Command & Conquer

Review by: Wes Pringle

Introduction

For the uninitiated, Command and Conquer (C&C) is one of the most popular strategy games yet released for the PC. It took the computer world by storm about two years ago - selling well in excess of a million copies worldwide. Since then, the game has been released on the Macintosh, and has even spawned a PC sequel - Red Alert.

C&C is considered to be a strategy game. It is set in the near future where two world factions are fighting for global domination. On the one side is the "GDI" (Global Defense Initiative). This side is your stereotypical military with standard weapons, tactics and ethics. The other side is called the "Brotherhood of Nod". This group represents some type of totalitarian regime led by its colorful leader known only as "Kane".

You can play as either side in some very intense, real time battles. Unlike a lot of strategy games, this title focuses very much on the action. There are very few guns vs. butter decisions in C&C. The decisions are really about how big your guns need to be, and where you are going to put them.

Graphics: B

The graphics are fine. But if you've ever seen C&C before, you know that it is not really a game that is big on graphics. The game uses a very basic 3/4 view 2/D sprite based engine. The characters are rather small, but they do the job. In short, everything is in place. Sure they could have made the game with polygons instead of sprites, but it would have added nothing to the gameplay, so why bother.

In-between battles however, the game is accented by some very nice FMV clips. Now I know what you are thinking - who cares about FMV? Well, normally I don't, but in C&C, it really seems to add to the story. There is a simple plot which is advances, and some very nice pre-rendered battle sequences to watch from time to time.

Sound: B

Again, the sound is fine. There are explosions, there are screams, there are rockets firing. Everything is sampled well and is quite clear. Other than that there is nothing overly exceptional about the sound effects. They are there, they do the job, you don't pay much attention to them. 'Nuff said.

Music: A+

C&C is accented with some of the coolest music to hit a North American game. A variety of tracks are featured which I can only describe as "Rebellion Rock". They are heavy in nature, and accented with bland voice-overs that spout out quotes like: "We are going to have to ACT if we want to live in a different world". They fit the theme of the game to a T.

Gameplay: A+

Ok, now that I am through with the basics, we can get down to the nitty gritty. C&C is about gameplay, and boy, it has it in spades. You can jump into this game and play a few missions without worrying too much about strategy, but before long, you really need to think about what you are doing, and how you are going to proceed with your battle plans.

The basic set-up of a typical mission is as follows. Both you and your opponent have a base. Depending on the mission, you may either have a base at the beginning of the mission, or you may need to start one from scratch. With your base, you can establish a little fort. You can collect money to finance your mission by harvesting "Tibernium" a crystal which seems to be worth a lot of money. By harvesting well, by defending your base well, and by setting up your assault troops, you eventually can find yourself in a position where you are ready to launch an assault.

At your disposal are literally dozens of different units. The specific types vary depending on whether you are playing as the GDI, or as NOD. NOD tends to have less sophisticated, but more "cruel" weapons. For example, whereas the GDI has developed an "ION PULSE" bomb which is very powerful, the NOD brotherhood simply uses Nukes. The GDI uses guns and grenades, the NOD brotherhood uses motorcycles and flame-throwers.

It is imperative that you know the strengths and weaknesses of your units. Very often you are quite outnumbered, and you simply MUST outthink your opponent or you don't stand a chance. I guarantee, with many of the missions, you will be wishing that you had extra units and/or money.

For the C&C vets out there, virtually all the old strategies work. I won't go into detail on them here, but suffice to say that it seems as though much of the code is literally identical to the PC version.

Control: A

I am very happy to say that the control in this game is perfect. Very often mouse based PC games don't transfer well to a console (SimCity 2000 anyone?). Not so with C&C. The cursor responds very well to the pad, and you will find yourself zipping along like a pro in no time. All of the more sophisticated commands from the PC version are included, but may take a menu, or a couple of button presses to access (for example, there is a command to "Force Fire", this allows you to line up some tanks or riflemen, and to have them literally created a no man's zone by tearing up the earth in a certain area whether there is someone there or not. In the computer version, you press one button. With the Saturn, you press L+Y together). You'll be up to speed in no time.

Overall: A

This is a great game folks. And with 2CDs, loaded with almost 50 missions, you will not see every square inch of the game anytime soon. Make no mistake, after the first few missions, this is a tough game. You will die, and you will learn. But unlike a lot of other strategy games, you will not be bogged down in turn after turn of administration. You are in the heat of battle at virtually every single point in the game - and that's a good thing!

The only thing this game needed which is not included is Netlink compatibility. One of the great things about the PC version is that you can play against your friends over the phone, or on the internet. Unfortunately, the Saturn version is simply a one player game. Perhaps the sequel - C&C Red Alert - will come out one day with Netlink compatibility. Now THAT would sell me a Netlink.

In closing - hey its simple. If you like action/strategy games, then get this game. If you don't - you may like it (because it has a LOT of action) but you should probably rent it first. Personally, this game is definately one of my top 5 Saturn favs (and that's a very elite list).