaShea.com" - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Command & Conquer: Generals (CD-ROM)

I'm a huge fan of the Command and Conquer series, so buying Generals didn't require any thought. We were rewarded with great graphics and amazing multiplayer gameplay.

First, the good. The graphics are quite impressive, definitely a step up from previous games. The various terrains - from snow to sand to grass to concrete - are well done. The trees sway in the wind. The units leave little tracks as they move, the construction of buildings makes you really feel like you're watching an army base get built.

The sound and music is well matched and makes the game feel realistic. Controls all work just the way you'd hope they would - after so many games they really have that down to a science.

On the down side, the usual problems in strategy gaming exist here. pathfinding isn't always perfect, units get stuck against buildings or in chasms. The campaign missions help you learn your skills but aren't extremely challenging.

Still, as with just about every game that comes out today, the built in gameplay is merely a training ground for the real challenge of multiplay. There's no way a computer could compete with the challenge posed by a real human being with experience and knowledge at the other end of the map. This game really shines in multiplayer. The three sets of units are well balanced, and if you get yourself onto a large map with teammates and opponents, you'll be hooked for months.

Skirmish mode is quite fun too, earning medals for different accomplishments.

Definitely a great game for any strategy gaming fan!

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A whole new experience, January 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Command & Conquer: Generals (CD-ROM)

Command and Conquer enters a whole new war as the Chinese and terrorists enter the Command and Conquer series. Generals sports a new 3d engine which is starting to pop up in a lot of games which allows you to zoom in to see the action. The action is also a lot cooler and feels more realistic (even though the weaponry seems kinda comical at times). Generals also impliments new weaponry and spying technology like UAV's and satellites. Another new feature is the ability to customize vehicles by adding turrets or upgrading weaponry (machien gun turrets on tanks, laser guided bombs for stealths, missile barages for apache helicopters). Command and Conquer enthusiasts might be surprised though as a few things are different in Generals. The Veteran system is a new design to the game plus you no longer have resource fields. Instead, you have big stacks of supplies sort of like Warcraft goldmines. Also, you no longer have Primary buildings, it is more like starcraft where you build stuff per building. So now you can build 6 barracks and get 6 troops at once. Also, arrow keys function as unit changers instead of moving the map so this may seem to be a minor problem. Also, there seems to be a limited amount of buildings but i do not believe this to be a problem since in other C&C games, a lot of buildings were just needed to activate special items (special items of the sort are activated in command centers/barrackses and war factories instead of in special buildings). In the end, Generals might be a very fun game in the final release (im doing the multiplayer beta test). So far it looks like loads of fun but a little different from teh old C&C games. NOTE: One review says the specifications are VERY HIGH, but this is very wrong. The multiplayer beta that is out right now is using unoptimized code which runs slow on anything (2ghz , 512 ram neccessary to play it). The final release will use the optomized code of course and only need the 350 mhz 64mb specifications Westwood is saying it will need.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A polished (and final) entry in the C&C series, April 21, 2003

By	David Lim "space_hamster" (Hobart, Tasmania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Command & Conquer: Generals (CD-ROM)

This latest entry in the Command and Conquer series will, unfortunately, probably be the very last as Westwood was just recently amalgamated into Electronic Arts.

In accordance with this amalgamation, the plotline for this game is radically different from its predecessors. The Brotherhood of Nod have been replaced with the GLA, while the US and Chinese armies have taken the place of the GDI.

The storyline for Generals is an uncomfortable reflection of real life events, with GLA terrorists invading middle eastern nations like Baghdad and Afghanistan. Naturally, the Chinese and the US are out to stop them. The parallels are a little too close to reality, and this does remove some of the fun and campiness from the game that were often present in its predecessors. Red Alert 2 was a delightful example of this.

This is also the first C&C game that contains more than 2 sides, which makes for some rather entertaining skirmish and campaign missions.

The US uses a combination of air power and ground forces to crush their opponents, with very little emphasis on "weapons of mass destruction". Instead, the player would be wise to use precision airstrikes and artillery to crush their opponents.

The GLA have units very similar to NOD, in that they are fast, light and mobile. This makes them very useful for ambushes, but they become expendable in prolonged skirmishes. Their greatest strength lies in the effective use of suicide bombers and toxic bio-weapons. The GLA is a good side for those who use stealth to defeat their opponents.

The Chinese use overwhelming numbers and firepower to defeat their enemies. Fans of the old "tank rush" strategy will love playing as the Chinese, especially as Chinese tanks get attack bonuses if they are grouped in large enough numbers.

The graphics in Generals are easily the most impressive of any entry in the C&C series. The game makes excellent use of 3D-accelerated graphics to render huge maps consisting of mountains and flowing rivers. Tanks will raise clouds of dust as they move across desert terrain. Jet fighters will execute tight banking turns as they engage a target. Most impressive are the super-weapons, like the Chinese Nuclear missile, or the GLA Scud Missiles.

The most glaring downsides to this game are the portrayal of the GLA as your stereotypical Arab terrorist. This may be particularly offensive to members of the Arab community, with
its (hopefully) unintended racial stereotyping. The apocalyptic end cutscene of the GLA campaign will certainly not help matters.

In addition, some users have reported compatiblity problems while running Generals on their PC's. Please check the internet to ensure that your PC is compatible with the game. Also, be warned that this game does require an extremely fast PC. I have an Athlon 2000+ XP with 512MB RAM and a 64MB GEForce4 videocard, and I can run the game in 1024x768 on high detail. Anything less than this, and you may have problems.

Other than this, Generals is an excellent game. Yes, other than the updated graphics it doesn't present any revolutionary innovations to the RTS genre. However, for those of us who enjoy the fast pace that the C&C games provide, this is a perfect addition to the series.

Although the impact of Generals will not be as great as the original Tiberian Dawn or Red Alert, Generals is still one of the most polished entries in the series.