Ten Years of Commanding and Conquering

Hmmm...where to start with this review...I guess I should start by dispeling a myth or two about this product. The first is written on the back of the case for this game in a daring pronouncement that informs the reader that this set gives you "12 Ways to Conquer the World!" Wrong. The 12 ways refer to the "12" games this set contains. What you actually get is six games, and their expansion packs, if any. The next myth is the "Bonus" DVD. To me, a bonus usually denotes something good. The bonus DVD is nothing special, and is really just a ploy to get people to buy old stuff all over again.

That was the initial complaints section, now on to the games themselves. I'm not going to go through every single game in detail, as that would take all night to write, and you probably wouldn't read through the whole thing anyway, so let me give you an overview of the Command and Conquer series, in case you're unfamiliar with it.

C & C is a real time strategy series, allowing you to command a base, and decimate your opponents. You do this by building up defenses, such as gun turrets and mines, and by building up offenses, such as nuclear missiles and air forces. That's it in a nutshell, but there's more to it than that. All of the games, save one, Renegade, give you control via a relatively easy point and click interface. Usually, the maps start off almost completely blank, as your enemies are normally posted as far away from you as they can get, and as you move closer, or build radars, you get to open up new areas of the map. You also have to keep your base well funded by collecting supplies, which come in different forms from game to game. The single player campaigns in each game consist of various missions, but they almost always boil down to building the best base. In the earlier games, you pick one of two sides, bad or good, with each force having its own special abilities and weaknesses. It's your job to figure out how to best utilize the advantages and take advantage of the weaknesses.

Of course, this type of game lends itself more to multiplayer. The multiplayer comes in the form of Skirmish matches, where you and a friend duke it out in your choice of map with your choice of country. Therein lies part of the problem with this set, but I'll get to all that shortly.

I have to give a special nod to Renegade. In Renegade, instead of playing the commander, you play a rebellious infantry man in a fairly mediocre first person shooter. The gameplay is much the same, with the same weapons, you just play from the frontlines instead of up above. To its credit, it was one of the first FPS's to use vehicles, and it really isn't all bad, but doesn't stack up against the top first person shooters.

I guess a special nod should also be given to Generals. Generals is more reality based, sometimes a little too reality based, where instead of weather machines and teleporters and such as your advanced weapons, you get nuclear missiles, and scud missiles. Instead of sending out refiners to pick up Tiberium, a mythical substance used as currency, you have supply centers, and you can get supply piles. Generals is also the only C & C game to be in full 3-D, which makes for a much prettier game, as opposed to the more basic, grittier graphics of the earlier titles.

Ok, on to the multiplayer. As I mentioned earlier, these games are all much more fun in multiplayer. The problem is, most of the games are so old that multiplayer doesn't exist for them. Red Alert II still runs, and has a fair amount of players, especially considering the age of the game, and Generals still has players as well, but the others are, for the most part, lacking. Another problem with the multiplayer is the EA games servers. The other night, a buddy of mine played Generals against each other. He beat me, and we wanted to bring someone else in. Once we brought that third person in, everything went to hell. We all got booted off constantly time after time, and we finally gave up. I'm not that technical, but it seems to me that the problem was that two of my opponents were playing from the same IP address, though they both had separate copies of the game, because I had the same problem when I had someone over and we tried to directly connect to each other. That's just my guess, maybe someone can tell me what's really going on, and if they do, I'll be glad to hear it.

Anyway, let's have a quick breakdown of the basic games:

Command and Conquer: 5 Stars. The one that started it all. Yes it's dated, but its simple graphics and simple gameplay make it easy to pick up and play well into the wee hours of the night.

Red Alert: 4 Stars. This time it's those pesky Russians. This one packed in better graphics, more weapons, and some actual specialized characters, as opposed to just nameless grunts. Still, once it's all said and done, it's the same game.

Tiberium Sun: 4 Stars. This one is set in the future, and is more sci fi than the other entries. It's the same gameplay, but with more futuristic weapons. Also worth noting are the cinemas, which feature not only Michael Biehn but also James Earl Jones. Yes, James Earl Jones.

Red Alert 2: 5 Stars. This one was the best of the original style of C & C games. This one had a better single player than the others, and as is almost the case with sequels, better graphics and more weapons.

Renegade: 3 Stars. Fairly mediocre FPS, but an interesting different perspective of the C & C Universe. It's worth playing in this set, but not worth buying on its own.

Generals: 5 Stars. My personal favorite of them all. Beautiful landscapes, better graphics, and more realistic weapons and gameplay make for a winning combination. My only complaint is that the environments are less interactive in this one than in others. For example, there are several levels that have bridges. The bridges have "health" meters, so reason would lead one to believe that you could blow them up, but nothing doing. It was a missed opportunity for added gameplay depth and strategy. By taking out bridges, you could have cut off one of your enemy's pathways to get to you, leading them to have to rely on air assaults or superweapons. But with that quibble aside, it's still the best of the series.

That's a very basic breakdown of each of the games, minus expansion packs. My biggest complaint about the series in general is that there's a lot more focus on conquering than commanding. I like to build up huge bases, and have all my angles covered. I like to have plenty of power, anti air weaponry, anti tank and infantry weaponry, and I like to have the money flowing before I launch an attack on my opponent. In short, I like to have a great defense built up before I go on the offensive. Unfortunately for individuals like myself, the game rarely gives you time to think out a strategy, and you have to furiously drag and click to get something built up before the enemy starts its first wave of attack. If you're not ready, the first attack can easily take out your whole base. There's a lot of stuff to keep track of, and I would suggest having it all mastered before even considering playing online.

Ok, now we're down to the big question: buy this set or don't? Well, I can say that this series has kept me up for many hours on many nights when I should have been in bed. I can also say that this set presents a great opportunity for newbies (such as myself) to experience all these games on one disc. However, there is the drawback of the forty dollar price tag, which can be a hefty sum to some people for games that are three years old at their newest, and ten at their oldest. But if you break it down, you do get six pretty massive games, plus expansion packs, so it is a deal, but you miss out on a lot of multiplayer, because the games are so old. Bottom line, this is a solid buy for anyone who enjoys real time strategy, or military games, or just plain fun games that will keep you busy for hours on end.