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After many games which have all used relatively the same engine, EA Pacific
has decided to totally revamp the look of Command and Conquer. The result is
Generals, a new kind of C&C RTS which is real eye-candy for anyone to play.
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The first thing that strikes a player is the total change to 3D graphics.
They're just, simply put, beautiful. Every single detail has been put in, be
it the small smoke trail from a fired rocket or the megaton explosion from a
nuclear bomb (which, by the way, is just fantastic). The total revamp of
these graphics has given C&C a look which will surprise any veteran of the
series, for gone is the traditional relic of the right-side command bar.
Instead, the menu bar has been placed on the bottom, a more traditional
location. The game is filled with spectacular effects, a particularly
memorable one being when a dam is destroyed, for when the water pours out,
it just looks great. Total eye-candy. All this comes at a price, however,
and it takes a good computer to be able to run this game at its best. A
pretty darn good one.
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So what is the game itself like? Well, first of all, the mouse control just
plain sucks. The mouse has remained in the archaic left-click format, unlike
the standard right-click format which is used in almost all RTS's today. The
right click is less than useless, it is detrimental, for it will actually
deselect the units! More than once I became extremely frustrated as I
ordered units to retreat out of serious trouble and discovered that they had
just been deselected. No problem, I'll just select them again and...too
late, they're dead. If EA Pacific was going to stick with this old style, it
could have at least added an option for it. Some simple keybinding would
have helped tremendously.
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As long as we're talking about problems with the game, I might as well
mention the AI. While it isn't as terrible as Platoon (by terrible I mean
nonexistent), it does have its flaws. For one, it suffers the common problem
of not being able to acknowledge its own side's existence. What this means
is that, while two of your tanks are standing side by side, as long as the
enemy stays out of one tank's sight range, they can bomb the hell out of the
first tank, while the second will sit idly by, waiting for its turn to be
blown to bits. Having said that, the rest of the AI is regular fare, however
sometimes it seems that there are lapses in the 'I' part of AI. For example,
the attack-move command will destroy any enemies encountered, but will walk
right by buildings. Frustrating at times, but no biggie.
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Within the game there are three sides to choose from. There is the
technologically-superior USA, the heavily-armored China, and the
low-tech-low-cost Global Liberation Army. Between these three factions the
gameplay is surprisingly balanced, and each side has an answer to the other
sides' weapons and units...most of the time. However, don't get me wrong.
This is no USA-has-big-tank-China-has-big-infantry. There are some serious
differences between the three. For instance, the GLA is the only side that
operates without any power plants whatsoever. They need no power at all, but
sacrifice all air power for it. The USA side has high-tech and the best air
power, but the costs are much higher than any other side.
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Time to talk about gameplay. Like I said before, the game is totally
different from the old C&C series. The old build-at-the-right-menu-bar
system is gone, and now units are queued directly from the buildings they
are built from, which makes multi-base building an easy possibility. Also,
the old engineer rushes of the past are gone, eliminating a cheap
alternative to actual fighting. OF course, that is not to say that cheap
elements are gone from the game. There is a unit on the GLA's side that is
basically a band of rebels. Okay, they don't sound too powerful, right? Arm
them with AK-47s. Now you have a unit that can take out a base. I kid you
not. Build two or three of these, and not a single unit can oppose you.
Hell, an entire defense force can't oppose you. The moment I was able to buy
these things I made about six of them and wiped out seven opponents easily.
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One of the most innovative new elements in the game is the addition of an
RPG style of play (and here you were thinking "Why is this game on
Just-RPG?" ). You are an actual general, and through combat, you gain
levels. These levels earn you points, and the more levels you gain, the
higher tier of upgrades (which cost points) you can reach. The fifth level
is when you can reach the third tier where each side's super-weapon resides.
For China, it's the nuclear bomb (mentioned above as having some damn
spectacular effects), for the USA it's the infamous Daisy Bomb, and for the
GLA is it the chemical everyone has loved to fear, a big payload of Anthrax
which does low damage to buildings but will kill every unit instantly.
Nothing says fun like that. In addition to the super-weapons, the perks of
each side are interesting as well. To name one, the GLA has an upgrade which
allows you to earn a bounty on each unit and building you kill/destroy. This
provided an alternate source of income which was quite substantial.
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Speaking of incomes, EA Pacific has decided to stay with the old C&C
resources: set oil wells are scattered across the map, and another resource
is randomly scattered in different areas. While this has worked relatively
well before, and still works well now, there are some serious
problems. For one, the oil wells can be destroyed, quite easily, and do not
return. Likewise, the other resource can run out eventually. I suppose the
programmers never really thought about what could happen when both sides
just don't have any more units to throw at each other. I've heard of
multiplayer matches that have ended in stalemates, or just really slowed
because it takes so damn long to earn resources other ways. The GLA does
rectify that by having the whole bounty thing, but I say again, there are
only so many things to destroy before you run out of bounties to get.
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As opposed to the rest of the games, there is very little story within C&C:
Generals. Oh of course, there is the obligatory scenario - The GLA wants to
take over the world, China doesn't want them to, but motives are unclear,
and the USA, full of democratic patriotism, is out to stop these terrorists.
It's basically a caricature of what we are seeing on the news today. After
that, there isn't much else. There is no connection between each mission, no
binding glue. There is a piddly little briefing which sets up the situation,
but not much else. In a series which was famous for its movies (with such
actors as James Earl Jones), there are none in this one. Odd.
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When you get down through all the nitty-gritty and little problems that
plague this game, in the end, it is an excellent RTS.
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System Requirements:
- Pentium III
- 128 MB RAM (256 MB required for 3-8 multiplayer games)
- Windows 98/98SE/Me/2000/XP
- DirectX 8.1
- 32 MB DirectX-compatible video card
- 16-bit DirectX-compatible sound card
- 8x CD-ROM drive
- 1.8 GB hard-disk space
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