This game, was to me, the dawn of my young life infront of a screen, saying "wait I need to save it", getting up early just to play, having loads of mates round to goggle at my new computer, and cursing when my mother called me for tea. The familiar shouts of Five Minutes!! would hurtle down the stairs and my dinners always tasted luke-warm. I first discovered this game one day at Rupert's house. Me and my mate knew his mother had gotten him a game for Christmas, and were pretty sure what it was. But we had to know for sure. Sure enough, one day, when his mother was out, we dived into her wardrobe and buried under those horrible 60's clothes, was a little shining gem, Command and Conquer. We played it for an hour, constantly peeping through a strategic slit in the curtains, in case his mother turned up unexpectedly early. For that hour we were spellbound. The graphics, sound, interface, completely blew us away. Then every possible opportunity, I was there. We played through it together and shared the pain, laughter and frustration of two developing gamers.
I bought a computer my self some weeks later. Being young and impatient, I refused to listen to my godfathers advice, and wait a while until the computers were a little faster. Who cared? I wanted my own machine. Looking back, I am appauled that I payed 1700 pounds for a Pentium 166. Well it ran C&C perfectly, so who was I to complain.
Westwood Studios have been my all time favourite Publisher and Developer of console and PC games. They were founded by two geniuses, Louis Castle and Brett W. Sperry. Westwood was bought by Electronic Atrs in 1998, by March 2003, EA closed the studio and all staff members were offered places in the EA studio in Los Angeles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Game ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An alien material hurtles through space onboard a rogue meteor. Tiberium was named after the, river in Italy, The Tiber, where it was first discovered. Spreading like wild fire, Tuberium sucks minerals and nutrients from the soil like a sponge. Tiberium, when harvested and refined correctly, produces a massive amount of energy. This unearthly mineral has a high level of radioactivity and would be most useful in the construction of biohazerdous weapons.......
After a beautiful intro sceen, you are presented with the option to choose from one of two apposing factions, GDI, Global Defence Initiative and The Brotherhood of Nod.
This game really was a break through for its time. Real time stratege and superb missions. The game follows the struggle of both sides, GDI in Europe, and NOD in Africa. The game interface is simple to use and handy that it collapses so you have a full screen to view. The units are detailed, and their replies are somewhat repetative, but not so as to get on your nerves. The battles are unique and each one a challenge. The levels, of course, get progressively harder, and as your ranks swell, and you are introduced to new units, the strategic possibilities become limitless. The AI is not amazing, but then the game IS old. The computer will attack from different points but with increasingly tougher packs of units. The story line for each side has unexpected twists and is quite compelling. ( I not only wanted to complete the missions, but also to find out what happened next. )
The specifications are little to nothing and the game will run on a 486!! I was of course, not dissapointed with the graphics as, at the time they were amazing, but now they do seem a little crappy. But for me it's game play that counts, and the game play in this one is still superb. The game has a hidden level which I only found out about after finishing it. You must buy the add-on, Covert Ops, and when running through a dos terminal, add the extension "funpark", so c&c funpark, and you get to fight dinasours!! Fun or what.. and in the last dino mission you can play as the dinos themselves.
The sound effects in this game are great and exposion after explosion never gets tiring. There is a brilliant soundtrack that was very varied and each track was impressive, when I heard "I'm a Mechanical Man", I laughed at the implications.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Movie Clips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very impressive movie clips and I was excited to see the next one after each level. The end sequence is well presented as is the Intro. Westwood put a lot of thought an effort into these.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Forces ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*+-_-+* GDI *+-_-+*
The Global Defence Initiative is a heroic, good-preserving organisation set upon upholding the good of the world. The forces are mainly geared towards tanks and planes, and the defencive side of the team suffers somewhat.
The GDI have decided that men should kill men. The standard minigunner is great against other men and usefull for swamping. A slight upgrade is the Grenadier. Very good against other infantry, but will explode when killed, and thus damage friendlies near by. Then comes every one's nightmare, the Engineer, these unlikey and innocent units can change the course of a game. One APC full into a base and all the buildings become yours. These little guys capture buildings
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-- -Vehicles- --
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The GDI vehicles are generally stronger than that of NOD, but therefor more expensive. The Medium tank is the back bone of the GDI forces and a great addition to the ranks. The Hum Vee is a hit and run vehicle. Perfect for getting those straggling last men. APC, Armoured Personel Carrier. Perfect for lightening, building-snatching missions with those unlikely engineers. The Rocket Launcher is extremely good against ground troops ,as it has a longer range than any of them, and usually one shot is enough to kill. The Mammoth tank speeks for itself really, a huge, slow, self-repairing mother of a tank. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The Orca is a beautiful creation that flys with hover-turbines. It is great for taking out gun turrets and tanks.
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*+-_-+* NOD *+-_-+*
Nod is a religous cult under the dictatorship of Kane, a freestanding nut who has too much military power at the tip of his fingers. This side is very defencive and loves fire.
Nod's units
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-- -Infantry- --
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Again you have the basic minigunner, but the real treats are the rocket launcher and the flame thrower. Although expensive, the rocket troops are worth every penny. Send 4 against nearly any tank and bye bye tank. The flamer emmits huge balls of flame and caused absolute mayhem amongst any ground troops. This side also had an engineer, but as you there are no APC's it is harder to get them into the opponant's base. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
-- -Vehicles- --
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The Noddy's have faster and lighter vehicles that the GDI, but they are generally pack more punch. The Nod Bike is easily the fastest unit in the game and when used like a wolf pack, devastating. The alternative to the Hum Vee, is the Nod Buggy. Fast and good against men. As Nod were not so blessed with tanks, you have to make do with the Light tank. Relativley inexpensive, this lad is useful for taking fire while the not so rogust vehicles rumble in for the kill. The Artillery is long ranged, but highly inaccurate. Will slaughter men and Buildings One of my personal fav's is the Flame tank. Pyro heaven!! Men cleaner-uppers and good for buildings. Lastly is the Stealth tank. This device is lovely for diversions or surprise attacks.
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-- -Buildings- --
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Both sides have the equivalent buildings for men and vehicles. The only notable difference is the Obelisk for the Nod, A large defensive Claw that shoots powerful red lazers to fry your foe. And the Communications Centre for the GDI satelite up link. This provides a Space to earth, recharging ion cannon that will put a hole in any defence.
This game has subsiquently spawned a legion of similars know now as, "command and comquer style" games. There have been many sequals: Red Alert 1 / 2 Tiberium Sun Renegade Generals And more..........
This game is like the father of all games for me and, if you don't like poor graphic games, you can get a new windows version, which has somewhat better graphics and a larger playing screen. You will have to download a patch to play it on XP though.
If you want to play a classic, play this.
More details
Addictiveness
Very hard to stop playing
Originality
Excellent - very original
Value for money
Excellent value
Longevity/Expected Longevity
ongoing
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