
	Platform PC Genre Real-Time Strategy Publisher Electronic Arts Developer EA Redwood Shores ESRB T (Teen) Released March 2007

- Instantly accessible to fans, both online and off - Return of FMV! And Kane! - Candy-coated strategy for those that still believe in the tank rush - Looks great

- Having to play through both the NOD and GDI Campaigns to access the alien campaign (even if it is fun) - Strategic players are likely to lament the lack of progress the series has made

Review: Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (PC) Review: Command & Conquer: Generals (PC) Review: Command & Conquer: The First Decade (PC)
Newsletter
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: Subscribe \| Unsubscribe

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

Score: 8.5 / 10

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is one of those games that feels remarkably familiar and fresh at the same time, because although there’s nothing that new to the series the tweaks that are made to the overall formula of the C&C games – particularly of the Tiberium timeline – make it better than what you remember. Like drinking coffee for years. You’ve always loved coffee but then some sneaky barista slips some nutmeg in and suddenly it’s like you’re drinking coffee for the first time. Again.

Full-motion video is back with a vengeance. Which is good and bad. You’ll sit through the “briefings” fully expecting the actors to burst out laughing because they’re spouting such nonsense, with possible exception of Joe Kucan as NOD leader Kane, who seems to be in on joke and just rolls with it. In that respect, the full-motion video isn’t hammy enough, a critical point that I thought I would never make.

C&C has always excelled at creating an adrenaline-fueled experience on the battlefield – unit rushing all over, structures crumbling, the air filled with explosions… this is what C&C has always meant to me and Tiberium meets that

Advertisement

- PC Game Reviews
- Strategy Game Reviews
- Games Published by Electronic Arts

expectation. It’s not always the most strategic game, even if subtle tweaks have been made to make it more tactical. Formations and patrol paths can be created but why bother when a group of fifteen GDI mammoth tanks can pretty much take out anything in their path? (I didn’t know I missed tank rushes until Tiberium Wars.)

There’s a fair amount of base construction, defense, military

Advertisement

build-up then a crushing blow to your opponent, but that process is not the sole focus. Occasionally, it’ll be escort duty or recon, which prevents the “grind” mentality of the typical RTS game; a final battle isn’t always the main goal. Well, at least in the Campaign – Skirmish and Multiplayer are almost exclusively won by the people that can climb the tech tree the fastest, building the right structures to start churning out powerful units. Running around a map with one Commando is reminiscent of some of the missions found in C&C: Red Alert 2 played almost exclusively as Agent Tanya, but it’s a nice break from ordering a horde of vehicles toward an enemy onslaught.

I suppose the upshot of it is, Tiberium Wars is an old game in new clothing, which, fortunately, is a not a bad thing. Sure, some of the sound effects are recycled from the earliest C&C titles – send out infantry to be slaughtered and tell me I’m wrong – and it does not bring anything significantly new to the genre but is sure is fun.

- Omni

(April 15, 2007)