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The Rise and Fall of Command & Conquer

C&C is one of my favourite RTS series, i enjoyed most of the ones i played (Mostly RA2, Generals and Tiberian Sun...4 was terrible though) and it's such a shame that not only are there no RTS games like that now, but there are hardly any RTS games at all.

I was pretty excited for Generals 2 when that was announced as what was shown looked pretty good, but maybe it was a good thing it was cancelled, i read a few things about serious problems with it. I wouldn't really trust developers now to make something that feels like the classic C&C games these days anyway. I expect they'd end up ruining it by going for the MOBA or Esports players, or go for gameplay more similar to Starcraft overall, that's what Dawn of War 3 has done and i think that is a huge negative.

That Tiberium FPS looks quite interesting though, i like the setting so having it expanded upon would have been great.
 

gelf

Member
RA3 was fairly divisive. Lord knows I tried, but I just couldn't end up liking it. First of all the much inreased focus on micromanagement is precisely what I don't play RTS for (even if this is a hugely popular element among esports players. I found the much more zoomed in view compared to C&C3 to be a huge gripe as well. I don't know why they insisted on making it so cramped. The visuals didn't feel as readable as the earlier games (especially the Soviet designs where I was never quite sure wtf I was looking at), and just the whole feel and presentation (the RTS equivalent of "gunplay" if you will) just lacked that same oomph and satisfaction to it. Really weird since C&C3 was pretty much a bullseye in most of those categories. I think a lot of those problems can likely be explained by them trying to make RA3 play and feel different from C&C3 just for the sake of it, and they ended up needlessly changing up things that already worked great.
Agreed. I didn't get on with RA3 at all because of the zoomed in view and extra micromanagement. And the change from RA1 to 3 from slightly camp cutscenes to full on camp didn't sit well with me. The series died for me with that even before the C&C4 travesty.

Are any modern RTS not too micromanagement heavy and have a good single player campaign? I'm only aware of Grey Goo being close to C&C style.
 

Futaleufu

Member
C&C4 sat in my backlog for over 5 years, I played it a couple months ago.

It wasn't THAt bad, but it was no C&C. Even the actors for the FMV sequences sucked, I didnt recognize anyone (except Joe Kucan, of course) It's very obvious EA gave them a very low budget and it shows in the campaign. I still can't believe they thought it was a good idea that you couldn't build more than a dozen units.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
C&C4 sat in my backlog for over 5 years, I played it a couple months ago.

It wasn't THAt bad, but it was no C&C. Even the actors for the FMV sequences sucked, I didnt recognize anyone (except Joe Kucan, of course) It's very obvious EA gave them a very low budget and it shows in the campaign. I still can't believe they thought it was a good idea that you couldn't build more than a dozen units.

For all the things it did wrong, I will give it one positive. When you selected a unit (or a group of the same units) you would see icons over the enemies that they were effective against, made learning the unit counters really easy and intuitive. It's the only thing from that game that I wouldn't mind seeing in other strategy games.
 
I'm actually playing through the series now again. It's just so good and I really miss the games. Though have to say the games after Generals weren't that good unfortunately.

But I'd love a revival of the series/genre in general. I doubt EA will care however. Can't imagine anyone who devved on C+C still working there now. But there has to be a good market still out there and to attract new players. It's one of the reasons I fell out of love with PC gaming when the genre/C+C died.
 

OmahaG8

Member
I used to close my eyes in grade school and daydream about C&C. I can hear the commando, or "building... construction complete" clear as day 20 years later.

That video was depressing. Going to try and make time for some C&C/RA1 in the next few weeks now. I remember going from a 486 to a Pentium and it making C&C run smoothly - it was nuts. I was too young/didn't even know the game wasn't running at full speed before the Pentium.
 
Really seems like the ball is being dropped not releasing a "red alert 2/yuris revenge hd" pack of some sort. I wasn't nearly as into AoE as I was red alert 2 but I still bought it day 1.

The fact that it takes so much effort to get the original to work on windows 10 makes it even more egregious.
 

Spinifex

Member
I remember Renegade was not well received? It was janky AF but goddamn it was AWESOME, had LAN parties were this was literally all that was played.

Is there even anything like Renegade, to this day?
 
I remember Renegade was not well received? It was janky AF but goddamn it was AWESOME, had LAN parties were this was literally all that was played.

Is there even anything like Renegade, to this day?

Renegade came like two years later than it should, and in places as you say it was pretty janky, so it isn't strange it failed. You may had an awesome times in LAN parties, but precisely the problem was that it played much more better with known people and coordinated, than in public play.
 

Tacitus_

Member
Agreed. I didn't get on with RA3 at all because of the zoomed in view and extra micromanagement. And the change from RA1 to 3 from slightly camp cutscenes to full on camp didn't sit well with me. The series died for me with that even before the C&C4 travesty.

Are any modern RTS not too micromanagement heavy and have a good single player campaign? I'm only aware of Grey Goo being close to C&C style.

If you went from RA1 to RA3, I could see the problem. But RA2 already had mind controlled giant squids, who were countered by trained dolphins with sonic weaponry. And of course Einstein and Premier Romanov hamming it up.

Not to mention Yuri's Revenge. Which introduced flying discs, not-Hulks, had Soviets steal Einsteins time machine and fighting dinosaurs because they put in too much power, and of course, the Mastermind
kluDv3g.jpg
 

Lime

Member
I honestly didn't like the sci-fi direction they took the regular C&C/Tiberium series into. C&C95 had a more grounded feeling with modern military technology coupled with soft sci-fi that made it more interesting.
 
The first C&C was just such a fun game, and everything about it felt perfect in that way that '90s PC games often did. There was something about those big, pixellated 2D sprites at 800x600 on a CRT monitor that looked so right. I never took to the sequels, they just never had that special something of the first one.

Red Alert was okay. The units weren't as fun, and it was horribly unbalanced, but my friends and I played it for a while.
 

jett

D-Member
I'll always have fond memories of the original C&C, the only one I played. For some reason it really spoke to me and my friends.
 

jobrro

Member
Watched this a day or two before the thread popped up.

I remember some kid at primary school being really into. Talking about how he 'clocked' Command and Conquer constantly. Don't think it ran too well on my old 486 so I didn't really play any until Red Alert 2 and Generals.

Got the big C&C pack (something like 17 games) for a bargain on Origin a few years ago, but didn't really get into it again.

Very interesting video. A lot great info there. Subscribed and hope to check out some more of the author's content soon.
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
Red Alert was the shit, one of the first games I truly got addicted to as a kid. Most of the other games in the series are good too, even if the RA sequels went a bit too silly.

I think we will probably see one more C&C game in the near future but as with all EA franchises that aren't Battlefield you always have to be prepared for them to kill it forever. This is not a company that cares about making quality software.
 

Xater

Member
Fucking Black Dragon right in the intro!

Command and Conquer 4 is a disgrace. I never liked Generals. It was too generic.

Generals had great gameplay, but it lacked any kind of personality. That's the main reason that game didn't really leave an impression on me unlike the Tiberium or Red Alert titles.
 
Generals had great gameplay, but it lacked any kind of personality. That's the mai. Reason that game didn't really leave an impression on me unlike the Tiberium or Red Alert titles.

I also never liked the visual aspect of Generals, although in part it's because it was a 3d engine in an age where they still didn't allow for lots of detail and therefore 2d was still superior.
 
Loved C&C. I was so hooked as a teen that I'd play it 'till morning and catch the school bus right after. Parents were impressed with how I was such a consistent early bird.

Red Alert I enjoyed more as a single player experience. Online gimped the scope of the game as opponents routinely resorted to tank rushing. Submarines, planes were out the picture. If you didn't have a war factory spitting out 5 light or medium tanks a minute and deployed within the first 10 mins of the game, you were done.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Generals lacked any kind of personality

Insanity. When it comes to "personality" then Generals is the second best with Red Alert 3 (specifically Uprising) being the number one. I suggest you play Generals again because that game is just full to the brim with crazy fun stuff, one of the most memorable ever. You can even buy shoes for your workers, if that isn't amazing then I don't know what is, and also:"AK 47s for everyone!"
 
Insanity. When it comes to "personality" then Generals is the second best with Red Alert 3 (specifically Uprising) being the number one. I suggest you play Generals again because that game is just full to the brim with crazy fun stuff, one of the most memorable ever. You can even buy shoes for your workers, if that isn't amazing then I don't know what is, and also:"AK 47s for everyone!"

Chinaaaaaa always makes me laugh. General has some great lines.
 

Rambler

Member
Tiberian Sun is still a flawed game but the esports obsession has given me a newfound appreciation for it. Sometimes I want something that tries a bunch of weird new ideas, or actually gives a shit about establishing a setting, even if it doesn't hold up competitively.
 

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.
I've only ever played Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 1 and 2. I loved the atmosphere in Tiberian Sun the most. Are the others worth playing these days?
 

ffvorax

Member
I still own Red Alert for PC, I wonder if the ITA brand new original version is worth some money....

I actually loved that game, it was the only strategic game, with Warcraft 2, that I ever liked to play... I don't play this genre of game (RTS), but these two... I don't know why I loved them so much!

I also played one C&C on PS3 thx to a friend, it was entertaining but still not my genre...
 
No mention of Emperor: Battle for Dune? Not a Command & Conquer game, but still.

They really need to make Red Alert 2 HD. Put it on Origin for $20 and watch the money rolling in.
 

Jackano

Member
Love C&C. I think it was C&C3 I played the most, after that, waited for another one all that came out was things that weren't RTS.

I think I should see if I still can install it.
 

Steejee

Member
C&C was one of my first RTS'. Everything about it is still burned into my memory and I remember looking at the Tiberium Sun screenshots in PCXL, though I played it until only like a year or two ago. RA, Generals were both great, and I even liked CNC3 - one of the last EA games I bought.

For CnC1, since i tend to like turtling strategies (especially as a kid) and only strike out when I had a big force, I had trouble with a lot of missions until I discovered the sandbag bug: AIs wouldn't intentionally destroy sandbags, so you could use them to wall off large areas to keep the AI out. Even though tanks could drive right over them they wouldn't unless they spotted one of your units.

On the final GDI map I ended up walling all the Nod units into their bases, and laughed at them as they exhausted their tiberium supply. Meanwhile I put the game on fast forward, let the tiberium spread an absurd amount, then steamrolled Nod to win.
 

Fruitster

Member
I adored those games, and it's a black mark on EA for how things ended up. I'd love to see a remastered Red Alert one day.
 

Ithil

Member
I adore C&C, particularly Red Alert 1 and 2. Now I'm sad that it's all dead and Westwood is gone.

I'm outta here, I'm escaping to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by EA's capitalism....SPPPAAAASSCCHH!
 

Tacitus_

Member
I've only ever played Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 1 and 2. I loved the atmosphere in Tiberian Sun the most. Are the others worth playing these days?

Outside of CnC4, I'd say so. The first one is pretty dated though, but not that much more than RA1. Tiberium Wars (CNC3) is pretty similar in atmosphere to Tiberian Sun once get out of the reclaimed zones in the start of the campaign. Dilapidated buildings, minimal to no vegetation and tiberium everywhere. The expansion Kane's Wrath even brings back the Wolverine and Titan walkers for GDI.
 
Love the series, every game and expansion in Red Alert Series, Generals and the mainline game up to 3: Kanes Wrath...

4 was horse manure. It was rushed and was beyond awful. The always online never helped, especially when I would lose connection and hence my progress. Also you had to unlock units by xp which had to be done in the multiplayer.

Was a cluster. Ended up youtubing the scenes so I never had to play it.
 

Baleoce

Member
They need to take a leaf out of Blizzards book and remaster some of the older games like Red Alert or Tiberian Sun (especially the latter given how awful the compatibility is). Give people a feel for the franchise again and generate buzz for something new.
 
Oh yeah, the online requirement and focus was what killed my interest in C&C4! I'd forgotten all about it. Such a shame and i still miss Westwood. So many great games in this series but the missteps killed it all :(

Good documentary even if it meant i remembered the end of many of my favourite studios :(
 
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