Command & Conquer Renegade

"Falls short of what a C&C game should be"

This game is nothing like I thought it would be. When reading the previews, checking out the screenshots, and aweing over the videos... I thought this would turn out to be something great. I thought westwood could pull off something great like they have numerous times before. This game is nothing what it should be. Westwood needs to go back to its day job: strategy games. This game for one, has a LOT of bugs. Just installing the game itself could prove to be quite a task. The install segment is way over done and requires a beefed out video card just to install the damn game! By far the most complex install screen ever crafted. I am not about to spend the whole time reviewing an install screen however. The second I started playing training I could tell there were some problems. Too many bugs, faulty programming. It did come off as quite fun at first, even if I had no idea what the hell I was doing... but didn't last. The training is completely worthless. Single player is even more worthless. Thats the main grudge here. Single player is just horrible! The first mission is great, awesome, fun. Everything after that is a disaster. The enemy AI is absolutely horrendous. These guys are as stupid as king kong. Westwood really isn't proficient in this field yet, and it shows. After playing the horribly written, no story line, lame, worthless single player... you could go on to play multiplayer, which I will talk a little more positively about. Navigating on westwood online is pretty much a breeze. I especially liked the fact that you could add buddies to your list, and easily contact them. Another cool feature was the built in clan rankings. You can easily just join any clan, leave a clan, search rankings, etc. Very cool. What I found really stupid tho was that there is only one type of multiplier mode. You can't play deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag... objective based, nothing. The multiplayer game is quite a bit different from single, and is also quite a bit more like the classic C&C series. You have all your buildings and basically your goal is to destroy their base. Sounds easy? Well its not. Virtually the only way to navigate the map at all is with a tank, or a humvee, or something of that sort. The maps are just too big! This quickly becomes vehicle combat, and not deathmatch. It really falls flat and totally extinguishes any replay value. Could of been a lot more, a lot better. I'm ashamed westwood.

~Breakdown~
Graphics 6.0
Its alright at first, but after a while the textures just grow so boring and ugly. The game isn't that pretty to look at, or play in. No environment, no detail, no nothin!

Sound 7.0
Very very generic sounds. All there is to it.

Gameplay 5.0
Single player is horrible. Don't even bother. Multiplayer is fun for a little while, but not for that long really. It falls way short of a good game. At least its not THAT bad.

Replay Value 7.5
Really depends here. If you are willing to get into multiplayer, you might just have a blast flying around helicopters and tanks, and taking out other guys. If you get involved in a clan, replay value for you could go way up. For me, there is none.

Download the Demo, or Buy the Game?
Since the demo is multiplayer, you can get all the fun you need with that. Download the demo, save some cash. You wont regret it. IF you MUST see this game, just download the demo. Sorry westwood... but your newest creation came up less than stellar.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/12/02, Updated 05/12/02