Command & Conquer: Renegade

The Good
The game is a must have for C&C fans. For the first time, you’ll be able to take part in all those epic battles you directed before as the chief commander of the GDI. In addition, the game boasts very good graphics and sound.

The Bad
Lots of hardware problems, miserable tech support, awful multiplayer and a very short single player. The A.I. leaves lots to be desired as well.

The Bottom Line
C&C: Renegade was a valiant effort, which fell short of expectations. It brings nothing new to the world of First Person Shooters except of a familiar setting, translated from a real-time strategy. In fact, the game has been translated so well, that it follows the trend that has been evident from the first game in the series: each subsequent game has a shorter gameplay and less replay value. Command & Conquer: Renegade will last you only 8-10 hours in the single player mode.

Let’s not spoil it to you and start with the good things first:
Graphics: People in this game have been motion-captured. That means that they move like real people, and not like puppets. It always amazed me how realistically the people moved, depending where you hit them. The settings are very well crafted as well; whether it is a snow-covered alpine backcountry or a French village.
Sounds: The music is superb, and helps to keep you in a state of expectation. Some people are not too happy about the sounds, but I found them refreshing; ripped straight from the original C&C game.

On the other hand, there’s lots to be desired in this game:
Setting: The game reeks of male chauvinism. Not even Duke Nukem (who was chauvinistic in a funny way) managed to aggravate me as much as this game. I’m a male, but I still got upset by how much this game presented women as sources of pleasure for the main character, who was well aware of this. I got to hate my character so much that often suicide seemed like a good option. Unfortunately, I didn’t figure out how to finish the game with my character dead.
Technical issues: Where do I start? Maybe with the fact that the game supports only a very limited roster of 3D cards. Voodoo owners are hit particularly hard, with only the newest cards working (and that only after installing an unauthorized patch). Or I may mention the fact that the combination of the main, 900MB file and SafeDisc 2.x protection of the CDs creates a situation in which very often the game crashed during install if the CD has the slightest flaw. I would also point out the fact that virtually hundreds of people reported 10-15FPS refresh rate, way below the optimal 60FPS. In fact, there were so many reports of technical problems that Electronic Arts shut down the official tech support forum for this game and is heavily censoring any posts mentioning technical issues on other official boards.
Single player: The game is easily beatable in 8 hours on easy and medium mode, and in 10-12 hours in the hard mode. While there are a few spots where you may get stuck, your time to finish will not be much longer than that. The only difference between the first two modes and the last one will be that in the hard difficulty level you’ll spend much more time as a sniper.
Multiplayer: Electronic Arts decided to do a competition here. They created a ladder system, where each player gets points for everything he or she does while playing multiplayer. The best player would then get a video card. This has caused enormous amounts of cheating. Due to the fact that games are hosted by players, more often than not the server owner will end up with the most points, kicking people who don’t play by his rules. In addition, the multiplayer tends to be a little too intense and a little too short, with most games being finished in 20-30 minutes.
A.I.: The A.I. is a sore spot in this game. Enemies are so heavily scripted that replaying the game is like replaying Super Mario Land – you’ll know when to jump and when to run. In addition, in a few missions, you will have to keep your teammates alive. Unfortunately, they have an uncanny ability to get themselves killed very fast, so you’ll spend lots of time reloading missions.

Overall, I am sorry I spent $30 on this game. I may have given it a try when it appeared as a budget game for half that price or as a part of a compilation, but as it stands now, this game is not worth it. You’ll do much better spending the money on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault or saving it for Unreal 2.