I suppose few expansion packs are genuinely good. It's like with the studio-dictated sequel: milking the cash cow, putting the bare minimum product out there for the fan-base that has just been proved to be there, deviating as little from the formula that evidently worked, instead of spending time and taking it in interesting directions. The ones of this franchise aren't really an exception. Half of the time, the story in them has no connection to the original, and aren't considered canon. This seeks to fill gaps(rather than affect much of anything) in the time-line between the second and third(and yet it doesn't explain why the amount of Yellow and Red Zones has barely grown; it also takes place during and after the 3rd; like C&C3, this is setup for a pay-off to come) Tiberium War, and near the end of the 13 mission(!) campaign that this has(and only NOD at that... this may be the shortest of these I've ever tried), I did genuinely find the twists compelling. Unfortunately, several of them only make for average scenarios(a couple of them are extremely straightforward and easy, and none of them are terribly interesting or memorable), and they awkwardly shoehorn the factions into it. Oh, yeah, apparently, all three sides have had portions of them split into two new groups each, six total. They explain it... I don't know, I still say it's because they were sort of out of ideas, and they did this so much better in Zero Hour. In this, they don't stand out enough(and when will it be addressed that The Brotherhood is guerrilla and decentralized in concept only? Am I the only one who would *love* for one of these to implement that properly, for us to be able to play without a regular base and all the other stuff that is something else's equivalent? And to fight someone like that?), and I can honestly barely tell any of them apart from each other. In ZH, they had fun with it, and so did we. Here, it's in part an excuse to bring back the Wolverine and Titan(that muzzle flash is inexcusable, it is *ugly*), since those were favorites. New features and units enter(Mechapede kicks serious ass), to help make the combatants even, and several of them are *excellent*(such as the ability to fire artillery from a distance if you place a beacon in the vicinity of where you aim them... if the dude who placed it dies, it goes away, if not... fire away). However, we also get the M.A.R.V.(GDI), the Redeemer(the religious cult) and the Eradicator(Scrin), and those are ridiculous. They're huge, deals massive damage, and other than being slow, have no real weaknesses. Sure, you can only get one at any one time... so? Same for the Commando, and that one isn't this over the top(and nothing else that we've been able to control in one of these has been). What is the point of something like that in an RTS? At least unlike TW, this can't be completed purely by rushing... in spite of that. Not the only step in the wrong direction. It's still fairly devoid of challenge. There are 20 new MP levels, making for a total of 58. This has a mode called Global Conquest(you can save your progress in it), where you can go against two AI opponents, and you have to take over the world, by removing the others, or the three specific goals: Global Defense Initiative needs 33% total influence, the aliens gotta get themselves 9 Threshold Towers, and, guess who wants cities in unrest? It's like Risk or another board game, turn-based. For my tastes it was slow and long-winded(it has stability issues, as well)... then again, this isn't my favorite genre. There are no other new rule-sets. I know the filter for the Intel-vision is now "noisy", I honestly like it. There are "holes" and bugs, like in others of these(the EP's, not the full games). You can now only construct one defensive building at a time(other than silos and such). Engineers capture things less swiftly. They're given a gun, for no reason and making no impact. There are attacks you can "activate", similar to Generals, none of them as great as in that. Briefings remain entirely being people talking to the camera, and footage from the game itself is integrated... there is no new CGI. Fortunately, the lighting is far subtler than last time around(the plot is essentially the same, a bit of the way... a hot chick disagrees with "the Messiah", who works in mysterious ways... admittedly, they are well-written characters), thankfully. Joseph D. Kucan reprises his role yet again, as Kane, charismatic leader and inventor of the world's best anti-age product(seriously, this is set almost 50 years after the original Command & Conquer, he should be a senile old bastard by now... or is it clones? He keeps dying and resurrecting, too... he's showing up Jesus). He is brilliant in the part as always, and this has some pretty unforgettable instances with him. They give him half-way Cyborg-face, and though it is obviously a mask(you can tell that it isn't entirely attached to his chin), it's cool. This has Carl Lumbly, proving the theory that they wanted to draw in an audience by the power of names, and doing so by raiding J.J. shows. And it has Natasha Henstridge... you can't go wrong by putting her in black, skin-tight leather, and she brings her two best friends, the ones that helped her career. Yup, cleavage. Plus, she gives it her all in her performance, and you can tell. The graphics don't really change; they're still very attractive, if flashy at points. This is entertaining enough, but if you're going to have something take place during Tiberian Sun... to quote Futurama, "we want McNeil!". I hope TT is an improvement, to get them out of this slump. There is disturbing content in this. I recommend this to big fans of the franchise. 7/10
