C&C4

[ScottishMartialArts]

So... anyone else playing this?

The buzz around this game has been extraordinarily negative, and for the most part it deserves it. C&C4 disappoints on nearly every level, from the story, to the pitifully short campaigns, to the completely redone gameplay, and even to the music. Still, I can't quite bring myself to hate the game. It's got something going for it that at least makes it entertaining and playable. Plus it's Command and Conquer, the series that got me into PC gaming 14 years ago.

 

[Konjad]

The only good C&C was first Red Alert IMO. Never got into any other C&C.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

Red Alert 1 remains my favorite of the series, although I've pretty much enjoyed them all.

C&C4 is a radical departure from the gameplay of the series, making Generals' significant tweaks to the formula look miniscule in comparison. The new gameplay system isn't a terrible idea in itself, but it definitely feels like it needed several more iterations before it would be ready for primetime. I honestly have no idea why they'd try to reinvent the game on an 18 month development cycle, especially when this entry is supposed to be the grand finale for the series.

Fortunately, the game is still fun, if kinda halfbaked, so it's not a total loss. Still, if Kane wasn't so prominent, you'd be hard pressed to even tell this was a Command and Conquer game, especially when the story isn't really a GDI vs Nod conflict.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

C&C in name only.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

C&C in name only.

Pretty much. One thing I do really, really like about this one is the cutscenes. They are probably the best that the series has seen since Tiberian Sun. It almost seemed like, post-Tiberian Sun, they had forgotten that, while low-budget, the early series' cutscenes basically played it straight. Instead, from RA2 on, the cutscenes went intentionally campy, and got more and more retarded with each entry. The serious cutscenes of C&C4 feel to me like a real return to form in comparison.

I also really like that they built a set this time around, and film all the cutscenes in a physical place, instead of just in front of a greenscreen; it compliments the more serious tone nicely.

 

[Darth Roxor]

C&C4? No thanks, I'd rather replay Red Alert 2 for the gazillionth time. Everything I've read about it so far, from the gameplay to the story, has been an absolute fucking turnoff.

 

[RK47]

C&C in name only.

Pretty much. One thing I do really, really like about this one is the cutscenes. They are probably the best that the series has seen since Tiberian Sun. /quote]

You mean the in-game wife was proper C&C?

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

I much preferred the acting and writing of 3 to 4.




NOD was NOD, Kane wasn't misunderstood space jesus, etc.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

Plus it's Command and Conquer, the series that got me into PC gaming 14 years ago.

You like it because it's the game that ruined your life once and forever?

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I loved Tiberian Sun's cutscenes, music and graphics, I hated the gameplay.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I loved Tiberian Sun's cutscenes, music and graphics, I hated the gameplay.

You should try C&C4 then. It's probably sufficiently dumbed down for the likes of you

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I loved Tiberian Sun's cutscenes, music and graphics, I hated the gameplay.

You should try C&C4 then. It's probably sufficiently dumbed down for the likes of you

 

[lightbane]

So EA ruins another series and completely rapes the ending. So after Need of Speed, Ultima and now C&C. How surprising.

PS: Just a quick question (probably spoiler if you care): Does Kane die for the sins of humanity or some faggot ending like that?

 

[HanoverF]

So... anyone else playing this?

The buzz around this game has been extraordinarily negative, and for the most part it deserves it. C&C4 disappoints on nearly every level, from the story, to the pitifully short campaigns, to the completely redone gameplay, and even to the music. Still, I can't quite bring myself to hate the game. It's got something going for it that at least makes it entertaining and playable. Plus it's Command and Conquer, the series that got me into PC gaming 14 years ago.

You probably just have a tranny hard-on for Kane

 

[MetalCraze]

So EA ruins another series

Welcome back to 2007 commander

 

[Luzur]

C&C ended with Red Alert 2.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

So EA ruins another series and completely rapes the ending. So after Need of Speed, Ultima and now C&C. How surprising.

PS: Just a quick question (probably spoiler if you care): Does Kane die for the sins of humanity or some faggot ending like that?

No. His motivations stay pretty ambiguous, even as the basic threat of Tiberium and the the GDI vs Nod conflict is pretty much resolved. It's clear by the end of the game that Kane isn't human and isn't from Earth but what exactly he is -- god, Scrin alien, vampire, etc. -- isn't explicitly stated. Kane wants to activate some sort of Scrin portal in the last remaining Scrin tower so that he can leave Earth and take the bulk of his followers with him, but where that portal takes him and what other effects it might have on him aren't clear. Incidentally, activating the portal and tower is the final step in completing the Tiberium Control Network, built through the GDI-Nod alliance and the knowledge of the Tacitus, which once active ends the ecological threat of Tiberium while preserving its capabilities as an energy source.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

C&C in name only.

Pretty much. One thing I do really, really like about this one is the cutscenes. They are probably the best that the series has seen since Tiberian Sun.

You mean the in-game wife was proper C&C?

Not really, but everything else about the cutscenes was a major improvement over the last few games and at least a few steps closer to the standard set by the Tiberian Sun cutscenes.

 

[Darth Roxor]

This whole 'Let's work with GDI to save the planet from Tiberium!' makes so little sense it's not even funny, considering how completely contradictive it is with Kane's motives in Tiberian Sun + Firestorm.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

This whole 'Let's work with GDI to save the planet from Tiberium!' makes so little sense it's not even funny, considering how completely contradictive it is with Kane's motives in Tiberian Sun + Firestorm.

Yeah, like I said: the story is pretty disappointing. I suppose it could be argued that Kane's ploy to completely terraform earth into Tiberiumland in TS was really an attempt to draw the Scrin to earth, in which case I guess everything is consistent, but it still feels like a very big stretch.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Even then it wouldn't have worked. Developing naturally, it would have likely taken the better part of a century or more for the world's 'ichor' deposits to get anywhere near ready to gain the Scrin's attention.


According to the Scrin themselves even the most advanced forms of Tib on Earth were still immature, with signs that they'd come way too early.


Remember, the Tib situation would have to be so wide-spread and concentrated that explosions similar to what happened at Temple Prime with the Liquid Tib and the Ion Cannon would have to be happening unaided on a regular basis.




Considering every previous race was pretty much extinct by this point when the Scrin arrived, Kane's new attitude (which is I guess is supposed to have been the true one all along) wouldn't have allowed him to even consider the idea. He cared too much about humanity.


Well, unless he thought everyone would just turn into mutants. But if he thought that was the ultimate form man should take to survive, why would he treat Mutants like little better than useful garbage in previous games?

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

Again, the story for C&C4 isn't that great. Joe Kucan mentioned in a recent interview that they didn't start out making C&C1 with a full 15 year story arc already planned out: they made it up as they went along. Couple this with the developer change -- although the EALA RTS team is technically Westwood Pacific, the developers of RA2 -- and you can see why the resolution to the story feels pretty unsatisfactory.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Again, the story for C&C4 isn't that great. Joe Kucan mentioned in a recent interview that they didn't start out making C&C1 with a full 15 year story arc already planned out: they made it up as they went along. Couple this with the developer change -- although the EALA RTS team is technically Westwood Pacific, the developers of RA2 -- and you can see why the resolution to the story feels pretty unsatisfactory.

But as of C&C3 they at least tried to keep a decent frame-work.



4 is just a patch job of retcons and bullshit. With 'serious' acting that was worse than the camp of previous iterations.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

But as of C&C3 they at least tried to keep a decent frame-work.

I guess. C&C3 still felt like a pretty radical departure from Tiberian Sun. TS has one of the most well realized and atmospheric apocalyptic environments I've seen in any media. Things truly felt desperate and bleak in TS. Cities were largely in ruins. The populace was being relocated en masse to the arctic and antarctic circle where Tiberium growth was limited. Seaborne travel was rendered impossible due to aquatic variations of Tiberium growth, bringing the world economy to a grinding halt. The tropics, where Tiberium growth was strongest, had turned into true alien landscapes complete with whole ecosystems of tiberium based flora and fauna. Compare this with C&C3 where about a fifth the world is still basically as it is today, and the rest is like Iraq but with green crystals scattered about.

That said, I still really enjoyed C&C3, thought it was a solid RTS, and that overall the story was pretty satisfying.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

So... anyone else playing this?

The buzz around this game has been extraordinarily negative, and for the most part it deserves it. C&C4 disappoints on nearly every level, from the story, to the pitifully short campaigns, to the completely redone gameplay, and even to the music. Still, I can't quite bring myself to hate the game. It's got something going for it that at least makes it entertaining and playable. Plus it's Command and Conquer, the series that got me into PC gaming 14 years ago.

You probably just have a tranny hard-on for Kane

I've always been a GDI chick at heart. Kane is pretty handsome though, and he gets all the great lines.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Well, the oceans were still basically the same. In fact during some cut-scenes and missions nearby water ways you can see some of the massive deposits of Tiberium lurking beneath the water.

The few ports that are operational exist solely because Tib reclamation technology and procedures had advanced so much that they were able to make certain routes passable enough to use.




And the Red Zones are documented to be pretty much as you described. Hellish landscapes where weather follows no logical pattern, former eco-systems distorted by the Tib deposits, etc. Most of 3 took place in Blue Zones and Yellow Zones, however, because those are the chief operational theaters for Nod and GDI.