The First Decade (PC):
- Price: £34.99 (PC); £49.99 (Xbox 360)
- Players: 1; Online: 2-16
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It is not very often that I am amazed, and even less often that i am amazed about something in a positive way.
It is fair to say, however, that the lovely people at Electronic Arts have managed to knock my socks clear across the room with
the latest offering in the Command and Conquer stable with Red Alert 3.
The C&C universe was created in 1995 by the westwood studies and taken over in 2003 by EA
inc westwood studies went....er ....west i supose and were liquidated. Back in 1995,
Command and Conquer was one of the games of the year, and arguably the best RTS by a long way.
Looking back at it now, via the C&C saga - The First Decade (also recently released), it
appears a little dated, graphically.It remains a joy to play, with all the elements of the
most recent game still in evidence, but doesn't play as well as one remembers, but then hey,
how many of the things we remember from over 10 years ago are actually as good as we think they were?
The point is that the C&C empire began strongly and has remained a force to be reckoned
with ever since. In 1996 a second chain of games was created, the Red Alert series that ran along side the
Tiberium series. It is always a worry when a game you like expands, especially when it has
done so as often as C&C has. OK, so there have been blips along the way (Tiberium Wars...
what happened there?), but mostly the expansions have always offered something to draw
you back into the C&C world. New units, new enemies, new areas to fight in and new
superweapons with which to cause mayhem.
One of the things that makes the C&C series so fun to play is that whilst the premise of the
game remains the same - (Build, create defend/attack, DESTROY), obvious thought has gone into
the creation of the various factions with in the game. Each one has it's own strengths and
weaknesses, it's own tactics, it's own unique vehicles that do different things in different ways.
This means you can play each of the story modes for each of the factions and not feel like
simply going through the motions. Each time you play you learn, evolve acheive something
new. Then there is the multi player modes, where again, each faction requires a different play approach.
Whilst we are on the subject of multiplayer modes, a new feature in C&C-RA3 is that you can
define the enemies tactical approach, from all out attack to defence, gather and storm or balanced.
Graphically, RA3 remains strong. The style of the RA games is different to the one in the Tiberium chain of games,
perhaps a little more cartoon like, perhaps softer, but not in a way that detracts from the game. There are loads of new units
to play with, lots of new buildings to build but enough of the old ones to make it easy to set up a base and get started.
The campaigns include a tuturial element, good if you wanna get started with out have to run the tutorials first, but allowing
you to get straight into the story with out having to mess about and of course, there is an online multiplayer option to allow
you get online and prove once and for all that you are the best general on the block.
So all in all, joy joy joy. RA3 continues the run of good form for the series, adding,
growing, continuing. Nice to see an old friend on top form. More please.
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