Command & Conquer

The Good
What other strategy game is so Real, many games like Dune and Extreme Tactics are just plain Sci-Fi/ Strategy, even the so called "strategy" in Extreme Tactics is basically just bringing together a strong group and attacking (even a 6 year old could do it!), I have nothing against Extreme Tactics, in fact it's one of the best games I ever played, the graphics are quite good actually, at the beggining they look like any Real-time's graphics, then after playing the game many times, you'll notice the major improvements, the graphics are much more colourful and enhanced and they're just better.

The Bad
This game's only weak point is the sound (like in all strategy games), it's the usual beeps, and aaas.

The Bottom Line
Here's the bottom line: A good game that should be obtained by any action or strategy gamer. 4 and a quarter out of 5.

The Good
The first game of the Command & Conquer series delivers a truly engaging story through the cutscenes that take the form of a briefing by your commander transmitted to your battle terminal. With convincing acting, interesting characters and the way the missions relate to them they manage to create the feeling of actually taking part in the world of GDI, NOD and Tiberium. Origin's old slogan was "We create worlds." and really is what modern games are or at least should be about. Tiberian Dawn manages to be a world of it's own and to completely capture the player inside. A truly remarkable feat seldom achieved even by great games.

And what a world it is. The combination of present day war machines such as the US army battle tank M1A1 Abrams and futuristic weaponry like the ion cannon works well with the real-life units adding to the feel of this being "real" and futuristic elements ensuring that it doesn't merely seem like a war simulator.

The story involves the enigmatic religious group Brotherhood of NOD with perhaps the best fictional villain ever to be concieved, Kane (Joseph D. Kucan), as it's leader seeking control of Tiberium, a mysterious substance of extraterrestrial origin rich in minerals. As you march towards world domination under Kane's command or try to defend the world order from him you'll find yourself really wanting to achieve that goal and to see the future with Kane's eyes, or see him lying at your feet.

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn has a perfect soundtrack that doesn't seem to have even a single mediocre track and the style varying somewhat so everyone should be able to find something to like here. Frank Klepacki has created an unique sound for the Command & Conquer series and for Tiberian Dawn in particular. The first game of the series certainly doesn't pale in comparison to the later titles, it may even be the strongest on the audio side.

The gameplay is very enjoyable and already has pretty much everything that a modern RTS does. When Tiberian Dawn was new this wasn't a problem as it hadn't already been redone to death. Today the value of the gameplay may have decreased somewhat but it still is a game genuinely fun to play even with all the typical flaws of the genre.

The Bad
The AI is rather weak and the gameplay has all the flaws that even most present RTS games continue to. The story seems very promising but fails to deliver all that much on the background of the conflict. All in all, there's very little to complain about in Tiberian Dawn.

The Bottom Line
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn is in many ways the definitive title of the real-time strategy genre. While it wasn't the first successful appearance of this game type, it refined the concepts Westwood themselves had first introduced with Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty which holds the honor of being the the first RTS game.

Dune 2 may be the first game that can be considered to be an RTS but Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn is the game that created both the term itself and the whole genre of games. The real-time strategy titles of today still carry it's distinctive mark and one could say that the genre hasn't developed much during all this time.

That alone makes Tiberian Dawn a title worth noticing in the history of video games but even as a late entrance to the RTS genre it would shine out from the best.

The Good
I love the Warcraft/Starcraft games. This game is different in so many ways that make this game strategically different and a lot of fun. It took me a while to figure this game out because I was stuck in a Warcraft mentality. I had to think different to win. Tiberium, the only resource in the game, is, ironically, poisonous to infantry who are not in APCs, which is interesting. Gameplay is terrific. The music is another home run by Westwood Studios, a studio that seems to care about sound as much as the game itself. "I'm a mechanical man." I laugh when I think about that.

I like the nod buggies and bikes. They're fast. Not to mention the flame tanks. Why do the bad guys have all the coolest toys?

It's satisfying to plunder an enemy base with a few engineers, then sweep the remaining forces with a herd of tanks and such. Oh, yeah!

The cutscenes were fun. Westwood has a propensity for cutscenes. They're kind of a fun little reward at the end of each level. And the little lo-res units are so cute! The infantry guys do push-ups when you aren't using them. Brilliant!

The Bad
The old Tan vs. Red. Everything is either tan or red. GDI is tan. NOD is red. This is a minor gripe, a nit to be picked. Besides, it's important to know who the bad guys are. And there are times when the game lagged or seemed super-hard, but that's probably operator error and not a game flaw.

The Bottom Line
If you have an older Windows 9x computer, it's worth playing. It worked on XP but without sound. You need sound.