Easy to get into, the hallmark of a good game
Right then, what have we got? Sensibly EA have stuck with the now well established strategy game rules for controlling your units, moving your view, selecting multiple units, grouping units and queuing orders and all that stuff. So any strategy fan will pretty much settle in right away. Now sticking with traditional controls whilst being a smart move from the ‘easy to get into’ angle, it does leave you limited as to whether or not you can do anything new and, as seems to be a theme for Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, there’s not all that much in the way of innovation. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but those of you hoping that Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars would be some awesome leap forward in the genre are going to be a tad disappointed.
That’s not to say that Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars doesn’t offer some massively enjoyable gameplay, but it has to be said that other than getting a much welcomed refresh and update to the series, there’s not actually all that much new going on.
Click for larger imageCommand and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars has two main campaigns, allowing you to play either as GDI or NOD. I guess it depends on how your own leaning goes as to whether you play the good guys or the bad, though I did find that the NOD units seemed to be more flexible, in general having units that whilst not being as brute-force powerful as the GDI, they felt and played a more tactical game overall.
Now one thing that has always been lacking in RTS games is the actual strategy part. Apart from a very few games, building up a massive force and then rushing the map rolling over the opposing forces with overwhelming firepower was pretty much the way to win every map. Sadly, that’s still the case here, although a few tweaks have been made making it a bit tougher to sit back and do a big build up. Your defensive units, such as turrets and cannons, aren’t near impervious to enemy fire, so a concerted attack from the AI can open up a gap if you’re not careful.
Click for larger imageMany of the units under your command exhibit some intelligence when either attacking or defending, focussing their fire on what they are best suited to destroying before moving on to tougher targets. So turrets will open up on infantry first, wiping out riflemen and rocket crews before switching to attacking vehicles. Now, whilst this may seem daft and you might expect that concentrated fire on one tough target is better than peppering an area, it’s actually sound tactics to reduce the number of weapons firing at you as quickly as possible. The reason is, one tank firing off a powerful shell every now and then isn’t as bad as thirty machine guns peppering your front line...
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