Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun - Firestorm

The Good
General Slavik:
'In the name of Kane! KANE LIVES IN DEATH! In the name of Kane! KANE LIVES IN DEATH! In the name of Kane! KANE LIVES IN DEATH!'

'Brotherhood! We Are Full Again!!'

'Until Kane returns, I will lead the Nod. I will lead the Brotherhood to the certain victory. It is time to show out loyalty to Kane. It is time to fight with all we've got. It is time to destroy the GDI! And from now on, the CABAL and I wil.... CABAL!? Wait, uhh, ohh, what are your doing? I AM NOD, stop! I am ordering you. I activated you, I can just as easy deactivate you. Do not make me... NOOOO, AARRRRGHHH...'

'GDI!!! Help... gasp gasp... koff koff... the... arghh, CABAL has gone loose... he's turning all civilians to Cyborgs... nothing will stop him. We must join forces before it is too late. Shall we cease fire and... AAAAAARGHH'

CABAL:
'CABAL On-Line. Ah-hah-hah-hah. You puny civilians. You will all be defeated by my army. It's noone to command you, or help you. Your EVA (Electronic Voice Agent) was shut down by me personally, and I will as soon defeat your forces as I did Nod. Nothing can stop me now. Gentlemen, don't be surprised, I'm just following Kane's orders. It would be a sad error in judment mistaking him for a corpse... hehehehe... and now, the judgment time has arrived. Prepare to die, or become a part of my cyborg army. My guardian is too strong to oppose me.'

Tiberian Sun was something. Indeed, something you could at least expect after four years of development, but this. This is a lunacy. How is it possible to make add-on better then the original. Beats me, I'm just a follower to the Kane. But these missions, oh boy, they are developed in such a detailed depth that it looks almost impossible to beat. The story continues as our hero, Michael Biehn who played GDI Commander McNeil kills Joseph D. Kucan, playing Kane, the world's greatest influence leader, right after Hitler. Now, CABAL computer is shut down after Kane died, and Nod must to reactivate it to get the possibility of world connection. They never thought CABAL is going to destroy anyone. It doesn't matter wether it's GDI or Nod forces, CABAL is under control now, and no matter to whose side you join, you'll be always fighting CABAL instead. Oh... I was hoping that I could play at CABAL's side, but he just wouldn't let me. He says I look too human to fight for him. Well, that insult was over line, so his line went down soon after.

From the original cast from Tiberian Sune, in Firestorm were only few left: Anton Slavik (the right hand of Kane, and trully a merciless follower, now a Nod General), Lieutenant Chandra (McNeil's right hand, and personal friend, now only with voice presence, and in Kodiak that is soon to be shot down by an Ion Storm), and EVA & CABAL (computers that will aid both side in this firestorm wall). It's easy to notice that some sounds were changed, like when you destroy a Nod (or CABAL's) cyborg, the sound of destruction is pretty much a different.

I was very pleasantly surprized that new music songs were so much better composed then the originals, of course, when Frank Klepacki stick to something, only flow-music is expected, the music that could lead you directly into the right scene of playing. They started with a perfect music on every level. Really great job they did. They do lack of some battle animations, but even you don't see any, they exist on this CD, and you can easily check them all with some .mix extractor and/ot .vqa player. It's amazing how Westwood can compress their animations so much, and yet leave stereo and high-quality image in it. Simply great.

This time, the new units will completely recharge the ballance between GDI and Nod side. GDI got Mobile EMP Cannon that can mess with vehicle electricity as soon as he's fully charged. Great blackout technique for vehicle attack. The Juggernauts, ohh, those are beast with three long-ranged and long-radius caliber guns that can hit anything on very long range. If we start counting a new Nod arsenal, we can find Mobile Stealth Generator, that can make any unit or building invisible to enemy's eye as long as it's deployed, Cyborg-Reaper, well, technically, that belongs to CABAL forces, but it can be produced once his factory is engineered. One of the best adds is Mobile War Fatory (GDI)/Fist of Nod (Nod), the vehicle and tank factory that can always be in move. Then, there are Limpet Drones, once attached to enemy vehicle, they decrease dramatically its speed, and you see whatever that vehicle sees. There are much more units to control, and some of the older ones got upgraded, like for instance, Jump Jet Infantry now even sees the cloaed units, and they move a helluva lot faster while on ground terrain.

But, this time Westwood make us all happier (or not) by adding many horrible Tiberium creatures, and newer terrain that you sometimes get the feeling the battles are in a jungle, not on the known terrain. As you previously new from TS that your/our soldiers morph into Visceroid when moving through Tiberium field too much, this time, that's not the issue, 'cuz there are Visceroid as much as your heart lust, even more. You'll also encounter Tiberium Fiends, and most of all, Veinholes. These are like some floating octopussy creatures that are hard to kill, but easy when killin'. The mutants now even posses good old green Mammoth tanks and even more dangerous weapon arsenal. This is a new world from the one you know, so step in it cautiouslly, and always be aware, as nothing is as it seems.

The greatest of all additions, and that goes for skirmish players or multiplayer generals, is the new map generator. You can control daylight, the presence of rapid Ion Storms, quantity of lifeforms. You now even see the blue tiberium on your newly generated map. Great, but why did they left beside in the original TS? Never mind, this is, as they claim to be, the best add-on in a history of C&C, and may I add, the best add-on in the history of add-ons. I must admit that even green color of a box cover, and the whole thing looks great. One of their best covers so far. Hail Westwood!

The Bad
The story is just simply great, and everything gives you the idea of the right atmosphere. Everything radiates with a presence of a new game, anot an add-on, and CABAL now takes the world responsibility. But watch out for CABAL's main guard. He can wipe out 50 tanks, and yet be alive. He'll crush your base after base if you don't plan ahead, and noone will be able to stop this steely beast. Grwat tunes, sound quality, FMV sequences, with a small lack of acting comparing to great Michael Biehn, Kane, Monika Schanrre, and other great actors from the original TS, but that's why this is the add-on. Anyway, I think this all gives you my opinion there's not much of a bad side in this game.

Only thing that REALLY REALLY SUCKS with this game is that you CANNOT PLAY FOR CABAL. Why the hell didn't they give us that option. I must admit that speaking of cast, CABAL is the best actor in the game, and with an attitude. That goes for a Kane's personal computer.

The Bottom Line
What's to say but LONG LIVE WESTWOOD!