Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is a real-time strategy game developed by Electronic Arts Los Angeles for the Windows and Xbox 360 platforms, and is a sequel to the 1999 RTS title Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and its expansion pack Firestorm by Westwood Studios. Canonically it takes place at the advent of and during the "Third Tiberium War", after the Brotherhood of Nod launches an unexpected and worldwide offensive against the Global Defense Initiative, abruptly ending a period of seventeen years of silence and crippling GDI forces everywhere. With the odds tipped in Nod's favor this time, GDI field commanders rally their troops and begin to combat the Brotherhood's second re-emergence, trying to restore lost hope. The game also features the introduction of a new third faction (Scrin) to the Tiberian series of the Command & Conquer games, and is the second C&C title in which players are able to upgrade their forces.
A special release edition of 100,000 copies, called the Kane Edition, was also released.[6]
The story of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars begins in the year of 2047, roughly sixteen to seventeen years after the events of Firestorm. While the conflict between the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod appears to have subsided substantially ever since, Tiberium infestation has begun to reach critical levels and continues to destroy the Earth's ecosystems at an alarming rate, prompting GDI to divide the world into three different geographical zones based on the levels of local infestation.[7] 30% of the world's surface has been designated as "red zones", which have suffered the worst contamination and can no longer support human - or otherwise carbon-based - life. 50% of the regions in the world have been designated as "yellow zones", which are dangerously contaminated yet contain most of the world's population. Decades of war and civil unrest have left these regions in a state of social collapse and have continued to provide the Brotherhood of Nod with opportunity for concealment as well as large-scale recruitment over the years. The remaining 20% of the Earth's surface is unscarred by Tiberium outbreak and is relatively untouched by war. These "blue zones" are considered the last refuge and hope of the human civilized world and have been placed under the direct protection of the Global Defense Initiative.
In March 2047 the Brotherhood of Nod suddenly fires a nuclear missile at GDI's orbiting command station Philadelphia, destroying the fulcrum of GDI's senior command structure in a single major blow. Since the end of the Second Tiberium War, Nod has silently built up its influence and its military potential into the status of a true superpower, and by providing medical aid, enforcement of stability and hate-mongering against GDI and the "blue zone" populations from within the "yellow zone" territories, Nod is now supported by a significant percentage of the world's population. Unprepared to handle the offensives led by Black Hand shock troops across the entire globe, the remainder of the Global Defense Initiative's top military and political officials on Earth take charge and begin rallying all of their standing forces, determined to achieve a new victory over Nod.
As the conflict ensues however, forces of alien origins, the Scrin, will suddenly enter the battle and alter the nature of the Third Tiberium War entirely.
The storylines of the factions are interwoven in the same fashion as Firestorm. In one faction's campaign, references are made to events and missions that occur in the campaigns of the other factions. In the previous games the individual storylines often clash.
Factions overview
Global Defense Initiative
Early concept artwork of GDI Zone Troopers crossing a Tiberium field.
The Global Defense Initiative's internal structure and organization is quite similar to a supranational and large-scale integration of all of the world's major modern day conventional armies into a single globalized military force.[8] GDI is capable of instantly deploying vast quantities of well-trained and well-equipped soldiers backed by powerful ground, air and naval assets to any point on the globe, and this in ways that are considerably more organized, advanced, as well as on a much greater scale than any conventional real-life military force of today possibly could.[8] Global Defense Initiative troops utilize both superior armor and firepower, making them typically much more powerful than Nod forces in direct open confrontations, but also more cumbersome and less flexible, the exploitation of which the Brotherhood is notoriously adept at through its combinations of futuristic guerrilla warfare with uniquely advanced Tiberium-based technologies.[9] By the year of 2047 GDI's forces were restructured to allow for decentralized operations in multiple theatres of war, through the establishment of forward-operating bases in all types of terrain,[8] and the deployment of proven, specialized and cost-effective ground and air forces supported by the most advanced network of orbital artillery satellites in history. In game, their units are unit-for-unit more powerful than that of Nod and the Scrin. Their in-game super weapon is the quintessential Ion Cannon, an orbital weapon that has appeared in every Tiberium game to date; previously capable of destroying only a single building at a time, the Ion Cannon now devastates a large area.[10]
Brotherhood of Nod
The Brotherhood of Nod is a mysterious, enigmatic and highly militant Abrahamic society (although not Islamic) of an allegedly ancient origin,[11] which in modern times began to show the combined characteristics of a vast religious movement, a multinational corporation and a boundaryless nation-state, whilst being none of the three in itself.[11] The globalized brotherhood is led by a mysterious man who is known only as Kane,[12] and its influence in the world at the advent of the events in which Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars will take place eventually reached nothing short of the status of an unconventional superpower.[11] The Brotherhood of Nod represents a flexible, elusive and worldwide cultic army which thrives on the synergy between low-tech guerrilla warfare and highly-trained forces that are equipped with state-of-the-art communications gear and the most advanced weapon systems available, which all have been derived from the Brotherhood's uniquely adept understanding of Tiberium-based military technologies.[11] Nod tactics are highly radical and appear more cruel than GDI's, often showing little to no regard for human life, and their religious fascination with Tiberium also leads them to use the dangerous and toxic substance offensively whenever possible. Nod's forces are completely dedicated to Kane and the Brotherhood's cause, and are well known to fight and willingly die for either. In game they are weaker than the GDI in a head-on engagement, yet they are able to use more flexible, hit-and-run tactics. Their in-game superweapon is a Nuclear Missile.[12]
The third faction is an alien force known as the Scrin, who have come to Earth to harvest Tiberium. They have remained dormant along the edge of the Solar System until called by the massive detonation of liquid Tiberium beneath the Brotherhood of Nod's Temple Prime in Sarajevo. Upon arriving, they are surprised to encounter a planet with a strong, militarized native population, and proceed to launch a military assault on Earth. Their units and structures show a distinctly bio-mechanical and insect-like appearance. The Scrin possess several economic and military advantages relating to Tiberium, including the ability to mine the mineral faster, promote its growth, and use it as a weapon. Scrin forces also possess a powerful air force, capable of constructing fast "Stormrider" fighters, hovering "Devastator" warships and the versatile Planetary Assault Carriers, as well as the ability to create wormholes and teleport around the battlefield. The Scrin may also teleport a massive air unit known as the Mothership into battle, which features an extremely powerful energy weapon that can devastate structures directly beneath it. Their in-game superweapon is the Rift Generator, which creates a rift in space-time at the targeted area and ejects everything near it into deep space.[13]
EA confirmed with an early trailer, in which the iconic character of Kane was portrayed, that Joseph D. Kucan would return to reprise his role as the infamous leader of the Brotherhood of Nod for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. The game's cutscenes were directed by cinematic director Richard Taylor.[14]
A number of well known actors were cast in the FMV'S of Tiberium Wars:[15]
Josh Holloway (Lost) appears as a Nod Intelligence officer by the name of Ajay. He is an enigmatic character.
Electronic Arts Los Angeles has also stated that it will be employing the talents of several real-world news casters to deliver TV-style reports of the Tiberium Wars within the game's cutscenes:[16]
Command and Conquer 3 supports multiplayer over LAN and online over Gamespy servers. Players can participate in 1v1, 2v2, and clan 1v1 and 2v2 ladders, each using separate Elo rating systems, or they can choose to play unranked. In addition to the official ladders, a number of independent ladders have been set up, the most prominent of which is clanwars.cc.
Online multiplayer has been heavily criticized due to the fact that it is very hard to get working properly, if at all. Often one must leave many thousands of ports open simply for the game to work, and even then players still experience trouble.[17]
EA has also attempted to create RTS as a sport using something called "BattleCast". It allows people to schedule upcoming games with other players as well as allowing previous game replays to be saved to the computer. Battle Cast also gives people the option to become commentators, people who provide a running description of the game. Commentators can talk to other observers and use a "paint" style brush to draw onto the screen.
The BattleCast feature has not been able to reach its full potential due to a lack of community interest and misuse of both the commentary and "paint" system.[citation needed]
Further information
The return of Tiberium, traditional ways of resource harvesting, mobile construction vehicles, destroyable bridges, etc.
Interviews with game producer Amer Ajami revealed the existence of modifiable aggression levels for individual units, and of directional fire, introducing the notion of flanking as well as reverse movements to C&C 3's gameplay.
Command & Conquer 3 uses the pre-Generals right sidebar interface, as revealed in an interview on IGN.[18]
C&C 3's skirmish AI mode features numerous settings which each embody a type, or a combination of types, of classic RTS strategies such as turtle, rush and steamroller.[19]
Frank Klepacki was contacted to compose the soundtrack, but turned the offer down to focus on his job at Petroglyph[21]
A heavily modified version of the SAGE engine is used to run Command & Conquer 3's graphics. SAGE technology previously was used in the RTS series Generals and The Battle For Middle-Earth games, and it stands to reason that most of the engine's features (e.g. zooming in and out of specific areas on the map, 360 degree rotation of the map, etc.) are present in C&C 3.
The game has been released for the Xbox 360File:Cnc3-disc.JPGXBOX 360 disc and cover of Tiberium Wars,[22] with Louis Castle previously having stated; "And I know for a fact that they (the developers of Battle For Middle Earth II on 360) are doing this because these are the same guys, the same team, who's doing Command & Conquer 3 and they're definitely going to release it for the 360, you heard it here. And so what they are doing is they are really using Battle for Middle-earth II to sort of use it as a spring board to test, to see, how it is going to work for Command & Conquer 3, so they are trying to almost use this BFMEII as a beta; a very good beta.". Support for the Xbox Live Vision Camera is included.[23]
Electronic Arts Los Angeles is planning several fan summits for previews, feedback and discussions. One such fan summit has taken place.[24]
C&C 3 has been released in three separate editions;[25] the pre-order edition, the standard edition (box art featured above), and the limited Kane Edition which constitutes a special collector's edition with extras on the game disc and a bonus dvd with exhaustive content.
Tiberium Wars has a suggested retail price of US$49.99, while the C&C 3: Kane Edition is available at "select retailers" with a suggested retail price of US$59.99. Only 100,000 will be sold around the world.[25]
A novel based on the game, also called Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, written by Keith R.A. DeCandido will be released by Del Rey Books in June 2007.
Some of the maps contain wrecked vehicles, such as the Titan and the Mammoth Mk II, from previous games in the series.
The official map editor for Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars has been released. [26]
Background
Old Command & Conquer 3 concept art from Westwood Studios dating from 2002/2003 as said by Chris 'Delphi' Rubyor, currently from Petroglyph Games.
A sequel to Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun has been expected since Tiberian Sun’s release in 1999. A hypothetical sequel was called "Tiberian Twilight" throughout the Command & Conquer community due to EA copyrights. Work on a sequel is believed to have been started at Westwood Studios in 2001, but Electronic Arts decided to shift the focus of a sequel from a science fiction theme to a modern theme based on current world conflicts. The work on a sequel was used to make Command & Conquer: Generals and other current SAGE engine based games. Developers still retained the Command & Conquer 3 idea (tentatively named 'Incursion'), intending it to be an update of the original possibly in terms of gameplay and setting.[27] However, just before Generals was released, EA announced that Westwood Studios in Las Vegas would be closing and would be consolidated into EA Los Angeles. This split the Westwood team, with some members not willing to relocate and thus quitting and forming the company Petroglyph Games (known mostly from the Star Wars Empire at War game), and the rest moving to Los Angeles to work at the new consolidated studio, thus effectively stopping the development of Command & Conquer 3 for the time being.
In 2004, old concept art from Westwood was revealed, under the name "Command & Conquer 3". This artwork showed a mech unit, a fully 3-dimensional environment similar to that used in the game Generals, and the original interface system from both the original Command & Conquer and its sequel of Tiberian Sun. This revealed artwork fueled speculation that EA was working on a Command & Conquer game, which in turn set off rumors as to when the game would ship and what the plot would be; however, in December of 2004, after the EALA team settled down, then executive producer and Command & Conquer lead Mark Skaggs announced in a mass e-mail that the next Command & Conquer game would be Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and not a long-awaited sequel to Tiberian Sun. However, shortly there after Skaggs left EA for reasons unknown and ideas for Red Alert 3 were mothballed. Mike Verdu later became the new lead on Command & Conquer.
On April 18, 2006, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars was prematurely announced. On April 20, an official press release was made.
Reception
Reviews for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars have been positive, almost on par with the classic C&C games.
PC Gamer gave the game it's Editor's Choice rating at 91% saying "One of the greatest RTS franchises of all time returns to glory."
Gamespot gave the game a 9.0 out of 10, stating it's "one of the finest real-time strategy games in years."[28]
GamePro gave the game its Editor's Choice rating at 4.5 out of 5, and designated it as its Game of the Month in its June 2007 issue. [30]
Polish based CD-Action magazine has rated the game at 9/10.
The Swedish PC Gamer gave it 81%, while the UK Edition awarded it 82% and credited the game as "A welcome, but limited, return".
PCZONE gave it 86%.
Dutch magazine Power Unlimited gave it an 88/100.
UK based website Mansized scored the game a full 5/5 stars, stating that "Chances are you’ve not had this much fun in a long, long time".
UK magazine PCFormat gave the game an 81% rating and praised the "greased eel-slick presentation and explosive, ripping action" which makes Command and Conquer the "distillation of what RTS is all about", but criticized the lack of innovation.
Pelit and MikroBitti gave it 89/100 and 4/5, respectively. MikroBitti applauded the game's appearance and sounds, but criticized it for excessive loyalty to the early Command & Conquer game mechanics.
UK Magazine Edge gave the game a respectable rating of 7. Due to the intentional faithful recreation of the original Command and Conquer experience, the magazine felt that the game's strategic formula was too dated in comparison to more strategic titles available in the current RTS market, citing the reliance on 'Tank Rushes' as 'Fisher Price' tactics.
^{{cite web | url=http://www.frankklepacki.com/ | title=News at Frank Klepacki.com | accessdate=June 8 | accessyear=2007 | Publisher=Frank Klepacki | author=Frank Klepacki | date=2007-6-08
^"C&C 3 Announced For XBOX 360". Electronic Arts, Command and Conquer website. 2006-11-20. Retrieved December 22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
^"C&C 3 XBOX 360 Q&A". Electronic Arts, Command and Conquer website. 2006-11-24. Retrieved February 24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
^"C&C 3 Community Summit feature story". Electronic Arts, Command and Conquer website. 2007-01-19. Retrieved January 20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
^ ab"Kane Edition Announced". Electronic Arts, Command and Conquer website. 2006-12-22. Retrieved December 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
^"C&C3 Worldbuilder Download". Electronic Arts, Command and Conquer website. 2007-04-20. Retrieved April 20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
^"Ask Petroglyph!". Petroglyph Games. Retrieved 2 January. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
11 May 2007[3]
