I absolutly love this game, its almost the best thing since sliced bread :D
Im surprised you were comparing it with an expansion pack? Red Alert is as you probably know it is a stand alone game, set in a different universe to this game, but it puzzled me as to why you did.
I do agree with quack there, the Ion Cannon is good fun, but the Rift Generator is a novel idea i must say.
Its a shame Frank Klepaki has not done the soundtrack to this, as the soundtrack was something people knew what made a C&C, but i agree, it does work with the game i find.
for the record, this game works like a dream in vista, AMD 5600 , an 8800GTS and 2 gig of ram.
I really enjoy the skirmish in these games. I find the single player game boring and multiplayer is full of "l33t rushers" that crush you within minutes while you try to have fun by building up an army. So playing the MP maps against several computer players is most enjoyable for me. I even prefer this over stalker at the moment.
Begun back in the hey-day of Windows 95, the original Command & Conquer operated only on MS-DOS
I mentioned this when it was said in the preview - it told you in the manual of the original boxed copy of Command and Conquer how to get it working from within Windows 95... :) it didn't improve the graphics, but it worked just fine.
...
Overall, I've been really enjoying C&C3, but it has certainly reminded me why I hated missions where you can't build a base. And having the Mammoth tank back the way it was (but better!) rather than that horrible AT-AT rip-off is fantastic. :D
Spamspamspamspamspamdispamspam :) Just like the other C&Cs. Some people love and the rest find them total waste of time. I got to agree the graphics are awesome, but in the same sentence I'd like to add that SO WHAT. I tried out the demo and most of the time the candy effects just made it harder to pick the units and build stuff.
Maybe the game just isn't for me and I shouldn't even tried in the first place... /end of rant.
The ion cannon is pretty cool admittedly, though the best thing about it isn't the actual effect but aiming that massive crosshair on a single rifle unit.
"MWHAHAHAH! FEEL MY PWNAGE!" I yell before being promptly squished by the opposition because I wasted my superweapon.
Originally Posted by TFA We started our performance testing by quickly installing the game on a free computer and slapping in an NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS card and a single gigabyte of RAM...
...The action on screen was a little jerky, though still playable at around 16 FPS on average, but we oomphed up to 1600 x 1200 anyway because were show-offs at heart. This had a negative impact on the FPS obviously, with highs of 25 and lows of just 14, but the game was still easily playable...
...Pushing in an X1950 Pro and using the Ultra High preset allowed the game to function at a rock solid 30 frames, never falling below 28 FPS for more than a second.
Excuse me for being inexplicably pedantic, but surely you'd expect such a rise from an x1950 Pro, against the 7600GS?
Or did you mean, 7900GS, as per the Mid-range/Low-end graphical performance?
I love the good old C&C. I remeber my younger bro getting it for xmas when it came out and we sepent ages trying to get it to work in good old dos on my dads 486DX.
Good old sound Blaster 16 problems. If you didnt have a Creative Sound Blaster then your screwed as early pc games mainly supported them only. We had that many problems trying to get our sound card to work that we bought a Sound Blaster 16.
I was good fun and from then on we got every C&C that came out. Have not got C&C 3 yet. Not sure how it will run on a AMD 3700, ATI 1600PRo and 1GB ram. I prefer to play these games on my laptop sat on the sofa in the living room than in the bedroom on my own on the desktop, but I think I got no chance it working on a 1.6 centrino 64MB ATI 9700 512mb DDR 333.
Time to persuade my wife into buying me a new laptop :) Dint think I can though :(
This game is the result of EA trying to appease the old school "traditional" cnc fan. A lot of the old school stuff is there, like the FMVs (production values are pretty high). Unfortunately, the gameplay is a step backwards from generals. Ah well. Still a decent product though.
What a strange analogy, "who normally has the strategic prowess of a fart in a spacesuit". :D
Page 2 - Para 5 "Playing it feels like playing an updated version of Red Alert, which is fitting given that it was developers are all admitted fans of the C&C classics and have tried hard to recreate them." - doesn't read correctly to me, perhaps just omit the highlighted 'was' and add an 's' to 'it'.
Page 2 - Para 8 "I'm not going to give anything away about The Scrin" - missing 'give'
"top-down-at-a-bit-of-an-angle perspective" - so, isometric, then :D lol
Page 3 - para 2 "This begs the question: just now necessary is anti-aliasing for Command & Conquer 3?" - change to 'how'.
Page 6 - para 5 "afterall" - space between after and all needed.
Page 6 - para 5 "Windows that are actually recessed into the wall rather than just look like a white, square decal on a wall." - two ways this could go. Get rid of the first 'that' or change 'look' to 'looking'. Either way, this sentence feels unfinished/fragmented.
Page 7 - para 10 "Dropping the graphics preset to a more lenient Medium setting bought Terrain Detail and Texture Detail much lower than we would have liked ..." - doesn't make sense. Perhaps change 'bought' to 'made'?
Page 7 - para 12 "It puzzled us that the dropping the graphics settings didnt seem to do much" - omit 'the'.
Page 8 - para 5 "excellent game and it's impossible to deny that the same" - add 'to'.
Page 8 - para 5 "to get a decent framerate at 1600 x 1200 or higher" - add 'at'. btw, missing full stop at the end of this paragraph.
Wow, thats a fair few mistakes. It goes to show that even with a Degree in English Language and Creative Writing and with an editor constantly checking your work you can still mess up! Still, thanks for point those typos out (they've all been corrected now)
Hopefully when I get more used to writing in the editing engine we use there won't be as many typos!
I like the game a lot so far, even though I've barely played much. I'm stuck at this one mission in Croatia where you have to guard a broken down base, and then rescue your reinforcements (how ironic). I really cannot get past that part, and by the time I can build enough forces to guard my base and get the reinforcements, the enemy has begun attacking full force. Any suggestions?
Does anyone else hate Jennifer Morrison's acting? I think it is seriously pretty bad. She has this attitude that always comes off as artificially serious, as if she is trying to make her voice sound lower or more dramatic than anyone would actually sound in real life. As a result, it sounds corny and scripted. Overall though, I've been really satisfied with the live-action in this game.
For that mission immediately build a second harvester. That will help out a lot. Build about 4 rifle squads and send them to the west and south entrances to your base and put them in their bunkers using their click power. Immediately power off all of your AA guns and power on all of your defenses. Only turn on the AA guns when the Venoms attack you. Next, start up 10 predator tanks and send 3-4 to the east entrance on guard mode and 3 to the north. If your predators lose too much health send them back to the war factory to get repaired and send one of your fresh ones to replace it. Once you have 10 predators and a couple APCs attack the northeast base. Their defenses aren't that strong and you should be able to punch through and stomp their asses.
Protip: Put some engineers in the APCs and capture the base instead.
Once you have that done with, you should be able take it easy. Your bunkered down rifle squads should be heroic by now after killing so many fanatics and militant squads. Build a few more APCs and fill them with grenadiers. Send them southwest and clear out all the garrisoned buildings. Once that is done grab the predators left over from the first assualt (you have been building more predators by now, right?) and send them at the southwest base and destroy it. Rescue your reinforcements and get ready for the annoying part.
The last base is not accessible by land. Your options are to either build tons of air, or to build an airport and use the "Call for transport" ability with your units. I suggest the latter. The base has a ton of AA units in it, and they will put up a good fight. Build about 5-7 Pit Bulls and airlift them onto the north eastern corner of the cliff. The enemies should not detect you. Use the special power that drops APCs and Pit Bulls up there too. Now, send ONE pit bull into the base, then turn his ass around and send him back to the big group of pit bulls and APCs. The enemy Venoms should follow you right into your trap. Send in the rest after the Venoms are dead and finish off the base. Air lift your preds if you need to.
This is a great game, but as it was said already, multiplayer is god awful.
It is Generals all over again for me and my friends. Someone always gets disconnected, lag taking over. I'm not even going to try the online, the menu (if you can even call it that) looks like it was done the week before the game shipped. What a pathetic idea to have a chat thing on the "server" select screen. Yea, 100 (or so) people talking at once so text is flying up so fast, you can't even read the first word. Fail.
Oh, and on the topic of the chat... The censored words are pathetic! Especially for a game rated for teenagers. If you don't know, such words as, butt, poo, poop, GOD, hell, and Alah! I'm sure they blocked out all other gods, but I'm not trying.
God damn it EA, stop taking good games and ruining them.
this game is great. yes its not the most graphically challenging but c&c never have been its all about the gameplay and yet again its good. spent abit to long on this since i got it last friday
Comments 1 to 25 of 45
Im surprised you were comparing it with an expansion pack? Red Alert is as you probably know it is a stand alone game, set in a different universe to this game, but it puzzled me as to why you did.
I do agree with quack there, the Ion Cannon is good fun, but the Rift Generator is a novel idea i must say.
Its a shame Frank Klepaki has not done the soundtrack to this, as the soundtrack was something people knew what made a C&C, but i agree, it does work with the game i find.
All in all, a good review, cheers.
Sam
I really enjoy the skirmish in these games. I find the single player game boring and multiplayer is full of "l33t rushers" that crush you within minutes while you try to have fun by building up an army. So playing the MP maps against several computer players is most enjoyable for me. I even prefer this over stalker at the moment.
Is that because Stalker doesnt work in Vista? heh
Yes, thankfully, it does work in Vista, otherwise EA would have a mutiny on there hands.
Sam
Bringing back Joe Kucan was a pretty good idea.
For the Brotherhood!
...
Overall, I've been really enjoying C&C3, but it has certainly reminded me why I hated missions where you can't build a base. And having the Mammoth tank back the way it was (but better!) rather than that horrible AT-AT rip-off is fantastic. :D
Just had a 12 hour LAN and we played this game for a lot of that time, good fun.
But the performance is just awful.
Maybe the game just isn't for me and I shouldn't even tried in the first place... /end of rant.
C2duo E6400
7800gt
2 gigs/ram
Runs like a dream.
And has anyone cuaght this yet, spawn a juggernaut unit, and select him till he says, "I'm the juggernuat!"
I luaghed.
"MWHAHAHAH! FEEL MY PWNAGE!" I yell before being promptly squished by the opposition because I wasted my superweapon.
Or did you mean, 7900GS, as per the Mid-range/Low-end graphical performance?
Good old sound Blaster 16 problems. If you didnt have a Creative Sound Blaster then your screwed as early pc games mainly supported them only. We had that many problems trying to get our sound card to work that we bought a Sound Blaster 16.
I was good fun and from then on we got every C&C that came out. Have not got C&C 3 yet. Not sure how it will run on a AMD 3700, ATI 1600PRo and 1GB ram. I prefer to play these games on my laptop sat on the sofa in the living room than in the bedroom on my own on the desktop, but I think I got no chance it working on a 1.6 centrino 64MB ATI 9700 512mb DDR 333.
Time to persuade my wife into buying me a new laptop :) Dint think I can though :(
Thats the infuriating thing about this business: one digit wrong and suddenly everyones a critic ;)
The mistake has now been corrected.
One things that stopped me playing STALKER is blimin BF2142. :(
Page 2 - Para 5 "Playing it feels like playing an updated version of Red Alert, which is fitting given that it was developers are all admitted fans of the C&C classics and have tried hard to recreate them." - doesn't read correctly to me, perhaps just omit the highlighted 'was' and add an 's' to 'it'.
Page 2 - Para 8 "I'm not going to give anything away about The Scrin" - missing 'give'
"top-down-at-a-bit-of-an-angle perspective" - so, isometric, then :D lol
Page 3 - para 2 "This begs the question: just now necessary is anti-aliasing for Command & Conquer 3?" - change to 'how'.
Page 6 - para 5 "afterall" - space between after and all needed.
Page 6 - para 5 "Windows that are actually recessed into the wall rather than just look like a white, square decal on a wall." - two ways this could go. Get rid of the first 'that' or change 'look' to 'looking'. Either way, this sentence feels unfinished/fragmented.
Page 7 - para 10 "Dropping the graphics preset to a more lenient Medium setting bought Terrain Detail and Texture Detail much lower than we would have liked ..." - doesn't make sense. Perhaps change 'bought' to 'made'?
Page 7 - para 12 "It puzzled us that the dropping the graphics settings didnt seem to do much" - omit 'the'.
Page 8 - para 5 "excellent game and it's impossible to deny that the same" - add 'to'.
Page 8 - para 5 "to get a decent framerate at 1600 x 1200 or higher" - add 'at'. btw, missing full stop at the end of this paragraph.
Genuinely, a brilliant review. Well done ;)
Hopefully when I get more used to writing in the editing engine we use there won't be as many typos!
Does anyone else hate Jennifer Morrison's acting? I think it is seriously pretty bad. She has this attitude that always comes off as artificially serious, as if she is trying to make her voice sound lower or more dramatic than anyone would actually sound in real life. As a result, it sounds corny and scripted. Overall though, I've been really satisfied with the live-action in this game.
although yes, there is some serious geek casting pwnage.
Protip: Put some engineers in the APCs and capture the base instead.
Once you have that done with, you should be able take it easy. Your bunkered down rifle squads should be heroic by now after killing so many fanatics and militant squads. Build a few more APCs and fill them with grenadiers. Send them southwest and clear out all the garrisoned buildings. Once that is done grab the predators left over from the first assualt (you have been building more predators by now, right?) and send them at the southwest base and destroy it. Rescue your reinforcements and get ready for the annoying part.
The last base is not accessible by land. Your options are to either build tons of air, or to build an airport and use the "Call for transport" ability with your units. I suggest the latter. The base has a ton of AA units in it, and they will put up a good fight. Build about 5-7 Pit Bulls and airlift them onto the north eastern corner of the cliff. The enemies should not detect you. Use the special power that drops APCs and Pit Bulls up there too. Now, send ONE pit bull into the base, then turn his ass around and send him back to the big group of pit bulls and APCs. The enemy Venoms should follow you right into your trap. Send in the rest after the Venoms are dead and finish off the base. Air lift your preds if you need to.
It is Generals all over again for me and my friends. Someone always gets disconnected, lag taking over. I'm not even going to try the online, the menu (if you can even call it that) looks like it was done the week before the game shipped. What a pathetic idea to have a chat thing on the "server" select screen. Yea, 100 (or so) people talking at once so text is flying up so fast, you can't even read the first word. Fail.
Oh, and on the topic of the chat... The censored words are pathetic! Especially for a game rated for teenagers. If you don't know, such words as, butt, poo, poop, GOD, hell, and Alah! I'm sure they blocked out all other gods, but I'm not trying.
God damn it EA, stop taking good games and ruining them.
Isometric surely ?
shame that ea went down last weekend though