Bundling the battles
Strategy buffs are sure to appreciate 'Command & Conquer' package
By Justin Hoeger -- Special To The Bee
Ten years, 12 titles - "Command & Conquer: The First Decade" rounds up
nearly every game in the long-running strategy series for this
collection, excluding only the online multiplayer dud "Sole Survivor."
Starting with 1995's "Command & Conquer" and ending with 2003's
"Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour," "The First Decade" offers a
massive amount of gaming for the strategy buff.
The games are divided into three subsets, or series: "Tiberium," "Red
Alert" and "Generals."
The first series includes the original game and its "Covert
Operations" mission pack, the sequel "Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun"
and its "Firestorm" expansion, and the first-person shooter spinoff
"Renegade." The sci-fi plot, set in the near future, follows the
struggle between the United Nations-like Global Defense Initiative and
the pan-global terrorist group the Brotherhood of Nod, led by a
charismatic madman called Kane.
In the strategy titles, the player chooses a side and takes on the
role of a commander, then receives mission briefings in most of the
games through amusingly cheesy video sequences that allow the story to
unfold.
The plot in both games concerns both factions' fight for control of
Tiberium, a self-replicating, alien substance that's high in precious
metals. The stuff also has toxic and mutagenic properties, which Nod
in particular experiments with.
The GDI has the heavier weaponry of the two factions, while Nod relies
on fast, cheap and expendable units, as well as stealth. The
difference is even more pronounced in the sequel, where Nod's forces
burrow underground and engage basewide cloaking shields, and the GDI
fields armor suits and massive walking tanks.
"Renegade" puts the player in the role of one of the GDI's commando
units on a series of missions against Nod forces. It's a decent but
unexceptional shooter whose main claim to fame is allowing the player
to explore firsthand a variety of familiar structures from a grunt's
perspective. The game hasn't aged very well and is probably the
weakest link in the collection.
The "Red Alert" series includes the original game and its two
expansions, "The Aftermath" and "Counterstrike," plus "Red Alert 2"
and its expansion, "Yuri's Revenge." The first game is something of a
prequel to the original in which Adolf Hitler is removed from history,
leading to an arms race and all-out war between Allied and Soviet
forces. Time travel figures heavily into the plotline here.
"Red Alert 2" focuses on an all-out Soviet invasion of the United
States, driven largely by the psychic machinations of Yuri, the
Soviet's mind-control expert. Yuri becomes a foe to both sides in the
expansion, bringing his psychic clones and genetically engineered
brutes into the fray. His faction isn't available in the main
campaign, but it's playable in skirmish and multiplayer modes.
Players should take heed that this game came out before the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, and features missions involving the destruction of
the Statue of Liberty, the Pentagon and a fight around the World Trade
Center. The original "C&C" actually allows the player to blow up the
White House or several other world landmarks if the player prevails in
the cause of Nod.
The "Generals" series is the only set of "C&C" games to take place in
a world like ours, and the only strategy titles so far that are in
3-D. It involves a fictional terrorist group called the Global
Liberation Army and its conflicts with the United States and China.
The story isn't nearly as complex as before, and Tiberium and the
Soviets are nowhere to be found.
Whatever the setting and specific tweaks, the game play remains
similar. Players control either a small group of units or build a base
and churn out an army in each mission, and the victory objectives are
often convoluted and fluid, changing with the situation.
Some of the games in the collection are a bit dated, but "The First
Decade" is an impressive collection nonetheless. The older games lack
some modern features, but the game play throughout the series is
exceptional and the series pioneered elements that still crop up in
newer strategy titles. Strategy fans shouldn't miss it.
Command & Conquer: The First Decade
3.5 stars
PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts
SYSTEM: PC
HOW MUCH: $39.99
AGE RATING: Teen
http://www.sacticket.com/gamers/story/14224919p-15049383c.html
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