Review: Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars game

Back in the old days before computer graphics looked so realistic, game makers sometimes filmed live action cut scenes and slotted these between levels to try and lend more credence to the playable sequences.

It was a technique that was soon dropped by most developers and now looks just ever so slightly cheesy.

But the chaps at EA Games clearly don’t care about cheese. In fact, if the latest chapter in Command & Conquer (C&C) history is anything to go by, they seem to positively encourage it.

The C&C series is almost 12 years old now and has seen many variations on its winning real-time strategy (RTS) theme since the first game was released in 1995. Tiberium Wars is a kind of back-to-basics sequel to the original games, rather than linking directly to the alternate Red Alert or Generals series.

In the new game, we pick up the story in the year 2047. The conflict between the allied nations of the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod is still rumbling along nicely, and both sides are still battling to control resources of the valuable but unstable substance known as Tiberium.

Now, however, another threat has appeared on the scene in the shape of an alien race called the Scrin, which also appears to have an unhealthy vested interest in Tiberium.

As before, it’s your job as commander of either of these forces to defeat the opposing factions by using your wits to outsmart them and your military might to crush them. Naturally, this involves a certain amount of resource gathering and base building before you can sink your teeth into combat, but the action element tends to come around a lot quicker in this game than in some other RTS titles we could mention. And, when it does, things can get pretty frantic.

Thankfully, the controls are all logical and easy to pick up, making the game suitable for newcomers as well as old hands.

The main single-player campaign is playable from either the GDI (blue) or Nod (red) perspective, which effectively makes for two completely different games, since both factions differ radically from each other.

There’s also a rather juicy set of bonus missions available upon completing these, which extends the enjoyment yet further. Add to this both Lan and online multiplayer for up to eight players as well as customisable single-player skirmishes, and you’ve got plenty of game for your money.

Tiberium Wars wouldn’t be a C&C game without the high level of presentation that has traditionally accompanied games in the series. In-game graphics are exceptional, with a lot of well-designed units, plenty of colourful pyrotechnics and fully destructible models. And then there are the cut scenes.

EA has clearly spent a lot of money on the 90 minutes of high-definition live-action footage that comes as part and parcel of your Tiberium Wars experience. The cut scenes are peppered with recognisable Hollywood talent including Billy Dee Williams (aka, Lando Calrissian), Josh Holloway (aka the bloke from Lost), two lady Cylons from the current re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica (Grace Park and Tricia Helfer), and the actor who has played the Kane character since the original C&C (Joseph Kucan).

Throwing all that talent at the FMV sequences doesn’t necessarily make them any good, however, and can come across as being a teeny bit embarrassing. But then, you can always skip them if you want and sometimes a little cheese can be fun, after all.

What sets C&C apart from all the other space-age strategy games on the shelves is its investment in story and melodrama, which goes some way towards justifying the live action bits. Without them and without its intelligent, allegorical plotline, Tiberium Wars would still be a very good game, but it wouldn’t necessarily be the great game that it actually is.