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Platform: PC Genre: RTS Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Westwood Studios ETA: December 2002
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Command & Conquer: Generals
Not that Westwood or EA would do this, but if they slapped the Command & Conquer label on an empty box they’d probably sell a million copies. Anyone familiar with the C&C universe knows that Westwood has made a reputation for itself with its creative brand of real-time strategy (RTS), starting with Dune II and continuing with titles such as Red Alert 2. All of their RTS titles have been fixed ¾ view perspectives, with the exception of Emperor: The Battle for Dune, which was full 3D.
C&C Generals brings the Command & Conquer universe to the 3D arena via the SAGE engine, which promises “unprecedented detail.” I’m not sure if it’s really “unprecedented” but it certainly looks good – with a crispness not previously seen in C&C games. Of course, the tradeoff is that you’ll need a decent amount of CPU horsepower to get the most out of the graphics. If C&C is known for anything it’s tank rushes and mass troop movements. Put all of that pell-mell mayhem in 3D with a mess of military and civilian buildings and your top-of-the-line PC from a couple of years ago will enter slideshow mode. Expect the full-motion video cutscenes to return – or at the very least quality CG cutscenes. Westwood has one of the best facilities to produce both and they’re hallmarks of C&C so it would be suicide if they were missing.
In other C&C games the player was always a generic “Commander” with no chance for customization. Generals introduces a dash of character selection. Now gamers can choose from nine generals, each with “special strengths and a unique vehicle unit.” One of the examples given is a “Chinese Secret Police General [that can] spot and capture hidden enemies.” It’s not stated whether you’ll be able to switch generals in-between missions or be restricted to play all the way through with one general.
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Obviously, each side will have three generals available since there are three different sides to the conflict. No, The Brotherhood of NOD, GDI, the Allies, or the Soviets don’t play into things, although if you went on the screenshots alone you’d swear GDI and NOD are in there. Instead Generals presents “the high-tech US force, the swarming Chinese war machine, or the resourceful Global Liberation Army” each with their own unique units and super weapon, such as the US “Daisey Cutter” Bomb. Distinct unit total as of this writing is roughly 60, and although Westwood is leaning toward a “modern warfare” sensibility you |
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should expect some units to be a bit more creative. (I have no real proof of this – I’m just going on Westwood’s past efforts, such as Red Alert 2’s attack squid and the mention of “near-future military weaponry.”) There will definitely be air and ground units, but there is no mention of water units. That omission seems a little glaring but Westwood might be holding that information for later.
There will be 27 single-player missions. It’s not explicitly stated, but I’m assuming this number is the total for all three sides – nine missions each, which is on par with Red Alert 2. If it is actually 27 missions each side, cutscenes will definitely be sparse. And of course, Generals is supporting a multitude of multiplayer options, including co-operative play.
If you’ve had experience with C&C it’s pretty obvious that Westwood is not trying to reinvent the wheel so we should expect that many of the conventions they helped pioneer will return, such as unit production, weapon research, base construction, and resource gathering. Strangely enough there is no mention of resource gathering. I could speculate whether it will be included at all, instead opting for a more automatic method found in C&C Renegade’s C&C multiplayer mode.
Command & Conquer Generals is scheduled to ship in time for Christmas 2002 – and if it doesn’t that’s okay too. If history has taught us anything, most C&C games are worth the wait.
- Omni (July 10, 2002) |
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