Command & Conquer - Tiberian Sun

Date: 2008-11-02 11:52:02 Created: null

Imported from the old site ...

I admit it: I couldn't resist getting it as soon as possible on the release day. After all, it's more of the Command & Conquer universe, how bad could it be? Well, it wasn't bad at all, as I, and everyone else, expected. However, it wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be either. As a result of that I've already, one week after purchase, completed both campaigns. More on that further down the page.

So, how did it differ from the other C&Cs? The first thing, which everyone who has seen a screenshot knows, is that it looks a lot better. It's more colourful, more varied and the viewpoint has been changed so that you have an isometric perspective of the battlefield. Don't worry, it still looks, feels and breaths C&C all the time.

Then, the units are new of course. Well, most of them anyway, a select few remains from C&C. Jump Jet Infantry is a new GDI unit. These guys are basically normal infantry with heavier armor and the ability to fly. Cheap scouts and good for taking out lone units with no AA-capability. GDI remains the side relying mostly on brutal force and good armor, and this is the whole point of the Mammoth Mark. II, the replacement for the old Mammoth Tank. They cost 3000 credits, you're only allowed to have one at a time and they're slower than most rocks, but those problems are ignorable. Mammoths rock big time! Its dual railguns turns any opposition to dust and its armor can take one or two nuclear conflicts without flinching. They're basically the whole concept of GDI in one unit.

NOD has become even more stealthy and missile reliant than before. The old Flame Tank has turned into the digging Devil's Tongue, and NOD APC's move underground as well. The Artilliry unit needs to deploy before being able to attack, but once deployed it kicks the ass of any ground unit daring to move in range. And that range is really long too ... Nod also have the Missile Silo from which you can fire cluster and chemical missiles, provided you have Weed Eaters to supply Tiberium roots.

Another thing you quickly notice is the increased resolution and cost of the movie sequences. Resolution is 640 by something, and it looks great. The camera also pans and perform other nice tricks, and the sets look better and are better integrated with the computer rendered parts.

Another major improvement is the pathfinding. Never ever do your units run in a million directions when supposed to cross a bridge. No, now they line up and wait for their turn properly. Good work!

So, how are the campaigns then? There is a bit of difference here, in that some missions are of a secondary character. Complete the secondary mission first, and your primary mission will become easier in some way. A nice touch. Also, you're told on the map screen what mission you'll have in each sector, no more choosing first and being told afterwards.

The missions themselves are quite varied and interesting, their difficulty is another matter ... The GDI campaign, which I played first, caused me a few restarts and reloads. When the fight is fair, you'll win because you have a brain and the computer doesn't. In all, the AI in the campaigns didn't impress me. The main difference from C&C seemed to be that it doesn't send all its units against you if you attacked its harvester. Not all too hard on normal, which I always play on, and it definitely felt easier than old C&C. Then I started the NOD campaign and realized that GID was the more difficult campaign by far. This is mainly because the AI seems to be completely unable to protect itself against NOD's subterranen units, on top of all its normal problems. I managed to send engineers in a subterranen APC into the enemy base and take over their key buildings without any problems on several levels. Can't deny it was fun however, it certainly makes you feel good to be able to utilize the units like that.

Right, that's that, on with the minor critiques list.

• Why is it so hard for Westwood to fix a proper keyboard scrolling? In Tiberian Sun, you can assign most, if not all, commands to keys. This goes for scrolling too. Great, you think, and map the scrolling to the arrow keys. The problem is, when you press the key for scroll north, the screen scrolls one single step in that direction. Bad! Fortunately, you can scroll by holding down the right mouse button too, which works great.
• Those short rendered sequences after the missions. Sure, they all look great, no denying that. But not only do most of them have no connection whatsoever to the mission, the same ones are used a little too often. Are they chosen at random? Of the first five NOD missions, the sequence with the raising of a NOD flag by three soldiers was shown after three ... And how come the Mammoth Mark. II shoots missiles in the sequence in which it appears?
• The Star Wars Story Syndrome: forgetting to tell the viewer things. Just what is the Tacitus? It is mentioned lots of times both in the game and the manual, but you never even get a hint to what it is or what it is. It seems to be a book, since the Forgotten translated it, but not knowing ruins a bit of the feeling in my opinion. In reality, Tacitus was a Roman who wrote some history books, but it can hardly be him everyone's after, can it? And there are other examples of this too, it's a pity even if it doesn't affect actual gameplay.
• There are a few annoying bugs, and they're not all that ignorable when they do turn up. Air units sometimes go brain dead when ordered to attack and remain on the pad or, even worse, fly to their target and hang around there without shooting. If this happens, it remains so for that target through the whole mission. Also, the NOD mission where you're escaping from prison has a bug which makes it impossible to win if you're too quick. Westwood! Patch please!