I have gained the travel bug in the last few years and have had the chance to discover many new and ...
I have gained the travel bug in the last few years and have had the chance to discover many new and wonderfull places. Some I have already written about and the others no doubt I will get round to them at some point.
I enjoy many forms of music and...
Member since:03.08.2000
Reviews:86
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The latest Command and Conquer offshoot is Generals.
The game is now part of the Electronic Arts (EA) stable as Westwood has lost its independence.
I first played the original Command and Conquer back in probably 95 or 96 when it was possible to defeat the enemy AI by building sandbags half way round the map. At that point in my life, days tended to disappear and sleep was seriously lost. Over the years and sequels that included Red Alert, Renegade and various expansion packs I lost interest as it all be came too samey. Indeed before this, I had not played the C&C series for about 2 years.
Gameplay The game has changed slightly – more to the format of Dune: Battle for Arrakis – where you get to choose one of multiple sides. As ever, each have their own good and bad points which you must consider in battle; The US high tech specialists, the GLA (global liberation army terrorists) low tech guerrillas, or China and its massed ranks.
The basic core is the same as all the others. You must build a base, collect supplies and defeat the enemy or carry out specific mission objectives. Units are intuitively controlled as before by selecting
with the mouse and you can group units, give them orders to guard, attack, set waypoints for buildings etc.
Each country has its own special equipment or weapon that can be used, some of which can be gleefully destructive – like the American B52 spread bombing. I managed to accidentally target my own base once and oops!!!!!!!
Some weapons are only available after a building is erected i.e. Radar with the Command Centre or through a new option – Promotion. Promotion is earned through a variety of ways, building a number of units, killing a number of units and so on. These let you have access to things like A10 Thunderbolt strikes, Artillery strikes and so on. The super weapons are predictably destructive but a little unimaginative – a Scud Storm, A Nuclear Missile and a Particle Ray.
On the Normal Level – I have found that the game is too easy. I played the Chinese Army first, finished the 7th mission and got the end of game message and thought “Was that it?” It is only after a change to the next level of difficulty that it becomes challenging. Even then I have found it to be a case of waiting, resisting attacks then going out to pummel the enemy.
One difficulty I have is that I have been trying to play the game sometimes on a laptop with a touchpad. One word of advice – don’t. Get a mouse; it is so much easier and accurate. There have been so many times I have double tapped the touchpad trying to select a unit and its been lost or the control point has been dragged across the screen away from where I want.
Overall Feel It looks and feels much like the other C & C games which is good as it does give you a feel of familiarity and it does let you get straight into playing without wading through the manual. At the base of the screen you have the radar screen, money level, detail of the unit selected and status of special weapons down the right hand side.
A lot of work has gone into the look of the game; it is now vastly more detailed than of old. Each unit is now more detailed i.e. tanks now leave a physical imprint on the earth, clouds of dust follow units and so on. The graphics engine has been revamped and the screen zooms in and out once you stop scrolling. Explosions are now more realistic, you can see shadows at higher resolutions, and the water looks far nicer and smoother. Another difference to this game is that the full motion video cut scenes have disappeared to become purely graphic and vocal briefings. But its seems that longer animated intros have been brought in – a good and then a minus point.
System Game Requirements This is the main bugbear I have with this game. They say that if you have the minimum requirements of
Windows XP/ME/2000/98 Intel 800 PIII or AMD Athlon 128 MB RAM 1.8 GB Hard disk space 32 MB Nvidia 2 or higher (GeForce2, etc)
you can play this game. But if you try it then you will be thinking, what are we talking about, it’s a rubbish game, rubbish graphics, dead slow etc.
You really must have the recommended level as a minimum
1.8 GHz P4 or higher 256 MB Ram 64 MB Nvidia 3 or higher (GeForce3, etc)
as the graphics will chew up your memory like smarties. I am running the game on a P3 2.2Ghz, 256MB, laptop and its still a bit blocky and the animation jerky. The difference between my machine and my friends is unbelievable. The only difference is that he has a desktop AND a far better graphics card..
Conclusion
I have mixed feelings about this game. One the one hand, there are great interactions between units, its easy to start playing with the intuitive order and control method, the sides and situations are quite timely but it’s a bit too easy for experienced C & C ers, the system requirements are pretty hefty and limited missions. For all that, do I recommend it, yes. I am still losing far too much sleep ( I am currently playing the most difficult level ), swearing at the stupid troops who don’t follow my orders and taking it far too seriously. So, for those experienced C & C ers skip the normal level and go straight to the middle one and it will be a far more enjoyable game.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
it runs fine on a 32mb radeon 7500, i dont see the problem of needing to shell out on a huge graphics card to deal with this game..other than that a fine review!!
avensis004 08.09.2004 23:24
Great review, and agree you do need a good graphic card for it
One of PC strategy gaming's most influential franchises comes scarily up to date, inviting ... more
the player to take command of technically advanced armies in a world that's teetering on the brink of war.Command&Conquer: Generalsalso successfully maintains th...
Postage & Packaging: £1.94 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Good graphics. Nice usage of the Sage engine Disadvantages: Requires a seriously beefed up PC to get decent frame rates on some scenes...see for details
Advantages: Great graphics and unit design. The new challenge mode Disadvantages: Still suffers from slightly poor online connectivty and other issues.
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