I need to stress that this review is for the XBOX360 version of Command and Conquer 3: Tiberian Wars, and not the pc version. The short story is that as a long time fan of the Command and Conquer series, I enjoyed the game very much but Westwood has failed to make a succesful port to consoles of what seems otherwise to be an excellent game. In fact I cannot recommend the console version of C&C 3 to anyone who is not already a huge C&C fan, and then only if you are unable to run the pc version.
Before jumping into the review, I'll blather a bit about what I see as the context of the RTS genre.
The past five years have witnessed a remarkable slide in the popularity of RTS. Formerly succesful franchises like Age of Empires, Total Annihilation and saddly the C&C games themselves have failed to rise back to their former glory days. Those RTS that have broken out are ones that present substantial shifts for the genre like Warcraft 3 (which might be credited with starting the shift), Dawn of War/Company of Heroes, and the Total War series. Have the old styled games simply become outdated as gamer's taste's evolve? I'm not sure they do, and I think their decline should be seen as going hand in hand with the rise of online gaming, a realm in which RTS are probably the most difficult games to master and where "noobs" will face the longest period of pownage before becoming competitive. Few gamers have the patience to learn the intricacies of a new RTS and would rather pick up World of Warcraft or games with simplified economies like Dawn of War. In this context, it is no wonder that the most popular strategy game of recent time was Civilization 4, which was primarily a single player game.
So how does C&C 3 on the 360 fit in?
The single reason for its failing is a control scheme that makes micro-management of units and multitasking extremely difficult. The control cursor will, when brought over units, automatically focus, which makes individual unit selection very hard. Why is this such a problem you ask? Because unlike previous C&C installments, units in C&C 3 frequently have useful and sometimes critical special abilities that must be activated with lightning reflex for max efficiency. The selection of individual units and targeting of their abilities is both important, and extremely difficult when it should be simple.
Multitasking is also difficult due to a very rough command grouping process and poor map navigation. Ironically, C&C 3 probably requires more multitasking than any of its predecessors. Furthermore, all abilities, build orders and special commands are issued through a series of menus when it could have been far more effecient to just utilize buttons.
When added together, these problems make it extremely difficult to finish the single player on even medium difficulty, and leave multiplayer matches with a somewhat stale feeling as you try to wield an army that feels too ponderous.
That being said, there is a great game here for anyone who loves C&C. Electronic Arts has wisely brought back and facelifted the classical units of C&C including the flametroopers, orca gunships, stealth tanks, and of course the mammoth tank. They have also wisely brought back super weapons, the ion cannon and nuclear weapons. Of all the things I love about video games, its that when there are nuclear weapons, they almost always blow up. There is also a new faction, the alien scrin who get only meager treatment in single player but are a playable faction in multi.
As usual all the mission briefings are acted out with live action film that are corny but appreciable to fans of corny sci-fi. Surprisingly, the cast has managed to at least match if not surpass that of Tiberian Sun. Sci-fi hollywood actors like Michael Ironsides, Josh Holloway, Tricia Helfer, and even Billy Dee Williams!!!! As usual some performances are better than other, but all are upstaged by the underrated Joe Kucan who plays his character Kane with intensity, charisma, and anger that I feel should be worthy of much greater prestige than he has. In fact I need to ask the question now, Why the hell hasn't Joe Kucan been cast in some badass hollywood science fiction films?
Unfortunately I feel I can't speak too deeply about the faction balance because multiplayer is so hard to work with but it certainly feels like it's balanced well. As with all RTS, build orders and tech shifts will take a long time to master but it seems to have all the right ingredients for a great game.
Should you go out and buy Command and Conquer 3? Only if you already like RTS and only if you have a pc that can run it.
