Unit balance, campaigns and missions
This brings me to unit balance, something which can, at times, feel a little mechanical. What I mean by this is that in order to balance out the gameplay every unit has a specific weakness and strength. This isn’t a criticism of Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars alone but of all RTS games in general. For example, riflemen are pretty much useless against any sort of armoured vehicle whereas rocket crews are good against aircraft and grenadiers can clear buildings quickly. One good thing about this level of specialization is that you can’t just rush the map with a mass of one type of unit. That said, the Mammoth tank is pretty much the perfect all-round unit and is devastating in large numbers.
The single player maps in the campaigns are fairly small and often you’ll find the enemy base to be no more than a screen or two away. Whilst this makes for some enjoyable and frantic combat it does take away some of the fun in exploring a map and finding your way about. One handy feature for the novice player is the HUD display pointing you in the direction of your objectives. Fortunately you can turn this off as, for me, part of the fun is exploring the map and finding my targets as I go.
Click for larger imageEach mission in the campaign mode has a multiple set of main objectives, each set to test your skill in commanding and managing your forces. In addition to these you’ll often receive a set of bonus objectives which aren’t essential to winning the mission but can yield rewards in terms of extra forces, new units and so on. On top of this you can earn intelligence data for exploring the map and uncovering various items of interest, such as new Tiberium fields or a new tech for your units.
Click for larger imageThe missions aren’t all ‘search and destroy’ based either, though the vast majority are of that ilk. Peppered through the campaigns are missions which start you off on the defensive, such as taking command of a base low on power with no ability to build new structures. You have to carefully manage your base’s power consumption to balance between your perimeter defences and the buildings inside to keep the frontline topped up with troops. These missions, though they still end in the usual way of building up a force and destroying the opposition, do provide a nice break from the usual missions.
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