"A fresh return to the C&C universe, though some things are missing"

C&C 3 Tiberium Wars Review

It's been 8 years since 1999, when we were met by Tiberian Sun. Initially, the community was lukewarm to the game after it failed to meet much the hype, but eventually we gained a love for the game. Afterwards, there was Red Alert 2, which eventually was well loved by the community as well, despite the continuity errors it caused. Then there was Generals, which once again we treated with harsh words but eventually warmed up to it (though not everyone). Now we got Tiberium Wars out. The reason why the C&C community was so excited about this game was that we returned back to a time line we haven't been back to since 1999, and that phrase “Tiberian Twilight” being kicked around for years. It was shady up until a year ago, and even then it wasn't as heavily hyped as Tiberian Sun. Now the game has been out for over two weeks as of writing this review. Here I start with the review; I'll go over a brief explanation of each concept of the game and my opinions.

Graphics and Appearance

Graphics is an integral part of any RTS; they help to really draw us into battle. The graphics in Tiberium Wars utilizes a modern form of the engine utilized in Generals and the Battle for Middle-Earth series of games- the SAGE engine. Textures and what not have been improved, and dynamic lighting and shader compatibility was added.

Compared to Company of Heroes, the graphics aren't as pretty, but the thing is this engine is surprisingly stable. You can have a large amount of units on the screen with out lag if you have a decent computer, and load times are amazingly quick (a nice relief over Generals). Considering there are no unit caps in C&C games, these graphics fit the situation nicely. Another interesting thing to note are the animations. Though not as interesting as they are in other games, it's pretty nice to see the Grenadiers play with their grenades, the fanatics sitting down and slouching back against something while they idle, the Mammoth Tank's treads adjusting to the terrain, and the infantry cheering after they kill something (even the most ridiculous things).

The sides are easy to distinguish as well. GDI with their more western military look, Nod with their more cyber-punk appearance, and the Scrin with their obvious alien appearance. Some players may have issues distinguishing certain GDI infantry from each other though, as they wear similar armor padding.

A very nice touch of eye candy is the explosions. Watching tanks go into flames, especially the flame tank of Nod, is a nice sight to behold. The super weapons are well done as well, especially the Ion Cannon.

Tiberium also looks pretty nice. It's not like the ones in the older series, rather a group of gigantic crystals growing from the ground around a tiberium-filled hole, with lightning effects too. There's a noticeable change in atmosphere as you move from the tranquil blue zones, to the war ravaged yellow zones, to the Tiberium infested Red Zones with large deposits of tiberium and immense tiberium chasms with massive Tiberium crystal pillars.

Sound

I won't get into much here, but the music in my opinion fits the atmosphere well. It's not as good as the Tiberian Sun soundtrack that was composed by Frank Klepacki, but it fits in anyways. The sound effects are pretty nice, the explosions and gun fire in particular.
Only thing that is kind of odd is that they added old sound infantry death tracks from the previous C&C games. This seems to be mainly for nostalgia, but it may turn off some people.

Story

Tiberium Wars starts off after the storyline in Tiberian Sun and Firestorm. GDI, confident that Kane is finally dead years after the Second Tiberium War, begins to de-escalate it's military power and focus more on rebuilding and reclaiming lands in the yellow zones. Nod still is around, but apparently fractured. Unfortunately for GDI, Kane is still alive, and is busy at work to put his plans into motion to further humanity with Tiberium. Kane starts off the events of Tiberium War by disabling GDI's land-based space defenses and launching a missile into GDI's space station Philadelphia, killing all the high-ranking officials who were holding a meeting. The game eventually goes to another war between GDI and Nod, and the arrival of the Scrin. Unlike previous titles, each side had the same story line, told from different perspectives. As such, it'll require the player to play each side (Scrin are unlocked after playing both GDI and Nod) to truly understand the story.

The story is fine to me, but it could've been better. At times it seemed to be a bit rushed, but it works. The actors are fine for the most part, albeit cheesy at times. Some are a bit too over-emotional, others with little emotion (I'm looking at you Morrison). My favorites though were Kane played by the Joe Kucan all C&Cers know, Jack Granger played by Michael Ironside (he seems to be a military figure), and the Nod tactical officer Ajay played by Josh Halloway (who plays Sawyer in the TV series Lost).

Gameplay

Here's the integral part of any RTSs. C&C's were always known for their certain style of game play, and Tiberium Wars attempts to bring that back with a few changes. Base building is still the same- you build from the construction yard and place them within your build radius, which you can expand with some vital structures. Base defenses can be constructed around your base- anti-air, anti-tank, and anti-infantry, some with a combination of anti-tank and anti-infantry. Structures can be placed in any direction, allowing players to pack their bases into nice shapes for easier movement.

Like in older C&Cs, you have to build power plants to maintain your power flow, which is important if you want to maintain your defenses and continue your rate of building structures and units. There's an option to temporarily turn off certain structures to save on power if you're using more than you have. Destroying power plants is a viable strategy in the game, and may very well throw some players off balance.

Tiberium is the only source of credits in the game. Most games start the player near a field of Tiberium, usually small. Tiberium can regenerate, but not fast enough for the player to camp around the same field all game. Most games have other Tiberium fields at different areas of the map and a capturable Tiberian Spike which will continuously generate money. There's also the Blue Tiberium, which will yield greater credits, but unfortunately has lost its volatile nature from Tiberian Sun. Tiberium is VERY important to the player if they want to build things, so harassing tiberian harvesters or destroying refineries which collect the Tiberium can severely hurt the player, as they'll lose any potential income from those and will have to replace them. Nod and GDI have Tiberian Silos, which need to be built to up the amount of resources you want to have at any one time (Scrin don't need this). To those of you who have never played a Tiberian title, Tiberian is poisonous to unprotected infantry. The Scrin do not have this weakness. Tiberium Wars also features unit upgrades, the second C&C game to do so (the first being Generals). Most of these upgrades either enhance your infantry or your vehicles. For example, GDI has the composite armor upgrade and the rail gun upgrade for their units. The composite armor upgrade improves your basic infantry's hit points and durability, and makes them look different. The rail gun upgrade replaces the turrets on the tanks with a rail gun, and will greatly increase their damage output.

Every unit in the game has a specific strength and weakness, which is pretty much what C&C was always based on. Riflemen won't do much against a tank, but a tank can't do much against a rifleman (unless they run them over of course). Tanks are effective against other tanks, and some vehicles are pitted to be specifically anti-infantry or anti-air. Some infantry are anti-infantry, but others are anti-vehicle or anti-air. The list goes on, but unfortunately this counts for nothing against a massive tank spam late-game. Nonetheless, all the units have a purpose, and you'll find yourself using most of them, if not all of them, at different points in the game. Each side has a commando unit. GDI and Nod's Commando both excel against killing infantry (although they go down fast against heavy fire), and can destroy buildings and walker units with their explosives. The Scrin equivalent is the mastermind, which can teleport units and even take control of enemy units.

It is important to note that each infantry comes in a squad now (with the exception of units like the engineer and commando units), unlike the previous C&C games where infantry were individual entities. This is mainly so that the player can get units out quickly without having to wait a while.

Each side has a unit that is meant for capturing structures: GDI's engineer, Nod's sabetour (can set booby traps), and the Scrin Assimilator (can turn invisible when idle). They can also capture downed walkers, turning them against the enemy.

Each side also has a deployable unit that can be constructed from the base. These are primarily used to establish outposts near Tiberian fields so you can build a refinery near those. These lay down a build radius after being constructed, which can also be expanded with more vital structures.

Every side has a unique flavor. GDI is the strong-arm side of the game, as most of their units are more expensive than their other counter parts. GDI's Mammoth Tanks are by far the most powerful unit in the game, especially with the rail gun upgrade. Their harvesters are the slowest, but are the toughest and have an on board turret. Infantry like the Commando and the Zone Troopers can use their jet packs to jump over obstacles or enemies. Snipers can spot things for the Juggernaut artillery to allow them to strike anywhere on the map from their current location. The GDI rifleman can create bunkers for a price, allowing them to create garrisionable structures anywhere.

Nod is more of a fast hitter side, as their units are much cheaper and quicker to produce, but they got some devastating units like the Avatar. Despite it's weakness to the GDI commando, it can be very powerful if used correctly, and can even take parts from your other Nod vehicles. The infantry, despite being weaker than some of their counterparts, are truly effective with their upgrades. Tiberian Infusion gives them greater durability and invulnerability to tiberium, and the Confessor upgrades that'll enable them to toss hallucinogen grenades, causing the enemy to fire at each other. They can upgrade their scorpion tank with the laser upgrade and the dozer upgrade, allowing them to fire deadly lasers and to clear mines and run over heavy infantry respectively. Their harvester is fast moving and can cloak. The Scrin are really more of a harassment spammer side. They rely on harassment tactics early game to be able to deploy their devastating aircraft and Annihilator Tripods, which can be upgraded with shields. Aliens are also the most adept at collecting Tiberium, and their harvesters are hover units and can bypass a lot of terrain feature. They also generate Ion Storms when destroyed, which are devastating against groups of the enemy, especially infantry. Despite their strengths, they seem to have the weakest armor when compared to other sides, but can be devastating if you let the Scrin spread and unleash their power. They're also able to utilize Ion Storms, and have the Mothership unit, which if allowed to reach the enemy base, can inflict devastating damage.

Air units are also utilized in the game. GDI has the Orca, which is similar to a helicopter, and is used to destroy vehicles. Firehawks are used as bombers, but can also be used as an anti-air unit. Nod has the Venom VTOL fighter, which can attack both land and air, and the stealth Vertigo Bomber. The Scrin have the greatest selection of air units- the stormrider which can attack land and air, the Devastator Warship which can dish out large damage at a long range against ground units, and the Planetary Assault Carrier which carries small fighters that can swarm targets. They also have access to the Mothership, which is devastating if it can reach its target.

Some issues I can see is that some people rely on tank spams a tad too much on multi-play, and the skirmish maps aren't too interesting, as most are symmetrical due to a tournie-style balance. That's kind of annoying since some maps from older C&Cs were well designed, and these follow an aesthetic feeling. Hopefully when the map builder gets released, people'll release some nice looking maps.

Conclusion

What makes Tiberium Wars different from other games? Not very much unfortunately, so that may turn off people who are looking for innovation in their games. Regardless, it brings back an old RTS formula that hasn't been used for a while, and I feel is perfect for most C&C fans and moderate RTS players. If you're hooked to games like Supreme Commander and Company of Heroes, I doubt you'd get on it, but you may. It isn't necessarily devoid of strategy, as I think any player, hardcore or new, can play this game fine and still have a challenge. I played Dawn of War with all its expansions for the longest time and I'm enjoying this game. There are some path finding issues, bugs, and some multiplayer issues that I feel need to be fixed, as C&Cs have always been big on the multiplayer front. Overall, if you're looking for some old-fashioned RTS and some fast-paced gameplay, this game is for you.

9.0/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/26/07