What does it take to take a great gaming franchise that’s been going strong since 1995 and run it into the ground? It takes a single bad game, that is so horrible, and so different from the previous games that it crushed any future the C&C series had.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by Command and Conquer 4, I mean after EA bought West Wood studios I guess it was only a matter of time before they screwed something up. But even with this game tarnishing it’s record I must say that with the exception of this game all the Command and Conquer games are good. I would definitely recommend the series.
Alright let’s get down to what’s wrong with this game…well, actually let’s just start with what’s right cause that’s probably a shorter list.
- Graphics – The graphics are good, but feel blury in general, and honestly Red Alert 3’s graphics are better.
- The Story – The story seems to be pretty good, but I had a hard time playing it…mostly cause the game sucks. Sorry I know I’m not doing my duty as a reviewer, but I try.
- The Cutscenes – In classic Command and Conquer style the cut scenes are all real actors, and mostly real sets although CGI is obviously thrown in. They even managed to get the guy who always plays as Kane, and he is perfect for the part.
You’ll notice that the above things listed have almost nothing to do with gameplay, that’s because the gameplay isn’t very good. For any strategy game the gameplay could be described as sub-par, but for Command and Conquer it’s simply unacceptable. The main attraction to the Command and Conquer games in the past has been the ability to build a base, or even several bases. Theses bases start out small and simple but as the need for resources and greater tier troops increases so does the need for a larger base. Eventually your base turns into a sprawling playground of activity. As your base gets bigger it becomes more susceptible to attacks, and so you must either get very offensive and build a huge force, or turtle deep. In Command and Conquer 3 (My favorite of the series) there are many different strategies available for you. These range from simply cloaking your base, to spreading it over the map, to creating small but separate bases. In Command and Conquer 4 they simply decided to COMPLETELY STRIP OUT BASES. That’s right, they thought it was a good idea to eliminate base building, resource gathering, unit unlocking through construction, and infantry units.
I understand that each dev team approaches things and their own way, and that over time franchises change. And certainly Command and Conquer needed a bit of a change. But they took out everything that made Command and Conquer Command and Conquer.
So what did they do if they didn’t do base building? Well, they did walkers. Sounds cool. Hell it even looks cool, but when you sit down behind the controls and realize that you’ve been brought down from a great ruler, to a roaming nomad is just disappointing. Also they locked a bunch of units, and the only way to unlock them is to gain experience. This basically means you have to grind for the good units, and of course multiplayer grinding goes the furthest. This means you may end up against people with better units than you. Oh and did I mention the extremely small unit cap? Yeah, you get like 9 units. 9 units….and without infantry that means that you get basically 10 vehicles to control (including your base).
Okay so what do you do with your mobile base? Well you walk around from place to place capturing zones. The more zones, the more points you gather. So basically you have 9 units and a walker to control at least 3 bases with to win. This means that your already small forces are now spread thin! Which is NOT FUN AT ALL!!!!!!
You can group all your forces together if you want, but then you end up point hopping all the time and potentially never even engaging the enemy.
OH AND DID I MENTION YOU DON’T WIN IF YOU DESTROY THE ENEMY BASE!???
THAT MEANS YOUR BASE DEFENSE IS BASICALLY MEANINGLESS. The only consequences is a short re-spawn timer in a secure area.
They tried to spice up the game with new “abilities” that you can purchase for your walker but it in no way makes up for what they did to the franchise.
Sadly the cartoon atmosphere, unit restrictions, point capture hopping, virtually meaningless mobile bases, and poor user interface turns this game into a nightmare. I love Command and Conquer, but for me and a lot of other fans this game was just too hard to swallow.
Elevator Reviews 