PC Review: Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

PC Games Reviews

By Casey Lynch Mar 27, 2007, 18:56 GMT

If you are a C&C fan, we have good news and bad news for you. Time to enlist in the Tiberium War - Michael Ironside said so!

Time to enlist in the Tiberium War - Michael Ironside said so!While EA’s Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars doesn’t offer any blow-you-out-of-your-seat innovations, C&C 3 serves up some of the fastest and most visually engaging C&C gameplay to date.Now, that’s not to say there’s nothing new here, but the fundamental bedrock of what makes C&C what it is are here and makes the game instantly familiar and sometimes a hair annoyingly similar. That said, C&C: Tiberium Wars looks great and is actually a tad easier to jump into, especially for new comers. The basicsFor those of you familiar with the series, the GDI and the Nod are still mad at each other and trying to blow each other to bits, but this time around there’s another faction thrown in for good measure – an alien group of baddies called the Scrin. If you finish the rather robust single player campaigns for both the Nod and GDI, you’ll be rewarded with a four mission Scrin campaign, which is actually a nice little bonus.

And if you had any doubts about whether or not those campy but irresistible cut scenes would return, rest easy, they’re back, and even better then before. For sci-fi fans, you’ll love seeing Michael Ironside, Billy Dee Williams and a slew of other B-movie actors acting all over-dramatic and ornery.On to what works... What worksOverall, the campaign has a good pace and at times moves at a very high clip. There are different types of missions – base defense, attack, protect, fill in the blank, you get the picture, and there are a decent amount of side missions. The missions are fairly basic and, well, easy at the beginning, but the difficulty ramps up pretty quickly as you progress through the campaign.One real noticeable upgrade is to the graphic look of the game. Guns blast and spew fantastic lightstorms, each faction has a very distinct look and color, and even explosions are cool, rippling the air around their target like an air splash.

Each faction has a real identity, both in play style, look and strengths and weaknesses, which give the game a good balance. GDI have the strongest armored units, Nod have a great cloaking technology, and the Scrin are superior harvesters.After you cut your teeth on the singleplayer campaigns, you’ll most likely want to dive into skirmish and multiplayer. Whichever side you choose, the pace of the game is instantly noticeable and usually best described with words that start with “f” – fast, frantic, furious, friggin’ awesome… etc., etc.

Because enemies can become very powerful very fast, the best approach is to ride right in and thrash resource points rather then fortifying up and playing the waiting game. As a result, your average skirmish can be wrapped up in 15 to 25 minutes (we dominated one multiplayer map in just 10 minutes – we totally pwned, so that may not count) but its usually more fruitful to come out guns blazing then wait until you have a fully funded army. All of this makes the overall experience quick and feel less stodgy and creep-along then your typical RTS.On to what doesn't work...
What doesn’t workLike almost every other RTS, there is upgrading balancing issues, meaning once you can afford to build higher profile units like Mammoth tanks, you’ll find you don’t need to stock other lighter ground units. IT would be nice if the game was balanced throughout the difficulty levels so you don’t become a one-trick pony army, but that’s what happened every time. That said, EA is planning to address balance issues in their upcoming 1.2 patch, but we’re not sure exactly what balancing will occur. We’ll have to wait and see.

Also, considering that C&C is one of the more high profile RTS titles out there and they have the backing of EA, we hoped there would’ve been a tad more innovation, but they took the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it approach” here. While it’s definitely not phoned in, it feels a lot like C&C Generals Zero Hour, which actually isn’t a bad thing. We just thought that maybe there’d be some new innovations to show off, seeing GZH came out 4 years ago. What it all meansWhile Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars isn’t the most innovative RTS out there, it’s very fast and very satisfying. Between the great new graphics and tongue-in-cheek cut scenes, this is a must have for C&C fans and will most likely appeal to novice would-be RTS fans who want to get their feet wet in the genre.Pros+ Great graphics
+ Fast, easy to jump into action
+ Cut scenes are live action and very funCons- Balancing issues affect the end game units
- No real new innovations from older C&C titles4 out of 5 stars

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Che_Guevara_67Apr 10th, 2007 - 15:47:37

I am a die-hard fan of the C&C series. I can easily say this is the best C&C so far. Better than the original, much better than Red Alert, and better than Tib Sun. If you are a fan of the series, BUY THIS GAME. Also, this game is being ported to the XBOX 360. The 360 is identical to the PC, except for the mouse and keyboard, of course. I know console ports of PC RTS games usually suck, but I checked out the XB360 version and it checks out. Anyway, just buy this game, for PC, 360, or both!

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CasperJul 5th, 2007 - 18:15:08

I also am a C&C fan and have owned/played every version from the beginning, but this is the worst of the lot (boring)! Why EA didn't just take Zero Hour to the Next level is beyond me.

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Major KeriaAug 3rd, 2007 - 20:25:25

I have been a C&C fan since the beginning, but this Tiberium Wars SUCKED. Zero Hour had Great graphics’ Great Stories, Wonderful Missions, But Tiberium Wars constant use of the right click when the left click worked on all the other versions, beats me. I enjoyed some of the missions but so boring to play. It really wasn’t worth the money.

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Just neoneOct 25th, 2007 - 01:53:00

Ches probably getting paid by the company to say that. This game blows, its so boring after I bought this game I got serious depression and considered suicide. Don't get it, not only because of that but because each hour you play is like getting ten dicks up ur ass.

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MiCCamperDec 8th, 2007 - 14:33:15

i agree with you all the new one sucks its a boring and just crap 2 play

Zero hour is so much better i dont know why they just bring out more patchs for that

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PC Review: Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

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