Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Review

By Alec Meer Published 26 March, 2007

What, so the first two were just arguments?

Version tested: PC

Watching Sin City last year, I spent the first twenty minutes or so picking it apart in my head, worrying about how hollow it all felt, how nothingy a piece of film-making it was. And then a man torpedoed himself feet-first through the windshield of a moving car, and I had a moment of total clarity. I'm not supposed to take this remotely seriously, and I really, really shouldn't be thinking about it. This is purely hedonism. So, I just decided to go with it, and from thereon in a certain part of my mind was perfectly happy. The same happened with C&C3; the first few levels didn't make me feel anything. It was just there, the campy cut-scenes came and went, I was told exactly what to kill and where, and I kept feeling somewhat unsatisfied. I have done all this so very many times before, and a reasonably pretty 3D engine does nothing to change that.

Then, the inevitable lone assassin level. You know the drill - comb carefully around an enemy-filled map, and if she dies it's game over instantly. How terribly depressing. Except this lone assassin can kill forty men in less time than it takes me to blink. She's a one-woman genocide machine and, actually, it's hilarious. No longer creeping but now an unstoppable force laying waste to everything in sight, that was when I understood C&C3. It's not playing for laughs, as such, but it is playing for pure entertainment. The cheap-looking cut-scenes, featuring constant soap opera backstabbing and Sawyer from Lost mentioning male genitalia once too often, the total obviousness of how to win, the fact that a bunch of tiny men can somehow kill a towering alien tripod - don't worry about it. After the seriousness and amorality of Generals, C&C has identified what really makes it it. It's got the joke that its forerunners didn't even realise they were telling.

As such, it's very much the antidote to Supreme Commander. While that requires constant management, an iron will and the sort of brain that Oscar-winning films get made about, C&C 3 is really, really stupid. Well, in single-player at least - we've not been able to test the multiplayer yet, but we will bring you a full update on that very soon. (Goodness, didn't that sound all BBC News?) In the campaign though, you can afford to take your eye off the ball for long stretches, idly watching your latest rush of Scorpion Tanks rush do their thing, wondering if they'll manage to take out that sonic cannon before they're all destroyed, and not being hugely bothered if they don't. It's not that it's easy, but rather that you can take it easy. As long as every assault or defence contains something to deal with infantry, something to deal with vehicles and something to deal with planes, ideally in massed numbers, you're pretty much good to go.

'Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars' Screenshot 1

Sadly the Nod have already taken the Whitehouse, so the Scrin don't get to go ID4 on it. Still, explodey.

That said, the odd level late in the campaigns can be a frustrating endurance test, relentlessly pushing enemies with suspiciously fast build speeds at you in staggered pincer movements until you finally manage to scrape together enough base defences to stage your own invasion. It's more awkward rather than truly taxing, though, a matter of time rather than skill you may or may not possess. Everything in the campaign is very carefully orchestrated, and sometimes the strings are a bit too obvious.

That aside, more so than ever before, this C&C is about entertaining rather than challenging. While on the surface very little has changed since its rather more tedious predecessor, Tiberium Sun, there's a subtle change to the mix. It's not really even trying to be a serious RTS - it just wants to live up to its name. You command, usually by drawing a big rectangle around everything on screen, and then you conquer, usually by then right-clicking on an enemy power station so their defences run out of juice and you can then kill everything else. Things explode prettily, the game announces that a few of your units have been promoted, and you feel like you've done something clever, even though you really haven't. Playing the Nod campaign on normal, I didn't run into anything seriously resembling trouble until the twilight levels. Even then it just took the one reload, now knowing I needed to place a few more Obelisks of light around my forward base while my messy handful of top-tier units waged war on the other side of the map. It's a fine balance between letting the player enjoy themselves and their feeling totally disengaged, but this just about hits it.

'Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars' Screenshot 2

Best weapon in the game? The right-mouse click. Like, totally.

There is a strong chance it's a very different affair in multiplayer, where there aren't scripted assaults to look for ways around. Hopefully there the scattering of special abilities will come into play too. In single-player, there's a bunch of exciting-sounding upgrades and unit-pairing ultra-attacks, but after initially playing around with them, I just didn't bother any more, except as occasional extra spice to a battle I'd pretty much already won. They didn't seem to change the balance of war noticeably.

Neither do the much-vaunted new race, the alien Scrin, but that's actually to their favour. When you first encounter them, they seem like an infinite swarm of incomprehensible death, overwhelmingly different from the long-standing GDI and Nod factions. Next time you meet though, you get a brief chance to peek at their base, and it all starts making sense. Yep, that's a power generator, that's a barracks - they might have gossamer floaty bits and unearthly blue lights, but they're playing exactly to established C&C rules. Controlling them in skirmish mode felt awesome - I knew exactly what to do, but the knowing winks to War of the Worlds, Independence Day and just a touch of Starcraft's Zerg made the familiar so much more fun. The Scrin mothership might, essentially, have just the same effect as the Nod nuke or GDI Ion cannon, but the fact it's a gigantic ring of Death Starry destruction that makes ear-bleeding alien throbbing noises when you select it makes those Earthly armaments seem so conventional. The introduction of a third faction to an established roster could have failed horrifically, but the Scrin's implementation is really tight. They're the same, but different - contributing to what the makes C&C3 work, but also sealing its fate as a game that does things by the numbers.

'Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars' Screenshot 3

Apparently, Sawyer from Lost loves the word 'castrate'. Most of the actors seem on the verge of cracking up as they spew out their glorious drivel.

While it's never going to leave a footprint on the history of RTS like its early ancestors did, I'm really hesitant to call C&C3's simplicity and dumbness a bad thing. It's simple and dumb because it wants to be, and has clearly worked very hard to be pretty watertight about it. While there's a certain obnoxiousness in its total refusal to innovate, in a lot of ways it's exactly the right real-time strategy game at exactly the right time. After years in the wilderness, RTS is pretty cool again right now, and something as cheerfully straightforward as this is just what's needed to stop the big braininess of Company of Heroes and Supreme Commander leading to another plunge into an inaccessibility that turns more casual players off the whole genre. On its own, it wouldn't work, but as an alternative, even a companion piece, to those it's a gentle success. This is the ying to their yang, the Question of Sport to their Have I Got News For You - it's pure trash, and it suits Command & Conquer through-and-through. Really, it has no right to try and be anything else, and it's because it knows this that it works so well.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Alec.

About Alec Meer

A 10-year veteran of scribbling about video games, Alec primarily writes for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, but given any opportunity he will escape his keyboard and mouse ghetto to write about any and all formats.

Read more articles from Alec by visiting the Alec Meer archive page.

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Comments (59) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_dudefather #1 5 years ago

    cool, might give this a look, haven't played a C+C game properly since red alert

  • Huntcjna #2 5 years ago

    Its a buy then, thats good. :)

  • Mr-Brett #3 5 years ago

    nice review but i'll stick to Company of Heroes and Supreme Commander.

  • Moz #4 5 years ago

    Going to wait for the 360 version of this, the simplicity should make it playable with a pad, and remember have lots of fun with the Saturn version of the original.

  • urban #5 5 years ago

    give it back to westwood, split from EA run away!

  • lambtron #6 5 years ago

    Does NOD still have the Cyborg who says things like:

    "I can smell their fear!"

    In a kind of Centurion from original BSG. Man I loved that!

  • Macross #7 5 years ago

    hnggyaah il buy this, simply because none of my friends will play supreme commander with me and it chugs too much on my pc to risk playing it with strangers :)

  • Turrican #8 5 years ago

    Based on the review I'm not sure it deserves an 8 - maybe a 7. But I can that you've justified it at the end. Definitely not one I'll be buying, C&C has been living off its original incarnation for over a decade, and doesn't deserve my cash any more.

  • BremXJones #9 5 years ago

    "As such, it's very much the antidote to Supreme Commander. While that requires constant management, an iron will and the sort of brain that Oscar-winning films get made about, C&C 3 is really, really stupid."

    This is the key of it. I've been really enjoying C&C3. It's phenonemally stupid. It's kind of approaching being the Serious Sam of RTS.

    KG

  • UncleLou #10 5 years ago

    Very interesting review, although I am not sure I'd agree when I actually play it. If it doesn't click with me, I am left with a sub-standard RTS game. Can't say they review won't have warned me, though.

  • Introspectre #11 5 years ago

    Will my PC run this?

  • chavatar #12 5 years ago

    Good review, thank you - thought it told me what I needed to know :)

    Minor gripe - I have to go elsewhere for hardware requirements info

  • Laserbream #13 5 years ago

    Finally, a game for those of us who are tired of Dawn of War and scared of Supcomm (don't hurt me please Supcomm).
    Edited by 1 at 26/03/07 @ 14:46

  • Artemus #14 5 years ago

    Supreme Commander was just too overwhelming for me. This sounds perfect.

  • Garibaldi #15 5 years ago

    From the demo it felt like a Dad at the school disco trying to be 'down' with da kids, just embarassing compared to games in the genre genuinely trying new things like Company of Heroes.

    Sure the theme and FMV sections are entertaining, but not *that* entertaining.

  • Fyzzu #16 5 years ago

    Demo ran fine on my computer, which is nice, as Company of Heroes has been chugging a lot lately (and I'm not even going to attempt SupCom on this machine). I imagine that if you can run the Battle for Middle Earth games, you'll be fine with this.

    As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the demo, and I'll be picking this up on Friday. It's been awhile since I've actually played a "fast" RTS - much as I love Company of Heroes, Warcraft 3 (still), and many others, it's still nice to have a game where I can have a fully-built base in three minutes and a gigantic army two minutes after that. Hell, I haven't really played a game like this since Red Alert 2, Generals notwithstanding (as I really didn't like that). Here's hoping I like it as much as I did the demo.

  • stonedben #17 5 years ago

    <em>You command, usually by drawing a big rectangle around everything on screen, and then you conquer, usually by then right-clicking on an enemy power station so their defences run out of juice and you can then kill everything else.</em>

    Congratulations, sir. You have just described every C&C game ever made in a single, perfect sentence. I salute you!

    :-D

  • Xerx3s #18 5 years ago

    Congratulations, sir. You have just described every C&C game ever made in a single, perfect sentence. I salute you!

    C&C: Sole survivor doesn't work like that.

  • PortJourno #19 5 years ago

    Do the Scrin get their own campaign, or are we talking just about GDI and Nod?

  • AtomicBanana #20 5 years ago

    That's because C&C: Sole survivor *doesn't* work.

  • f00b_inc #21 5 years ago

    @GrantM - That's essentially correct, lol :)

  • Razzajazz #22 5 years ago

    @ GrantM

    Why would you want to see Tricia Helfer do anything else apart from take her clothes off?

  • floppylobster #23 5 years ago

    Best C&C RTS games based on single player missions (personal prefrence only)

    1. Command and Conquer
    2. Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge
    3. Generals: Zero Hour
    4. C&C: Covert Ops
    5. Red Alert 2
    6. Red Alert
    7. Red Alert: Counterstrike
    8. Red Alert: The Aftermath
    9. Generals
    10. Tiberian Sun: Firestorm
    11. Tiberian Sun

    I will be amazed to find anyone who would agree with me.

  • miiiguel #24 5 years ago

    When is it coming to the beautifull machine (aka 360) ?

  • Spiral #25 5 years ago

    Well there is that Playboy shoot from a while ago...shows way more than what they do on the TV show...you know I bet if Sci Fi Channel was not a basic cable network in the US and was a premium cable channel (like HBO is), they get her naked within the first 10 seconds of an episode
    Preferably every episode.

  • zozart #26 5 years ago

    Friday cannot come soon enough. :'(

  • NthSimulachum #27 5 years ago

    Red alert 2 for the win in campiness stakes. Gotta love General Carville and Alexei Romanov.

  • Fyzzu #28 5 years ago

    Yuri is the Dick Dastardly of the C&C universe. I mean, Kane at least got stuff right on occasion (and is awesome and sinister and all the rest of it), but Yuri's Revenge is just Yuri trying a new evil/stupid/bizarre plot in every episode - uh, mission - and having it blow up in his face. Usually due to tanks, admittedly, but still.

    floppylobster: I'd pretty much agree with that, actually, although I didn't play Zero Hour because I hated Generals so much. Can't remember most of the expansion pack missions either, barring Covert Ops, but TibSun belongs at the bottom of that list regardless.

    PortJourno: A few months ago I heard that the Scrin got their own campaign, after finishing both the GDI and NOD campaigns, but I've yet to hear anyone confirm this.

  • -TKF- #29 5 years ago

    I will wait for the European Retail review...

    Could be a bad game.. who knows

  • fawe3 #30 5 years ago

    WTF C&C IS BACK and this is the review??? Half a page? Is ink getting expensive lately?

  • Ryuken #31 5 years ago

    Too bad they used the Generals-engine for this, it looks pretty of course but it also feels old and sometimes absolutely not C&C-like (activating unit abilities yourself, pls, what a mess).

  • Wyrm #32 5 years ago

    Single player is only for teaching you how to use the units. The real meat of the game is multiplayer.

  • TexMurphy01 #33 5 years ago

    "its rather more tedious predecessor, Tiberium Sun"

    Sorry... Tiberium Sun? I don't recall that game. This is the guy they get to review this title?

  • Derblington #34 5 years ago

    I don't get it - it's good because it's bad?

  • Lea #35 5 years ago

    The scrin got their own campaign, though its pretty short (4 missions all together). And yes, you have to play through GDI and NOD.

  • Waldo #36 5 years ago

    WTF C&C IS BACK and this is the review??? Half a page? Is ink getting expensive lately?

    Two-pagers are reserved for the latest Live! arcade games.

  • thefilthandthefury #37 5 years ago

    Sounds excellent. Can't wait to try it.

  • BrokenSymmetry #38 5 years ago

    "WTF C&C IS BACK and this is the review??? Half a page? Is ink getting expensive lately?"

    Agreed. This review seems a little bit shallow for one of gaming's biggest franchises. Maybe we'll get a separate multi-player review?

  • Gurrah #39 5 years ago

    It's C&C... it's from EA... EA is evil nowadays... I'll stick with Supreme Commander thank you very much.

  • Pulsar_t #40 5 years ago

    This review was of ample length and straight to the point. There's not much to say about the franchise that hasn't been said a thousand times already.

    CAN ANYONE PLEASE CONFIRM IF KANE MAKES AN APPEARANCE?

    Sorry for caps etc :)
    Edited by 1 at 27/03/07 @ 09:51

  • Katsumoto #41 5 years ago

    he makes many an appearance! Also, despite asking everyone I knew at school, then everyone I knew at university, I am still the only person I know who actually liked Tiberian Sun. Anyone else?

  • Benjaminos #42 5 years ago

    He does indeed, even played by the same guy from the original C&C.

    The FMVs are pretty star-studded, to be honest - Dr. Cameron from House M.D., Sawyer from Lost, and the one-armed Lieutenant from Starship Troopers have all made an appearance so far (in glorious hi-def, no less).

  • legendmir #43 5 years ago

    i liked tiberium sun!!! although it seems strange that no one mentions that the new one and tiberium sun are both set in the same kind of doomy future sci fi scenario whereas generals was more modern day stylee, any one think they were always going to dislike generals because theyre sci fi geeks?

  • Benjaminos #44 5 years ago

    Nggh. Tiberian. TIBERIAN Sun.

  • Megalodon #45 5 years ago

    Nitpick much?

    "Sorry... Tiberium Sun? I don't recall that game. This is the guy they get to review this title?"

    Oh no, he typed crapp instead of crap for the same CRAP. Thats obviously makes him not qualified to write this review.

    Tiberium, Tiberian, same nonsense.

    P.S: Edited for severe typos while quickly typing. This obviously says alot about my intelligence.
    Edited by 1 at 27/03/07 @ 15:01

  • testpattern #46 5 years ago

    ^
    hahaha

  • fawe3 #47 5 years ago

    Megalodon should become a reviewer here. :)

  • The12thMonkey #48 5 years ago

    I enjoyed Tiberian Sun. I really liked Firestorm.

    Sure, it didn't live up to the hype of it's development, but I'd play that over RA2 most days of the week. I didn't like the "high-balancing" of units in Red Alert 2, such as a group of 3 minigunners ripping through a medium tank. The game was fun, sure, but it always grated. I guess I always perferred the C&C stories, camp though they are/were) to the Red Alert stories. Might have something to do with the fact that C&C came along when I was getting my first computer (had consoles for some years before hand), and from then on, the RTS and C&C in particular, has always had a special place in my memories; the Greece mission in the original C&C, anyone? Or some of those dastardly Covert Ops missions? The dinosaur side missions? They don't make 'em like they used to.

    Still, C&C3 is released on my birthday, so I reckon I know what I'll be getting.

  • waffle #49 5 years ago

    ships in red-alert were the daddy

  • Carrybagma #50 5 years ago

    Hard to believe a game that sounds like it's pretty much the same as most of those before it, with better graphics (I assume) and an extra race, deserves an 8. What happened to to the EG policy of rewarding innovation?

    Even the tactics described sound achingly familiar. I'd even go as far to say that rock probably beats scissors (again) and paper probably beats rock (again). With bells on.

    Can't wait for Tetris HD - that will be brilliant.

  • ice_freezer #51 5 years ago

    > Hard to believe a game that sounds like it's pretty much the same as most of those before it, with better graphics (I assume) and an extra race, deserves an 8.

    Why, does a new C&C game need to be totally different from the other in the series? People love it for delivering the good old entertaining C&C thing. There are tons of games within some series which are like carbon copies with only slight tweaks, like Final Fantasy and many many more, and they still get high scores. Personally I'm glad the game is what it is.

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  • Pulsar_t #53 5 years ago

    ^ Spammer alert!

  • MightyPenguin #54 5 years ago

    I miss the walking tanks. And tech trees you have to climb.

  • nakke #55 5 years ago

    Runs on Ultra High (low AA, though) very well with my not-that-awesome-but-hey computer: Athlon 64 3800+, 7900GT, 2GB of DDR. :o

    Oh, and the game itself is just what I wanted :) Not that big fan of strategy games in general, so I love one where there's no micromanagement or other silly stuff like that. ;)

  • Luckz #56 5 years ago

    You can't review this without mentioning the horrible harvester AI.

  • Katsumoto #57 5 years ago

    horrible harvester AI is half the point of a C&C game!

  • testpattern #58 4 years ago

    "You command, usually by drawing a big rectangle around everything on screen, and then you conquer, usually by then right-clicking on an enemy power station so their defences run out of juice and you can then kill everything else."

    bahahahahaha! summed it up in one sentence. and yet, i'm having fun playing it.
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/07 @ 15:19

  • rudedudejude #59 4 years ago

    hehe, this game really is poor. It had 1000x less strategy that even Generals. Bit of a letdown really, if they don't pull something god out Dawn of War 2 is gonna shat all over the C&C franchise from a great height.

    Going from Dawn of War and Company of Heroes to this is like playing half life 2 and then having a go on pong. It really sucks, it is just the dumbest point and click game.