Command & Conquer Discussion Thread

[Tanner / Ogilvie]

I was initiated into the franchise with Red Alert 2. I found it in my brother's discs and saw the hammer and sickle and was all, "This looks kind of cool." I was able to find the Allied disc as well and lo and behold, I was suddenly plunged into a game with an AWESOME intro, and couldn't get enough.

Ever since I have been a fan of CnC.

While I played Tiberium and Generals, I didn't really care for it, sadly. I have completed Renegade, RA2, RA2YR, and RA3, however. I've been meaning to get RA3's expansion pack.

Despite the hatred towards EA, I rather liked Red Alert 3 myself.

I was just curious if there are any other CnC fans here? Favorite games? Plot lines? Units? Etc. Any gripes? Complaints?

[Devo DrakeFox]

Red Alert 2 is the only C&C game I really got into. RA1 was the first one I played, but I didn't get far through it. I would play RA3 as well if my PC could support it, but it's crap so it can't.

And I'm not getting the 360 version. RTS games suck without a mouse and keyboard to play them with. :/

[Tanner / Ogilvie]

Jan 16, 2012 23:46:03 GMT Devo DrakeFox said:

Red Alert 2 is the only C&C game I really got into. RA1 was the first one I played, but I didn't get far through it.

I tried Red Alert recently using the First Decade. The interface was crap and it was just too primitive for my tastes. Call me spoiled on more modern titles, but alas, I just can't get into it.

Nothing beats a Soviet Tank rush, though.

And I'm not getting the 360 version. RTS games suck without a mouse and keyboard to play them with. :/

Oh I agree here.

Only exception I can think of is Civ Revolutions, but as I recall that was built for consoles so doesn't count. Never mind it's not in real-time, but turn-based...

[Moo]

I agree with Beeth, RA2 (and spinoffs like Tiberian Sun) were the only ones I got into. I tried RA1 in comparison, and it just sucked ass.

[Arch]

Only ever played RA2, unless I played another one without knowing what it was. I've watched someone play Generals and Renegade and neither impressed me.

[Tanner / Ogilvie]

Jan 22, 2012 22:25:58 GMT Arch said:

Only ever played RA2, unless I played another one without knowing what it was. I've watched someone play Generals and Renegade and neither impressed me.

I'm not much of an FPS person but didn't mind Renegade. What I really hate about it though is how those mutants can sneak up on you and you won't know 'til you turn around and they start slashing at you. One time I was playing and screamed like an absolute girl. My friend was nearby.

Jan 22, 2012 19:41:15 GMT Moo said:

I agree with Beeth, RA2 (and spinoffs like Tiberian Sun) were the only ones I got into.

Technically, RA2 is a spinoff of Tiberian Sun. C&C(also called Tiberian Dawn) came first, and after that, the CnC universe diverged into the Tiberium series and the Red Alert series.

I tried RA1 in comparison, and it just sucked ass.

Yeah, playing RA1 after RA2, it loses the magic. It's just too much of a step back. Interesting basis for the story though - changing the past often does more harm than good!

[Beeth]

I don't recall ever having played a Command & Conquer game, though according to Moo I got into Red Alert 2 at some point. Either that or she just agrees with me generally. Which is cool.

[WinterFlames]

*cracks fingers*

Red Alert: Worthless as a game, it utterly failed to replicate the part of Dawn that made it engaging. The only reason to play it is if you know the ending, and want to see it for yourself.
In which case, go to youtube. I grabbed a copy from a bargain bin, Creatures: Exodus would have been a better waste of money. Until the final cutscene of the Soviet ending, the story alternates between a complete failure, and very vapid, and this even carries through into the gameplay and it's units. Needs more Ham.

C&C/Tiberian Dawn is the second best game in the franchise. It's interesting, ridiculous, and Large Ham everywhere, and promises of science fiction developments everywhere.



Tiberian Sun & Firestorm are, when grouped into one game, the best in the series. With Kyle Reese as the player character for GDI, and... some other guy as a Nod commander.

Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge are complete insanity for insanity's sake. Westwood's final decent game embraced the Narm and Hamminess to the extreme, and the game is all the better for it. It's also stupidly easy.

There were no further games in the series, thank god, because after EA got hold of them they all ended up worse than Red Alert... Unless you're in it for the element of C&C that they worked out were the only things getting the games off the shelves:

Umm... linked just in case.

[Tanner / Ogilvie]

The Allies' final mission in RA2 is hard as hell unless you know that exploit - using Chrono Legionaires to erase their nuclear reactors. Otherwise, you will be roflstomped by one armada of Kirovs and Rhinos after another.

The Soviet's final mission can be hard or easy, depending on your use of resources. If you wait too long, the Allies will amass a fleet of Prism Tanks and IFVs and make it virtually impossible to get in.

I like to cite it as proof you can be insane and still be fun, of course. Red Alert is overall a series that builds itself on craziness, and I say - yes I'll be stigmatised for this but whatever - that RA3 did a good job of keeping that tradition. The satire on otaku culture was all sorts of fun for me.

What's even better is when people actually try to make sense of the timeline. Dear Enerjak, don't bother. Save yourself a Mobius migraine.

[Retro]

I've never truly had a chance to play the original Red Alert. Loved the original C&C, Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2.

After that I find they got pretty interesting. C&C3 by most reports is very good, I've yet to play to confirm.

Red Alert 3 was mind bogglingly fun to blast through. The co-op campaign is genuis in its sheer simplicity of not enforcing "work together now!" moments in light of just giving you 2 folks vs the campaign with balanced missions. There are almost no worthless units too, that is a rare gift in strategy games, not seen since, I believe, Total Annihilation.

Add in the great cast for hilarity (Tim Curry!) and a mentality to just go "Who cares?" when it comes to limits and we've got something that may not be the most balanced game ever and perhaps is a little easy to steamroll...but it's major league fun the entire way.

C&C4 can go back to it's room and think about what it did though.

[Tanner / Ogilvie]

I played Red Alert, but alas, it just felt a bit dated to me. You need to grow up with a game to appreciate it - RA2 is what got me into the franchise, so whatever comes after it is fine... anything before just feels kind of obsolete to me. It's the same reason my parents squee over Pac-Man but I'm all, "Oh my. This is so. Much. Fun. I think I'll play. This. All. The. Time."

Of course, having an interest in history, I always like the idea of exploring alternate realities, and in that sense, Red Alert is the most sane of the bunch - it's widely believed that without the Third Reich, Stalin's forces wouldn't have had a challenge in Europe. It quickly goes into insanity after the first game however, but it's fun to play, so why not? If I wanted reality, I'd watch the news.

Alas, I just couldn't get into Red Alert. Quit after the first mission. ...never mind the Soviets having an air force just strikes me as WEIRD. The Soviets are supposed to be a land faction, darnit! (which, furthermore, is also more realistic - historically the USSR's power was in its army, not its navy or air force)

In RA3, I'd say the biggest balance issue that sticks out rather glaringly is Yuriko. Whereas Tanya and Natasha aren't too strong and can be taken down, Yuriko can pull your aircraft out of the sky and thus can be quite a tough foe. Add the fact she can kill all units within her radius with that psionic scream of hers and the "Expend many cheap units to beat her" tactic isn't that useful.

One thing that perhaps should be addressed is how easy it is to destroy an enemy base without fighting. If you max your artillery power and combine it with a superweapon, you can destroy an enemy Con Yard and thus, pretty much eliminate them.

[Retro]

RA3's balance isn't exactly what you'd call "competitive." That said, Yuriko isn't too tough to take out, despite what you saw about her pulling planes, she can only do it to one at a time and with a long cooldown. Seawings, Vindicators or Twinblades will wreck her if there are 3 or more of them. (And why would you have less by that stage of the game?)

Personally I find all three of the heroes incredibly weak and too "micro" in a game that is won and lost by critical masses of macro units. RA3 has a lot of little tactics, but it really does just come down to amassing enough of one versatile unit.

[Tanner / Ogilvie]

Mar 12, 2012 23:32:08 GMT Retro said:

RA3's balance isn't exactly what you'd call "competitive." That said, Yuriko isn't too tough to take out, despite what you saw about her pulling planes, she can only do it to one at a time and with a long cooldown. Seawings, Vindicators or Twinblades will wreck her if there are 3 or more of them. (And why would you have less by that stage of the game?)

I suppose I'm just a bit sore about how I once assembled a massive air armada of Kirovs and every. Single. One. Died.

Yuriko and Natasha definitely stand out as great hero units, but Tanya's kind of so-so from what I can see: while she has that nifty Chrono Belt, I believe it would require memorisation of hotkeys to use effectively. Whereas Yuriko can render one of the most powerful units - Kirovs - completely useless, and Natasha can destroy an entire base if she gets a good vantage point. Tanya, on the other hand, needs to get in close to put her abilities to use. Have fun with the Tesla coils, Tanya!

Personally I find all three of the heroes incredibly weak and too "micro" in a game that is won and lost by critical masses of macro units. RA3 has a lot of little tactics, but it really does just come down to amassing enough of one versatile unit.

Indeed, as was the case in RA2 as well - that was why Yuri's faction was so overpowered, ironically enough. Because his units were meant to fight together, balance eachother out, whereas the Allies and Soviets just massed one kind of unit. So, to recap, balance = unbalanced in a Red Alert game, funnily enough.

I do like how they used the three factions in such a way as to give each a best strength: Soviets are best on land, Allies best in the air, and Empire the strongest at sea.

One peeve I do have is that superweapons aren't optional in-game, as they were in RA2. Superweapons are like items in a Super Smash Bros. game - your mileage will vary in terms of whether you like them or not.