• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Rise and Fall of Command & Conquer

R

Royal_Phalanx

Member
I hate how EA brought in the universes concept where Red Alert was no longer considered a prequel to C&C 1. I loved playing them back in the day. I spent many hours playing multiplayer on Renegade, including the A Path Beyond mod.
 
I

iceblade997

Member
reelbigtink said:
Hell March is one of the greatest tracks in video game history, so at least we got that before the series became doodoo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HUWUtTZvK4
Click to expand...

This song right here... So many memories, and so many hours playing skirmishes against the AI.

C&C was such a a great series, and it's really sad that they put it out to pasture, all the more so since C&C4 was so badly done and that's the last we've seen of it. And they'd promised C&C3 and Kane's Wrath would be great for eSports, then only pushed out 2 patches for Kane's Wrath before dropping it. So much missed potential. But the series is the one that brought me to PC gaming as a kid, and will always have a special place in my heart. Just wish it would've been treated better...
 
T

Taffer

Member
RoyalFool said:
You know, the crazy thing is when you go back you realize they actually had some good actors in there..
Click to expand...

98C4D0DCFB4FE6C4957D0323D34E983C39E491EE


Tim Curry is still alive, I checked.
 
Z

Zaru

Member
It's hard to accept that we've already gone so many years without a C&C game.

I enjoyed all the C&C games before that damned last installment, including Red Alert 3.
Just replayed all of RA2 and Yuri's revenge too, it aged surprisingly well.

I cannot believe that a series of this caliber will stay in the EA graveyard, but big budget RTS games that aren't the next wannabe "esports hit" are hard to come by now.
 
R

Randam

Member
Never liked the turn red alert took after the first one.
Got way to whacky. Idk.
Should have stayed more realistic.
 
L

Lucumo

Member
Saw that video yesterday. My RTS buddies and I thought the series went downhill with Tiberium Wars, not just with Tiberian Twilight.
Also, Renegade was fun. Played it a lot in multiplayer back in the day.
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Falk said:
I'm not sure if it really counts but Emperor: Battle for Dune is one of the games I wish was readily acquirable right now because I want to replay it.
Click to expand...
This game has Westwood's secret best soundtrack in the House Harkonnen themes.

Almost every single one is Hell March quality
 
N

Nomadic Sparks

Banned
I saw this video a couple of weeks ago and I agreed with the general sentiment of it.

What I can add to this thread though is the theory that because whatever DoW game was out was so much better than the C&C4, that actually rebooting the franchise would be a gigantic effort and EA never wants to please it's fanbase.

I'd be interested to see what they have in store but not enough to install Origins.
 
E

El Odio

Banned
"Get out of the vehicle."
"Get out of the vehicle."
"Get in the vehicle."

Man these games made up a good portion of my pc gaming as a child. Me and one of my friends would play renegade online for hours. I ended up getting both C&C3 and RA3 on 360 of all things and didn't think they were as terrible as most people paint them as though RA definitely had somethings off about it. Absolutely loved the vehicle designs though. I made a lot of them in Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts.
 
A

APZonerunner

Member
It really only went wrong very late on, imo. C&C3 was iffy, but I think RA3 is almost as good as RA2. It's quite sad how fast C&C4 and the rush to free to play and the like absolutely destroyed everything
 
Ivellios

Ivellios

Member
One of my most liked series, especially the tiberium ones, i liked the campaign missions and cutscenes, it was amazing how C&C 4 managed to destroy everything, one of the worst game i ever played.

I also remember Renegade, both the single player and multiplayer were awesome.
 
G

Guy.brush

Member
Wish there was a version of C&C Generals that doesn't have the dreaded buggy de-sync prone netcode.

Playing this over the net with a friend in co-op and then a 100% chance to get a desync. Sometimes after 2 minutes and sometimes after 2 hours of play. They never fixed that.
 
G

GlassAwful

Member
Renegade 2 was canceled so as not to compete with Battlefield 1942? That's crazy..

I always hoped it was going to be revealed after Battlefield showed open world multiplayer could work.

I still hope it will. It's a unique universe with interesting concepts. Base building (and attacking), resource collection, commanders and other completely unique roles versus Battlefield's largely interchangeable units.. like Planetside, Battlefield and Dota had a baby. Sigh...
 
Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck

Member
Another C&C fan here.

Never played any of the games after Generals. Just didn't feel or look like the C and C I spent hours playing alone or with my mate.

Gutted it's dead.

OpenRA has provided some good times recently though.

Still love to jump on but now it's been so long the AI kicks my ass.

Me and my mate used to love the online skirmish stuff, the rush to either do or protect against the 5 engineer subterranean APC cheese was hilarious.

Started playing on PS1 but quickly progressed to the PC when I got my PC circa 1997/98.
 
hymanator

hymanator

Member
My favorite memory of Command and Conquer was with Red Alert on the original Playstation. I used to play a lot of system-link matches using a custom 50 foot link cable, which was made by splicing a cat-5 cable in-between the two ends of the standard 6 foot link cable.

My friends would sometimes set rules to not attack within the first 10 minutes, which allowed for some very interesting matches. I was always a more casual player though, so playing competitively online never really appealed to me. I also prefer the older games much more than the newer ones, because it felt like they added too much micro-managing as the series progressed.
 
S

StrikeFirst117

Banned
A great look at the series for sure, it sucks that tiberian twilight had to happen, it was complete garbage and loved disconnecting during the campaign with its always online bullshit.
 
P

post-S

Member
Red Alert 2 is probably my favorite RTS. RA3 was pretty weak tho. It's still an enjoyable game but not even remotely comparable to RA2.
 
S

Springy

Member
C&C may be dead, but it lives on in my heart. And RA1 is still the king.

I'd never seen that Tiberium footage before. That game looked cool. I didn't realize there were so many attempts at creating entries in the franchise that EA nixed.
 
S

Stopdoor

Member
Red Alert 2 was a massive deal for me. I guess I can see why people might feel it's a bit off in tone compared to the first one, but it's definitely a game that I think is good to exist for that tone.

Is there anything redeemable about the gameplay in C&C4 when removed from the shadow of being a C&C game? Just curious. I remember some trailers during the lead-up and the mechanics at least sounded interesting on paper.
 
Domstercool

Domstercool

Member
I really dug all the C&C games except C&C4, which was a super let down (and killed the series).

My fave sits with Tiberian Sun.
 
woopWOOP

woopWOOP

Member
Tiberian Sun is coming to OpenRA too?? sheeeeet, might have to reinstall that again sometime

I have great fondness of the first C&C Red Alert, it being the first RTS game I could play regularly. Our family PC was a simple DOS PC for the longest time and couldn't run it, but my brother eventually bought Red Alert for Playstation 1. Never got far with missions, but Skirmish was a blast. That soundtrack was incredible too, a lot of tracks and none of them bad.

Don't remember a lot about RA2, but I remember playing that online and it being good fun too
Turin Turambar said:
Watching some OpenRA multiplayer games made me think how that formula is lost, it's pretty much different of the Blizzard gameplay (Starcraft 2) or the Relic gameplay (DoW3/CoH2).
It's much more about raiding, open maps, lethal damage, hard-ish counters, and the concept of trading effectively to do economic damage.
Click to expand...
These are fun, I've never really thought about how high level play of C&C Red Alert would look like. Very interesting.
 
mcz117chief

mcz117chief

Member
Has there been a bad Command and Conquer game?

I played, enjoyed and finished all of them. Some were better than others but overall I liked them all, even the online card game that was released right before Command and Conquer 3 and Tiberium Alliances, which was my first experience with those online builder games, which I also enjoyed for a few weeks (then I got betrayed by my own alliance so I gave up after that).

Fantastapotamus said:
God, I could sit here and listen to Hell March forever
Click to expand...

Yuriko's Theme (also that sweet battle version, I can hear it in my head again "Final Squadron Omega ready! Psyonic Decimator ready!") and Act on Instinct are the two best pieces in all the games.
 
L

Linkark07

Banned
What can I say? I loved the Command and Conquer games. Started with Red Alert, went later with Tiberian Sun.

After Tiberian Sun, my father managed to grab Red Alert 2, which I fell in love too. One of my favorite game of all times. And Yuri's Revenge expansion is one of the best out there. Spent many hours playing those games online.

Generals and Tiberium Wars are also awesome games. Red Alert 3 too. Many hate it, and while I agree it doesn't come close to RA2, it is a solid game.

It really makes me angry EA canned this series. I will never forgive them for killing Westwood and Bullfrog Productions.
 
S

Savitar

Member
Great recap of the series and how it fell, it's painful how many studios that EA has buried and caused great franchises to go unused. Total disgrace.
 
C

Chev

Member
Rymuth said:
What are your thoughts on the C&C series?
Click to expand...
I loved the original C&C and Red Alert but think the series went astray as soon as Tiberian sun. The pseudo-contemporary setting was a big draw so going all low-rent scifi was problematic.
 
L

lazygecko

Member
woopWOOP said:
These are fun, I've never really thought about how high level play of C&C Red Alert would look like. Very interesting.
Click to expand...

FiveAces is a great caster and I've watched his RA videos for about 2 years now. High level OpenRA play is a completely different beast from how the original games worked though. They didn't have fog of war originally, and this almost fundamentally changes the combat as line of sight becomes the factor in how engagements play out. All units can fire a bit further than they can see, so good positioning and having units with good vision range like aircraft becomes extremly important.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
yO i need to play Red Alert 3 already. The Empires having friggin' Macross-like robots is my kinda jam.
 
D

Deadstar

Member
What's the best way to play the original Command and Conquer along with Covert Operations?

I have the Origin C&C pack but the game crashed after a few minutes of playing. Is there a better option?
 
O

OmegaZero

Member
I remember picking up Red Alert 2 at a garage sale as a child. Back then my parents were pretty anal about what games I was allowed to play (mainly typing games on our clunker of a PC and whatever kid-friendly looking games they could find for the Game Boy Color) so I snuck it in some clothes I had also purchased. My brother and I waited until they were asleep and started the install process, which surprised us as it was themed to resemble some top secret military program complete with animations. Then when we actually booted up the game itself, we were treated to live-action scenes depicting the President struggling with a sudden Russian invasion - the quality of which blew our minds. Finally that intro video started playing, with those Russian blimps ominously floating over New York accompanied by Hells March 2 blaring in the background.

We lost our collective shit. I'm pretty sure we played all the way until morning, taking turns trying out various campaign missions.To this day there hasn't been a single video game opening that I find as memorable and it's a damn shame that this series ended up dragged through the dirt before being shelved.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Another Command & Conquer Remastered Collection Hinted By EA’s Lead Producer
Rumor 2
62
3K
Krathoon replied
European GSD March 2024: EA FC 24 #1, Helldivers 2 #2, Dragon’s Dogma 2 #3
Sales-Age
38
2K
mckmas8808 replied
[Digital Foundry] Rise of The Ronin: PS5 Tech Review - A Superb Action RPG... But Can It Sustain 60FPS?
Analysis Review 2
85
5K
adamsapple replied
Rise Of The Ronin Reportedly Suffers From An Unstable Frame Rate In Performance Mode
Platform 2 3
146
9K
Mister Wolf replied
SIE Korea announced that it will not be releasing Rise of the Ronin in South Korea (more details in the OP)
News Drama 2
84
7K
The Fuzz damn you! replied
Top Bottom