Command & Conquer Renegade

"One of (if not) the best multiplayer games ever."

Like most games I really like, C&C Renegade was shown to me by a freind/peer. Renegade is a 1st/3rd person shooter which uses the elements of an RTS which makes it have an awesome multiplayer mode.

Gameplay - 10
The gameplay of Renegade is the best part. The controls are fully programmable, and simple to use. Renegade is incredibly similar to the original Command & Conquer and plays off it's RTS fundamentals.

The two armies, GDI and Nod, each have a base (usually at either side of the map) and have the main objective of destroying the other team's base. Their base can be destroyed in numerous ways using vehicles and infantry. When you spawn in a random building in your base, you are a standard free-charge soldier, there are 3 other characters which you can change to for free. Amongst these is the Engineer, equipped with a repair gun which can repair anything (even infantry) and can also defuse any enemy mines/beacons.

Advanced/more powerfull infantry cost money, and can be bought only if the Infantry Producing building in your base hasn't been destroyed. GDI have Infantry Barracks, whilst Nod have The Hand of Nod. Vehicles can be purchased too, but only if your vehicle producing building hasn't been destroyed; GDI have the Weapons Factory and Nod has the Airstrip.

Money is acquired through kills and repairs, although a slow steady cash increase constantly adds to your pocket if your Tiberium Refinery hasn't been destroyed. Each army also has a Tiberium Harvestor, which slowly travels to the nearest (poisoness) Tiberium feild and collects some from it, it then goes back to your Tiberium Refinery and unloads the Tiberium into it generating a large sum of cash spread evenly amongst your team. If the harvestor is destroyed, it respawns from your vehicle producing building, but if that is also is dead then the harvestor cannot respawn. If your Tiberium Refinery is destroyed, you can only acquire credits by kill and repairs.

In order to defend your base whilst you're out battling, each base has a Base Defence building (you don't say!). GDI has an Advanced Guard Tower which fires rockets and bullets at any Nod within it's range, and Nod have the Obelisk of Light and 2 turrets. Obviously when destroyed, you have the responcibility of defending the base yourself. These buildings also recquire that your powerplant hasn't been destroyed. If you destroy the enemie's powerplant not only will their purchase costs double, but the base defences will not work (even if they are in perfect health).

If no base has been destroyed during the time limit (usually 30mins), then the army with the most points wins. There is one last way to win and that is by using a beacon. A beacon is a hand held device which you can plant anywhere in the map and mass destruction will be targetted at that beacon's co-ordinates. GDI have an Ion Cannon Beacon whilst Nod have a Nuclear Strike Beacon. Beacons cost and when placed inside or right next to an enemy building, destroy it. Once planted everyone is alerted and after a breif pause the 30 second countdown begins. It is during this that the enemy will try and defuse the beacon by firing at it with a repair gun, if succesfull the beacon is destroyed. In each of the Infantry Producing buildings is a Beacon Pedestal (it's actually more of a platform). If a beacon is planted on this pedestal and is succesfull to go off then the army who planted it wins.

Graphics - 9
Renegade allows you to customize the aspects of it's graphics, which use DirectX 8.1 giving it compatibility on older machines. On highest settings the game is good for it's year. There is also an unofficial tool which allows the game to use DirectX 9 features including AA & AF and decreased loading times with increased FPS.

Sound - 9
Music only plays in Single Player and is well suited to the single player's style. In multiplayer there is no music (although some fan maps have music playing).

Value - 10
This game came out in 2002 and it's community is still pretty strong. At peak times there usually 800-1200 players and 50 odd servers. The online system is soon to be improved even more with the defunct ranking system returning to work.

Tilt - 8
The only problem with Renegade is probably it's single player's story being rather unoriginal. GDI's top scientists are captured and held hostage by Nod and it's up to you (playing as Commando Havoc) to retreive them. During which you come to discover Nod's intentions using Tiberium.

If you're looking for a low-requirement game with a great multiplayer then C&C Renegade is for you! And buying it won't leave you with a hole in your wallet (I bought my game 2 years after it was released and it cost me £8) C&C Renegade is too under-rated for all it's glory, you don't have to be a Command & Conquer fan to enjoy it, I wasn't.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/07