Command & Conquer

The debate rages on - what was the first ever RTS? Herzog Zwei? Stonkers? Dune 2? No-one's really sure - so much depends on the definition of "RTS" (and, for that matter, "first") that even Railroad Tycoon has seen entry into the fray. What is certain is that it was Dune 2 that put Westwood Studios on the map and planted the seeds of what the RTS would eventually become. Blizzard's original Warcraft ran some more with the idea, but it's Command And Conquer: Tiberian Dawn that truly set the world alight.

Dune 2 struggled with a quirky unit cap, caused simply by a shortage of processing power. C&C has no such limitations, and battles featuring scores of men and tanks over a multitude of landscapes looked stunning in addition to playing well. The linking FMVs are absorbingly written and acted - witness General Sheppard's growing frustration and rage throughout the pursuit of Kane, which is believable and compelling. These improvements marked the true beginning of the CD age of PC gaming - with this game showing what was possible, the floppy disc was dead and buried.

The story is as well-known and standardised as it is irrelevant - two organisations compete for resources and military supremacy. It's the little differences and quirks between the Global Defence Initiative (a spin off from the UN) and the Brotherhood of NOD (as old and biblical as character names like Kane and Seth are intended to imply) that grant the game the longevity, acclaim, sequels and spinoffs that it has maintained in the twelve years since.

A juggernaut that shows no signs of slowing down, and it kicked off in 1995. Now available again as part of the First Decade pack, this is a milestone of gaming that still plays well today.

This is one of the best gaming universes of all time. I really liked Kane- he added a lot of grit to this universe that I haven't seen in many video games with live action sequences. Worth a stroll down memory lane and play.

This has hands-down got to be one of the best cutscene-based game ever. One of the pioneers even! At least in the RTS space. I have fond memories of watching Joe Kucan as Kane terrorize the GDI. It's a great story and one that hopefully one day will get its own films!

Of course the quality of the video was limited by the times- only so much data could be stored on CDs back then. But do play this game or watch the cutscenes on YouTube, you won't be disappointed. The music is like techno-military-funk, it's very unique and well-done by Frank Klepacki. Hopefully EA Games will also revive the franchise for us. 8/10.

I guess it is a bit irrelevant to rate a computer game 13 years after it's release. C&C's legacy speaks for itself. However, the only reason people would play it nowadays is because of nostalgia or out of curiosity. Mine was the latter.

I have never played a C&C game before and must admit that for such an old game it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Playing the game one quickly realises why it was such a hit 13 years ago, and even though graphics, gameplay and AI of RTS games improved considerably since 1995, it seems pretty cutting edge for the mid-nineties and actually aged relatively well.

I believe it's one of the first RTS game that introduced opposing sides where units were not simply copies of each other, but where sides were unevenly matched and had different strenghts and weaknesses. The game also had a strong storyline (unlike another hit of that time, Quake) and video cut-scenes(that were a bit rare back in those days).

For the single player campaign, the gameplay has a interesting balance in that it is fairly simple to survive the AI attacks on your base because the idiot AI insists to keep attacking your base with a small number of units at a time (a minor nuisance to a well defended base). But capturing your AI opponents well-defended base is sometimes extremely difficult without exploiting a quirk in the AI.

The stupid AI is C&C's biggest drawback, for example the AI pays little attention to protect his valuable (and expensive) harvester, and will simply replace it every time you destroy it. So by keeping on destroying the AI opponents harvester, your AI opponent will eventually run out of money, and you can take your time to conquer your now penniless opponent.

One last thing the Kane character (Joseph D. Kucan)- I just don't get it... Why does everyone say he is so scary/charismatic???? For me the guy is just kind of goofy, and I tried my best to be amazed by his presence.

Overall, an old RTS game that aged really well, is still enjoyable and worth a play if you haven't tried it before.

Command and Conquer-1 was a massive game when it released and thats an understatement. How many games of the time had full length cinematics to explain the story? From its kickass opening sequence to the adrenalin rush of its gameplay, Command and Conquer will be remembered as the best strategy game of all time. Although many levels could be completed with sheer brute force, it was still very difficult and forced the player to actually evolve some innovative tactics of his own. The player was also suitably rewarded for completing each of the hard levels, with the cinematics. With two sides to play, the game is very long but never boring at any single point. C&C and C&C Red Alert represent major turning points in gaming history.