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Command & Conquer
Cnctd-win-coverCover art of Command & Conquer Gold
Developer(s) Westwood Studios

Looking Glass Studios(N64)

Publisher(s) Virgin Interactive

Sega (Saturn) Nintendo(N64)

Electronic Arts (since 1998; also freeware release)

Composer(s) Frank Klepacki
Series Command & Conquer
Version MS-DOS: 1.22 (English), 1.20 (French and German)Windows: 1.04a (English), 1.02a (French), 1.03a (German)(1.06c rev. 3 - unofficial)Macintosh: 1.72
Platform(s) PC (MS-DOS, Windows),Mac OS, Sega Saturn,PlayStation, Nintendo 64,PlayStation Network[1]
Release date(s) August, 1995[show]
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)
Media/distribution 2x CD-ROM (original)ROM Cartridge (N64)Free Download (freeware)
System requirements

DOS:


Windows:


Command and Conquer[]

Command & Conquer, abbreviated C&C and later known as Tiberian Dawn,[2][3][4] is a 1995 real-time strategy computer game developed by Westwood Studios for MS-DOS and published by Virgin Interactive. The game was the first in the Command & Conquer series, which later included a prequel and five sequels. On August 31, 2007, Electronic Arts, the current publisher and owner of the series, made the Windows95 Gold version of Command & Conquer freely available for download from their official website, to mark the 12th anniversary of the franchise.

Set in an alternate 1995, Command & Conquer tells the story of two globalized factions: the Global Defense Initiative of the United Nations and the ancient cult-like quasi-state organization, theBrotherhood of Nod. The factions become locked in a mortal struggle for control over a mysterious resource known as Tiberium that is slowly spreading and infecting the world.

Met with acclaim by consumers and critics, Command & Conquer was released for seven separate platforms along with becoming the initiator of the popular Command & Conquer franchise, and today generally is considered as the title which defined and popularized the modern real-time strategy genre, and one of its quintessential titles.[5][6][7][8]

Plot[]

[edit]Story[]

Command & Conquer is set in the latter half of the 1990s after a meteorite crash lands near the river Tiber in Italy.[12] The impact introduces an alien substance to the world dubbed Tiberium, which becomes of unprecedented value due to its unique property of leeching precious metals from the surrounding soil and crystallizing them.[13] However, the process also causes emission of extremely toxic gases.[14]

An ancient and quasi-religious secret society, known as the Brotherhood of Nod, proves to somehow have foreseen the potentials of this new substance, and reveals itself to have been investing in the development of technology to harvest the Tiberium crystals ahead of the established scientific communities.[15] They soon control almost half of the known supply of what has become the most valuable commodity on the global trade markets,[16] and use these assets to sustain a rapidly growing army of followers worldwide under the leadership of a charismatic and self-proclaimed messianic figure, who is known only as Kane.[17]

Following a series of relentless international bombings which culminate in the destruction of the fictional Grain Trade Center in Vienna, a wave of mass panic and fear begins to sweep the globe.[18] These acts are ultimately attributed to Brotherhood of Nod terrorists and their leader, Kane.[18] The United Nations Security Council realizes Nod has systematically begun with the unfolding of a centuries-old plan for world domination, and sanctions the G7-based Global Defense Initiative task force to intervene on its behalf,[19] inadvertently setting a conflict in motion that will escalate into a modern world war.[20]

The main overbearing plot during the game itself revolves around Nod's media manipulation trying to discredit GDI, to persuade the U.N. into cutting GDI's funding.

[edit]Sub-plots[]

Command & Conquer features two sub-plots based on the two playable factions of the game, to make one overarching plot. Commanding the Global Defense Initiative's troops, the player becomes instrumental in eliminating Nod's European forces. Under the command of General Mark Jamison Sheppard, the player completes a range of missions ranging from securing a beach to rescuing civilians and scientists to defending GDI bases from Nod assaults. The player will be taken to battlefields in various countries of Europe such as Germany, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, and more. A major plot element in the campaign is an international scandal caused by a Nod media manipulation that makes the world believe GDI deliberately attacked and destroyed a civilian village, killing children in the process. This leads to a cut in GDI funding, forcing the player to play several missions with limited forces. Finally, the player besieges the Temple of Nod in Sarajevo, Bosnia, which Kaneuses as his main base of operations.[21]

As a new recruit to the Brotherhood of Nod, the player initially performs tasks for the Brotherhood's second-in-command, a man known as Seth.[22] After Seth attempts to deploy the player in an operation against the United States' military withoutKane's approval, Kane kills him and thereafter issues commands to the player directly.[23] The player is entrusted with the mission of driving GDI forces out of Africa through the use of both conventional and unconventional warfare. In order to give Nod a decisive advantage in the conflict, the player is ultimately assigned to gain control of GDI's space-based ion cannon, and establish Nod's Temple on South African soil.[24] The campaign ends with the entire African continent coming directly under Nod influence and the Brotherhood being ready to commit themselves to achieving the same with Europe. The conclusion of the campaign allows the player to choose a historical landmark to destroy with GDI's successfully hijacked ion cannon to shatter GDI's public image.[25] Potential targets include the White House, the British Houses of Parliament, the Eiffel Tower and the Brandenburg Gate.

Expansion packs[]

The Covert Operations
An expansion pack titled The Covert Operations was released by Westwood Studios in 1996. It includes fifteen new single-player missions, ten new multiplayer maps and seven new high quality CD audio tracks (as well as lower quality in-game versions).[4] Unlike the original games, the expansions missions can be played at any time and in any order and are not accompanied by briefing cutscenes. The expansion packs files contain unused music tracks that are present in the DOSversion of Command & Conquer, but not in the Windows 95 (Gold) version.
Special Operations
The Nintendo 64 and PlayStation versions each have a set of additional extra missions called 'Special Operations' unique to their release. They have since been extracted by fans for use on the PC version.
Sole Survivor
Sole Survivor was a multiplayer spin-off of Command & Conquer. It featured a deathmatch-style game in which each player controls a unit of the original C&C game and travels around the game arena collecting crates to increase the unit's firepower, armor, speed, attack range and reloading speed. Sole Survivor was often compared to a first-person shooter, however played with a bird's eye view of the arena. It featured no single-player mode and the multiplayer had no hints of a storyline, and the game was omitted from inclusion in the Command & Conquer: The First Decade compilation pack released in 2006.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Cncra-win-cover

Cover art (Windows 95 version)

Developer(s) Westwood Studios
Publisher(s) Virgin Interactive

Sony Computer Entertainment (PSN)

Composer(s) Frank Klepacki
Series Command & Conquer
Version 3.03 (Win)2.00 (DOS)
Platform(s) MS-DOS, Windows,PlayStation,PlayStation Network[1]
Release date(s) PC
  • NA October 31, 1996
  • EU 1996

PlayStation

  • NA October 31, 1997
  • EU November, 1997

PlayStation Network

  • PAL March 27, 2008
  • NA November 12, 2009
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)
Media/distribution 2x CD-ROM, download
System requirements
  • Windows 95/98
  • 75 MHz Pentium Processor (120 MHz recommended)
  • 8 MB RAM (32 MB recommended)
  • 4x CD-ROM
  • 1 MB video card

Command and Conquer: Red Alert[]

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy computer game of the Command & Conquer franchise, produced by Westwood Studios and released by Virgin Interactive in 1996. The second game to bear the "C&C" title, Red Alert is the prequel to the original Command & Conquer of 1995,[2][3][4][5] and takes place in the alternate early history of Command & Conquer when Allied Forcesbattle an aggressive Soviet Union for control over the European mainland.

It was initially available for PC (MS-DOS & Windows 95 versions included in one package), and was subsequently ported to PlayStation. The PlayStation version was also re-released as a download on the PlayStation Network for PSP and PS3.[1] On August 31, 2008, Electronic Arts who acquired Westwood Studios in 2003 officially rendered Command & Conquer: Red Alert freeware.[6][7]

Setting and story[]

Command & Conquer: Red Alert takes place during an unspecified period in the 1950s of a parallel universe, which was inadvertently created by Albert Einstein as a result of preventing the horrors of World War II.

Starting off in 1946, at the Trinity site in New Mexico, the opening to Red Alert shows Albert Einstein as he is preparing to travel backwards through space and time. After his experimental "Chronosphere" device is activated, he finds himself inLandsberg, Germany, in the year 1924, where he meets a young Adolf Hitler just after the latter's release from Landsberg Prison. Following a brief conversation between the two, Einstein shakes Hitler's hand, and this somehow eliminates Hitler's existence from time - or at least, stops him from becoming the genocidal dictator known to our history - and Einstein is returned to his point of origin.

With the threat of Nazi Germany having been successfully removed from history, the Soviet Union began to grow increasingly powerful under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Had Adolf Hitler risen to power, Nazi Germany would have emerged as a force standing in the way of Stalin's own ambitions of conquest. Instead, left unweakened, the USSR proceeds by seizing lands from China and then begins invading Eastern Europe, in order to achieve Joseph Stalin's vision of a Soviet Union stretching across the entire Eurasian landmass. In response, the nations of Europe form into the Alliance, and start a grim and desperate guerrilla war against the invading Soviet army. Over the course of the game's story, the Allies and Soviets fight out a devastating conflict for control over the European mainland, in what has become an alternate World War II.

[edit]Allied ending[]

Following the destruction of the Soviet stronghold, an Allied platoon discovers Stalin buried alive in the rubble. Before they begin to remove the debris from the fallen leader, General Stavros stops them. He convinces them that they saw nothing and orders them to leave the premises. Stavros then stuffs a handkerchief down Stalin's mouth before covering his head with a large stone and walking away. This outcome forces Kane - who was using the Soviet Union to get to power - and his Brotherhood underground, leading to the events of the first Command & Conquer. Alternatively, this ending paves the way to the sequel Red Alert 2.

[edit]Soviet ending[]

As the Soviets celebrate their victory in the newly-captured Buckingham Palace, Stalin commends the Commander for a job well done but then cynically says "I will see to it personally that you are very well taken care of." (implying he will have him/her disposed of), while drinking a cup of tea, only to suddenly realize the tea has been poisoned by Nadia. A disgruntled Nadia proceeds to gun him down as the poison overcomes his body. Following Stalin's death, Nadia tells the Commander that the Soviet Union is now under the rule of the Brotherhood of Nod, who plan to return to the shadows again and re-emerge in the 1990s, leaving the player as the puppet ruler of the USSR, ready to do the Brotherhood's bidding for "the foreseeable future". She is betrayed and shot in the back by Kane, who reveals himself to be the true mastermind. In Command & Conquer First Decade, the soviet briefing videos were removed, supporting the EA approach to consider each game (Red Alert, Tiberian and Generals) as a separated universe.

[edit]Characters[]

Allies
  • Grand Marshal Günther von Esling, German Army officer, Commander-in-Chief of European forces, and apparent leader of the military governing Europe. Played by Arthur Roberts.
  • General Nikos Stavros, Greek officer, Second-in-Command to General von Esling. Played by Barry Kramer.
  • Tanya Adams, a special ops. Commando. Played by Tanya Brassie.
  • Professor Albert Einstein, German-American physicist. Played by John Milford.
  • General Ben Carville, USA officer. The player's commanding officer in Red Alert: Retaliation. Played by Barry Corbin.
Soviet
  • Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Soviet Union. Played by Eugene Dynarski.
  • Nadia, Chief of the NKVD. Played by Andrea C. Robinson.
  • General Gradenko, Russian commander. Played by Alan Terry.
  • Marshal Georgi Kukov, commander of the Red Army. Played by Craig Cavanah.
  • General Topolov. High ranked Soviet military mastermind and mentor to the player in Red Alert: Retaliation. Played by Alan Charof.

Kane, obscure advisor to Joseph Stalin. Played by Joseph D. Kucan.

Expansion packs[]

[edit]Counterstrike and The Aftermath (1997)[]

RA1 Counterstrike and Aftermath

In 1997, two expansion packs for Red Alert were released for the PC, Command & Conquer: Red Alert: Counterstrike, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert: The Aftermath. The expansion packs were designed by Westwood Studios with the "apprenticeship" of Intelligent Games; a London based game developer. Much of the development on multiplayer maps was undertaken by players from the Compuserve Red Alert ladder. New units, missions, maps and music were included in the expansions.

Of particular note with the Counterstrike add-on is the addition of the secret Ant Missions titled "It Came from Red Alert", where the player battles against an army of giant, mutant ants with Allied Forces and Soviet units.

The Aftermath add-on added many new units available in single and multiplayer modes. New Allied units include the Field Mechanic and the Chrono Tank. New Soviet units include the Missile Sub, the Shock Trooper, the M.A.D Tank and the Tesla Tank. In addition, both sides receive the Demolition Truck. The add-on also includes hundreds of new maps as well as a new, significantly larger, map size.

[edit]Retaliation (1998)[]

C&C Red Alert Retaliation

On August 28, 1998, Westwood Studios released Red Alert Retaliation for the PlayStation, a compilation of the two PC expansion packs, including the secret Ant Missions. It is almost identical to the PlayStation port of the original Red Alert, except it introduced some new units like Tesla Tank, Shock Trooper, Chrono Tank and Mechanic, and included 105 skirmish maps. Gameplay also included an in-game sidebar code called Soylent Green Mode. In this mode all ore fields turn to people/civilians, and ore trucks harvest them with grisly sound effects.



It also included 19 exclusive briefing FMV (full-motion video) clips that were not in any of the PC expansion packs, which had none. All of the videos are shown when the player either starts playing through the operational theatre from the beginning or when all the missions of the theatre are accomplished. In other cases, the briefing text is shown. The FMVs include a general for each side, telling the player the mission objectives; The Allied General Carville later appears in Red Alert 2 while Soviet General Topolov has made no further appearances in the Red Alert series.

The Retaliation videos are available for the PC Red Alert in the Red Alert modification The Lost Files.[19] This modification adds the Retaliation videos to the Counterstrike and Aftermath missions. It requires Red Alert patch v3.03 or Red Alert patch v3.03 TFD (for the Red Alert version of the C&C The First Decade package).

Red Alert Retaliation was released as a download for PSP and PS3 from the PlayStation Network in Europe on December 4, 2008 and in North America on December 3, 2009.[20][21]

Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun[]

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Cncts-win-coverTiberian Sun cover art, depicting protagonist GDI commander
Developer(s) Westwood Studios
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Version 2.03 (Jun 15, 2000)[1]
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) August 27, 1999
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: T (Teen)PEGI: 16+
Media/distribution 2 CD-ROMs (original release), DVD-ROM (TFD),download
System requirements

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is a real-time strategy video game developed by Westwood Studios and released in 1999. The main storyline follows the second major war between the Global Defense Initiative of the United Nations, and the global terrorist organization known as the Brotherhood of Nod. The story takes place in 2030, 30 years after the GDI had won the first major war inCommand & Conquer. As of February 12, 2010, Electronic Arts licensed Tiberian Sun and its expansion pack Firestorm as freeware.

Synopsis[]

Tiberian Sun features three factions, each with its unique strengths and tactics; the Global Defense Initiative (GDI), the Brotherhood of Nod (Nod), and The Forgotten (non-playable, neutral faction of mutated humans who have been physically and mentally affected by the Tiberium toxins). The storyline follows the continuing struggle between the GDI and Nod, the latter of which is ready to launch a new set of surprise sneak attacks in a desperate attempt to wipe the Global Defense Initiative off the face of the Earth.

The plot is a follow up to the original game Command & Conquer, after the end of which the Nod leader Kane is presumed dead. In Tiberian Sun, Kane resurfaces from his hideout with improved military forces and new Tiberium-enhanced technologies, determined to rule the world at all cost. The GDI Commander Michael McNeil is tasked with objectives to prevent the world from falling into the hands of Nod, this time with the very means of the extraterrestrial Tiberium substance.

Firestorm[]

250px-TSFirestormbox

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun – Firestorm is an expansion pack to Tiberian Sun developed by Westwood and published by Electronic Arts on March 7, 2000. Firestorm also features single- and multiplayer modes.

Firestorm follows the events as they unfolded in the GDI campaign of Tiberian Sun. With Nod fractured into feuding warlords following Kane's death, Anton Slavik is determined to keep Kane's ideology alive through the resurrection of Nod's highly advanced artificial intelligence, CABAL (Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform). The Global Defense Initiative continues its ongoing campaign to stop the spread of Tiberium and its monstrous mutations by retrieving the extraterrestrial Tacitus device. The two factions join forces to overcome Nod's previous vital assistant in tactical decisions and their current nemesis, CABAL, who intends to conquer the world through the systematic assimilation of human populations into cyborg armies with the means of Tiberium on a massive scale.

Command & Conquer: Renegade
Cncren-cover
Developer(s) Westwood Studios
Publisher(s) EA Games
Series Command & Conquer
Engine W3D (Westwood 3D) engine
Version 1.037, 2003-01-23
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
  • NA February 26, 2002
  • EU March 1, 2002
Genre(s) Tactical shooter
Mode(s) Single-player

Multiplayer

Rating(s)
Media/distribution 2CD-ROMs
System requirements

Command and Conquer: Renegade

Command & Conquer: Renegade is a first and third person shooter video game developed by Westwood Studios and is part of the Command & Conquer series. It is the only C&C game that uses the first person view. It was released on February 26, 2002 by EA Games.

Synopsis[]

Renegade's story takes place during the final days of the First Tiberium War originally depicted in Command & Conquer. GDI's top three Tiberium research specialists have been abducted by theBrotherhood of Nod. The player assumes the role of GDI commando Captain Nick "Havoc" Parker, who is assigned to rescue these experts. He conducts missions which take him all over the world in various countries and climates, both indoor and outdoor, and his actions greatly affect the current state of the war. As the game progresses it is revealed that the specialists have been forced intobiochemistry research for the Brotherhood's top secret "Project Re-Genesis," An attempt to create genetically enhanced super-soldiers with the aid of Tiberium.

Gameplay[]

The game can played as either a First Person or Third Person Shooter to the player's preference. The player wields multiple weapons, some unique effectiveness on certain enemies and has the ability to plant C4 Charges on targets and set up beacons to launch an ion cannon beam. Weapons have both re-loadable magazines and extra ammo capacities. There are no melee weapons in the game, only a pistol with infinite ammo. The player will also be able to drive and use the weapons of both GDI and NOD vehicles. Armour can be picked up to protect the player from damage.

As the player plays through a mission, the in-game EVA, or Electronic Video Assistance, periodically updates with mission objectives. EVA logs and updates all objectives and their current status. Objectives consist of destruction of structures, locating bases and such like. Objectives are categorized into three categories: primary, secondary and tertiary. The completion of primary objectives are crucial for that mission's success. Secondary objectives are not required for mission completion, but may assist in game play. Tertiary missions, which are usually hidden, do not assist much in game play, but will affect the final "rank" at the end of each mission. Data Discs can be collected to update the mission map.

[edit][]

Multiplayer[]

The multiplayer element of this game takes the form of 'Command and Conquer Mode', in which players are divided into the two teams: GDI and Nod. Each team starts with its own base; team members can independently purchase vehicles and advanced character classes to destroy the enemy base and defend their own base. A match is won when one team destroys the other's base or when one team has more points than the other when the time limit expires. Damaging and destroying enemy units and structures earns points. Some servers allow the 'endgame beacon' option that causes a side to immediately win if that side's 'superweapon' beacon is successfully planted and detonated on a 'beacon pedestal' in the other side's base. Gameplay is a combination of FPS and RTS elements, since team members receive money from tiberium harvesting and must purchase their own individual equipment.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Cncra2-win-coverOn the cover — hollywood actor Igor Jijikine
Developer(s) Westwood Pacific
Publisher(s) EA Games
Composer(s) Frank Klepacki
Series Command & Conquer
Engine Heavily-modified Tiberian Sun engine
Version 1.006, 25 May 2001
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
  • NA October 23, 2000
  • EU October 27, 2000
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)
Media/distribution 2x CD-ROM
System requirements

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2[]

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a 2.5D real-time strategy computer game by Westwood Studios, which was released for Microsoft Windows on October 23, 2000 [1] as the follow-up to Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Set in the early 1970s,[2] Red Alert 2 supposedly picks up at the conclusion of the Allied campaign of the first game, but this has been subject to debate. Its expansion isCommand & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge.

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 contains 2 playable factions, Soviets and Allies which both previously appeared in Command & Conquer: Red Alert. The single player campaign is structured in an alternate-ending mode as opposed to a progressive story mode.

Red Alert 2 proved to be a success, both commercially and with critics, receiving an 86% from GameRankings.[3]

Plot[]

Like all other Command & Conquer real-time strategy games, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 contains two distinct story lines depending on which faction the player wishes to play as. Both of the story lines differ in several distinct ways. However, the Allied story line is canon due to the way in which the expansion pack continues.

[edit]Synopsis[]

After the attempted conquest of Europe, the Soviet Union is in utter ruin. Joseph Stalin is dead, and the Soviet military has been all but destroyed. The Allies determine that a regime change would cause mass unrest in the Soviet Union, and in order to gain both support and stability in the region, the victorious Allies name Alexander Romanov, a distant relative of Czar Nicholas II, as the puppetSoviet Premier. Romanov acquiesces to the Allies' demands at first, though he builds up the Soviet military for "defense purposes" – a cover for an intended invasion of the United States of America.

The game's story line starts off with the United States Armed Forces being caught completely off guard by the sudden massive Soviet invasion of the United States, with Soviet aircraft, naval vessels, amphibious forces, and paratroopers coming in on both the East Coast and West Coast and with the majority of Soviet ground forces coming in through Mexico, which had recently voted in a communist government. The USA attempts to retaliate with the use of nuclear missiles, but Yuri, leader of the Soviet Psychic Corps and Premier Romanov's top advisor, uses his mind control to manipulate the personnel charged with launching the warheads and leaves them to explode in their silos. Within hours, the USA is overrun with Red Army troops. In response, the US President Michael Dugan establishes an emergency response team headed by General Carville and the Commander known as "The Ghost" (the player) to the Soviet army later in the game.

Allied Campaign[]

The Allied story line begins with a special forces team led by Special Agent Tanya sent to New York City to repel the Soviet invasion there. The player, with help from Tanya, successfully repels the Soviet invasion of New York City. Tanya and the Commander then go to Colorado Springs to liberate the Air Force Academy and the air base there. When returning home victorious from the battle, it is discovered that a Soviet mind control device known as the Psychic Beacon, a device that can mind-control the people of entire cities, has been deployed in Washington, D.C.. The Psychic Beacon has controlled the minds of the President and General Carville and several other key officials in the city, who surrender to the Soviets. However, a strike team is promptly sent in to the city and destroys the Psychic Beacon while encountering attacks by mind-controlled civilians, freeing the key officials from Soviet mind control and allowing them to be rescued. Despite this, Washington, D.C. still remains in Soviet hands, forcing the American government and military to relocate themselves to Canada to escape the threat of Soviet mind control.

After moving their government to Canada, Allied intelligence has discovered that the Soviets have put another psychic device in Chicago, the Psychic Amplifier, which has the power "to do to the country what the Psychic Beacon did to Washington". The Allies promptly launch an offensive into Soviet-occupied Chicago from their Canadian base across Lake Michigan, freeing the city and destroying the Psychic Amplifier. But in retaliation, General Vladimir, the chief commander of the invading Soviet forces, declares that he no longer has much use for the city of Chicago, so he deploys a nuclear missile in the city, completely destroying it killing everyone except the Commander who escaped.

Alarmed by the situation, leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom agree to help the USA if they disarm the Soviet nuclear missile silos in Poland. Michael Dugan agrees and sends a special forces team led by Tanya into Poland near its border with Germany. The silos are covertly destroyed, and the Europeans join the war against the Soviets. Bolstered by additional men and equipment, the U.S. military is able to launch an amphibious assault on Soviet-occupied Washington, D.C. and recapture the city. After doing so, Allied intelligence reveals that the Soviets are planning to capture the Hawaiian Islands and the Commander is sent to Pearl Harbor to defend the islands.

The islands are saved, but the United States is still in a precarious position. The Soviets, with the help from their Psychic Beacon, still control St. Louis and all of the Mississippi River south of the city, seriously handicapping movement between the western states and the eastern states. The Allies then mount an attack on the city, destroying the Psychic Beacon and liberating the city. The Allies also learn of a Soviet project to replicate the Allied Prism technology (A technology that creates massive beams of energy to destroy units) at a research base in Tulum, Mexico. A team of Navy SEALs is then dispatched into the area to destroy the research facility and any prototype prism replicas. The mission is successful and the Allied Prism technology is not compromised.

General Carville, in a briefing to the player, says that they are being shipped off to Germany into the Black Forest to protect Albert Einstein’s laboratory in order to bring a quick end to the war. At Einstein's laboratory, there is Einstein's prototype Chronosphere, a device with the ability to teleport troops anywhere in the world, and the plans for it. As General Carville is leaving his office at the end of the briefing, a Crazy Ivan (a suicidal Soviet unit which deploys explosives) was waiting for Carville and flips open his jacket and detonates his bombs, killing Carville. Despite this tremendous loss, the Commander carries out the mission and repels the Soviet invasion from across the German border. Einstein's laboratory and Chronosphere are saved and Einstein continues his work.

Einstein personally thanks the Commander and says that the perfect place to establish the Chronosphere, is on a tiny island in the Florida Keys, not far from Soviet Cuba. The Allies send a force to the island and build a base and the Chronosphere there, and then launch an offensive into Cuba to destroy the Soviet nuclear strike capability there. The Allies then proceed to use the Chronosphere's teleportation capabilities to take an Allied strike team to Moscow. Once in Moscow, the Allied forces destroy the Black Guard defenses around the Kremlin and then teleport in a strike team led by Tanya to capture Premier Alexander Romanov. Romanov gets a man to wear his uniform posing as Romanov, so that Tanya will take him away instead. However, this plot is easily exposed as the man is completely different from Romanov and Romanov is caught in his underwear. The Soviets suffer a humiliating defeat and promptly surrender.

[edit]Soviet campaign[]

The Soviet storyline begins with the player being briefed by Premier Alexander Romanov about the upcoming Soviet invasion of the USA. Romanov orders the destruction of the headquarters of the American Military, the Pentagon. The Commander carries out this order, leading an invasion into Washington, D.C. and destroying the Pentagon. Another Soviet invasion is launched into Florida to destroy the American fleet there, which was threatening the Soviet invasion of the East Coast. Even though the Commander is almost fully responsible for these victories, all the credit goes to the top Soviet commander, General Vladimir. While Vladimir is in Moscow celebrating, Yuri recommends that the player captures New York City with a Psychic Beacon, a device that can mind-control the people of entire cities. The player follows Yuri's advice, and launches an offensive into New York City. After capturing the Allied Battle Lab/Research Facility, at the World Trade Center, the Psychic Beacon is deployed and the entire population of the city falls under Soviet control.

To counter the ever increasing and successful Soviet threat, forces from the Republic of Korea launch an amphibious attack on Vladivostok, and the player must "defend the motherland" at all costs. The Commander defends the "motherland", crushing all invading South Korean forces in a brutal counter-attack. Alarmed by the situation, leaders of France and Germany agree to send troops to the Polish border to help the USA fight the Soviets. With the absence of the bulk of the French Military, the Soviets send a special forces team to Paris, with special orders from Romanov and Yuri to attack the city. Once in Paris, the Soviets fight to capture the area around the Eiffel Tower (called the "Paris Tower" in the game). The Soviets then use three Tesla Troopers, soldiers with the ability to destroy vehicles with electric charges, to energize the "Paris Tower" and effectively turn it into a massive Tesla coil. The energized "Paris Tower" quickly destroys all Allied forces in the city and devastates Paris. With this and other key victories in Europe, the nations of Europe are in a position of needing help themselves rather than giving help to the USA.

During this time, Yuri has been gaining more and more power by using his Psychic abilities to mind control Romanov. With that, Romanov gives all military authority to Yuri, which greatly angers General Vladimir, who accuses Yuri of being behind this. Yuri discards these accusations and tells the player to establish a "Soviet presence" in the Hawaiian Islands. The Commander is sent to the islands and destroys the American Pacific Fleet and all Korean reinforcements, allowing the Soviets to easily take over the islands. Meanwhile, Romanov has become very ill and Yuri's intelligence has revealed that the Allies have constructed a Chronosphere, a device with the ability to teleport troops anywhere in the world. The Allies intend to use the Chronosphere to launch an assault on a Soviet research facility in the Ural Mountains. Yuri tells the player that this research facility is vital to the Soviet war effort and that it must be defended well. The player takes command of Soviet forces at the research facility and manages to repel several Allied attacks on the facility.

While the Soviet research facility is saved, Yuri has murdered Romanov, but framed General Vladimir for the crime. Yuri orders the commander to go to Washington, D.C. to eliminate Vladimir, who Yuri declares to be a traitor and a "nonperson". The player defeats Vladimir's forces and captures Vladimir in the White House with the aid of Yuri's psychic technology. In another mission, a Soviet strike team of psy-corp troopers is then sent to San Antonio, Texas and covertly infiltrates the American base there around the Alamo and then put the US President Michael Dugan under Soviet mind-control to indirectly influence the American government and military. The Soviets then discover that the Allies are developing a new super weapon in theU.S. Virgin Islands, known as a Weather Control Device, a device that can create thunderstorms with the power to devastate large areas. The Soviets launch an amphibious assault on the islands and successfully destroy the device.

Impressed by the tenacity of the "Comrade General", Yuri asks the Commander to come to Moscow so he can thank the Commander in person (with the actual intent to kill or mind-control the player). But Lieutenant Zofia shows the player a video Romanov recorded before his death. In the video, Romanov, with much difficulty, says that Yuri is controlling his mind and orders the Commander to bring the traitor to justice. The Commander goes to Moscow, with a large army to apprehend Yuri. Upon their arrival in Moscow, the player’s forces engage with forces loyal to Yuri. The player then launches a devastating attack on the Kremlin and Yuri is believed to be dead. After going through Yuri’s files, it is learned that the Allies have built a Chronosphere in Alaska, which they will use to attempt to launch a final assault into the Soviet Union. Soviet forces are sent across the Bering Strait and destroy the Chronosphere and all Allied forces in the area. With all resistance destroyed, the player is now free to rule the world. However, in the end cut scene, Yuri's mind has somehow survived and telepathically communicates to the commander saying, "It would have been good to see inside your mind, General. I may still get the chance..."

Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
Cncyr-cover
Developer(s) Westwood Pacific
Publisher(s) EA Games
Series Command & Conquer
Version 1.001, 2001-11-12
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
  • NA October 10, 2001
  • EU October 19, 2001
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single player

Multiplayer

Rating(s)
Media/distribution 1 CD-ROM
System requirements

Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge[]

Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge is an expansion pack to Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 developed by Westwood Studios. The game was released in North America on October 10, 2001[1]by EA Games. The game is centered around the idea of a shadowy ex-Soviet figure named Yuri having established a secret army of his own and posing a threat to the free-will of the world.

Plot[]

In Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge, the true story starts off assuming the Allies won in Red Alert 2. The plot is based around Yuri, the former head of the Soviet Psychic Corps, coming out of hiding to take over the world by using his Psychic Dominators. These devices have the power to mind control everyone in the world.

The game begins with a presidential briefing in the White House concerning Yuri and how he has begun his take over of the world through mind control. Yuri interrupts the briefing to explain how he plans to take over the world, telling the American President Michael Dugan that he has a network of Psychic Dominators around the world, which he is now beginning to reveal. One of Yuri's Psychic Dominators is on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, which Yuri activates just before ending his transmission to the White House. The President immediately calls in an airstrike on the device, but all the attacking aircraft were shot down, although one crashes into the nuclear reactor on the island, causing the device to lose power and to not function. Despite this, Yuri activates his other Psychic Dominators around the world and the majority of the planet quickly succumbs to Yuri's mind-control.

Synopsis[]

[edit]Allies[]

The Allied story begins with the player being sent to San Francisco to protect Albert Einstein's Time Machine, which the Allies plan to use to go back in time and prevent Yuri’s Psychic Dominators from ever coming online. The player must capture power plants in the city to power up the Time machine. Once enough power plants have been captured, the player successfully goes back in time, but arrives at the time that Soviet forces are first invading San Francisco. The Soviets are caught by surprise by Allied reinforcements from the future and the Psychic Dominator under construction on Alcatraz island is destroyed.

The player is informed that Los Angeles has fallen under Yuri’s control, and Yuri is using his Grinders to slaughter the city's population for raw materials. The Grinders and the rest of Yuri’s forces in the city are destroyed, liberating Los Angeles. With this vital loss, Yuri is forced to look for a new source of income, and finds the chairman of the Massivesoft Corporation (parodies of Bill Gates and theMicrosoft Corporation, respectively) in Seattle. After receiving a plea from the CEO, General Carville, who is still alive in this alternate timeline, orders the player to free the Massivesoft Corporation and its CEO and to destroy the nuclear missile silo that Yuri had constructed in the city. The nuclear missile silo is quickly destroyed and the Massivesoft Campus is freed. No longer being forced to fund Yuri’s war effort, the CEO of the Massivesoft Corporation makes a "healthy donation” to the Allied war effort as thanks.

In the midst of these great victories, Yuri has captured Professor Albert Einstein and is forcing him to work on the Psychic Dominator at a base near the Great Pyramid (called the "Large Pyramid" ingame) so it can come online sooner. The Commander quickly goes to Egypt and frees Einstein who sets the Psychic Dominator there to self-destruct, but not before the Allies could use it one time against Yuri's own forces. Now in a very desperate situation, Yuri plans to kidnap several world leaders and replace them with mindless clones loyal to Yuri. By orders from General Carville, the player goes to Sydney, Australia, where Yuri’s cloning facility is located, and promptly destroys Yuri’s cloning facility and the rest of his forces.

After a long war on two fronts the Soviets are defeated and Yuri's armies are now beginning to fall back. Wishing to bring the war against Yuri to a quick conclusion, the Allies and Soviets consider joining forces. The two superpowers schedule a meeting to ratify a treaty in a top secret location. While informing the player of this, Lieutenant Lee falls under Yuri’s mind-control and reveals the location, Parliament Building in London, England, to Yuri. With this critical information now known to the enemy, General Carville bluntly orders the Commander to go to London and defend the Parliament Building at all costs. With the Commander’s protection, the treaty is ratified and signed and Soviet forces soon join the battle, destroying Yuri's London base. Lieutenant Lee is about to resign because of her failure to resist Yuri's mind control, but is interrupted by Carville who reminds her that many world leaders have been controlled by Yuri as well.

The Allies locate Yuri's last Psychic Dominator on Antarctic Peninsula, and promptly send in forces to eliminate this threat. They begin the operation at Tierra del Fuego by taking over an abandoned Soviet base. With the radar facilities there, a small Allied force is teleported into Antarctica by Chronosphere. An Allied base is set up in Antarctica and Yuri’s base and remaining forces are destroyed.

With Yuri now defeated, he is locked away in a specially designed cell that Albert Einstein created, a Psychic Isolation Chamber, where he "won't be able to mind-control a fly". At that moment, the timelines of Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge begin to merge. As Professor Einstein explains, "One series of events must take precedence over the other." The alternate timeline becomes the new reality; General Carville is alive and Yuri's plans remain foiled.

[edit]Soviet[]

The Soviet story begins with the remnants of the Soviets discovering the Allied plan to go back in time. The opportunity to capture the Allied Time Machine, would allow the Soviet Union to regain its former power. A Soviet strike team goes into San Francisco and manages to capture the Allied Time machine, which unfortunately has insufficient power, so the player must capture four power plants in the city. Once enough power plants are under Soviet control, the player goes back in time, but due to the over efficiency of Soviet engineers the machine travels back in time too much, to the time of the dinosaurs. The player defends the Time Machine from attacking Tyrannosaurus Rexes until it recharges. Once the Time Machine is recharged, the player arrives at the time that Soviet forces are first invading San Francisco. The player quickly assumes command of the Soviet base in the city and then destroys Yuri's Psychic Dominator, while it is still under construction on Alcatraz Island.

With the successful time shift, the Soviet forces from the future take special papers back to Moscow to inform the Soviet leadership of how the Soviets lost the war and of the threat Yuri poses. Premier Alexander Romanov tells the Commander to go to the Black Forest in Germany and destroy Einstein’s laboratory and prototype Chronosphere, a device with that can transport troops anywhere in the world (At Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, there is an Allied campaign that requires the player to defend the laboratory and Chronosphere from Soviet assault - Allied mission 10). The Commander promptly destroys this potential Allied threat before it can become a real problem, causing the Allies to retreat on all fronts.

Meanwhile, Soviet intelligence has discovered that Yuri has built a Psychic Beacon in London, England and, as a result, the Allied forces there now fight for Yuri. To stop this, the player goes to London and frees the Allies from Yuri’s mind-control. However Yuri has created a base and Psychic Dominator in London, but the player soon destroys Yuri’s forces in the area. The Soviets do not consider the Allied forces their allies, though the Allied forces do.

Soon after this victory, Premier Romanov’s plane is shot down over Casablanca, Morocco. The "Comrade General" is sent to the city to find and rescue Romanov before Yuri's forces do. Romanov is found and appears to be having a great time. He is transported to the only airport in the area after it is brought under Soviet control. With Romanov rescued, the Commander then proceeds to an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean where Yuri has set up a submarine base. After landing on the island, the Commander destroys Yuri’s submarine base and all his remaining forces.

After the battle is over, it is revealed that Yuri also had a launch facility on the island, which still has a rocket ready for launch that is programmed to go to the Moon. The Soviets use this rocket to send forces with a limited amount of credits, led by the player, to the Moon where they destroy Yuri’s base, which he planned to go to after he was in control of the world. In this battle the forces the Commander can recruit are limited but compensated by the new Kosmonaut units.

Losing ground on all theatres of operation, Yuri takes refuge in a castle located in his ancestral home of Transylvania. Romanov orders the player to Yuri’s hideout and to "crush him beneath the stones". Once in Transylvania, it is discovered that Yuri has built two Psychic Beacons, used to control an Allied and a Soviet presence in the area. The player then sets up a base and launches a massive attack on Yuri’s forces. The castle is successfully destroyed and Yuri is assumed to have been defeated once and for all.

However, Yuri had survived the destruction of his castle in the dungeon. A special transmission from Yuri shows that he had stolen the Time Machine from San Francisco, to travel back in time so that "the world and all its history is Yuri’s to command and conquer". But this is thwarted by Lieutenant Zofia, who quickly changes the destination of the Time Machine to the early Cretaceous and depleting all the power reserves of the Time Machine. Yuri is stranded in time and is implied that he is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. With Yuri's destruction assured, the Soviets take complete control of the world and begin to expand communism into the far reaches of space.

Command & Conquer: Generals
Cncgen-win-coverCommand & Conquer Generals cover art
Developer(s) EA Pacific(Windows)Aspyr Media(Mac OS)
Publisher(s) EA Games (Windows)MacSoft (Mac OS)
Series Command & Conquer
Engine Strategy Action Game Engine (SAGE)
Version 1.08, December 2005
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows,Apple Macintosh
Release date(s)
  • NA February 10, 2003
  • EU February 14, 2003
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)
Media/distribution CD-ROM (2) (PC), DVD(Mac OS)
System requirements

Minimum: PC:


Mac OS: 1 GHz PowerPC G4


  • 256 MB RAM
  • Mac OS X 10.2.6
  • 32 MB video card
  • DVD-ROM drive

Recommended: 1.6 GHz Processor


  • 256+ RAM
  • 64 MB Video Card
  • Directx 9c

Command and Conquer: Generals[]

Command & Conquer: Generals is a real-time strategy game in the Command & Conquer series. Generals utilizes SAGE (Strategy Action Game Engine). This proprietary engine is an extended version of the Command & Conquer: Renegade 3D engine. Generals was released onto the Microsoft Windows platform in 2003, and a Mac OS version was released in 2004, marking the return of theCommand & Conquer series to that platform. An expansion pack, entitled Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour, was additionally released for PC in 2003, and for Mac OS in 2005. A sequel,Command & Conquer: Generals 2, is due to be released in 2013.[1]

Plot[]

Generals takes place in the near future, with players given a choice of three factions to play. In Generals, the United States and China are the world's two superpowers, and are the targets of the Global Liberation Army (GLA), an omnipresent borderless terrorist organization, fighting as a fanatical irregular force. The United States and China are depicted as allies in the series who occasionally co-operate against the GLA, whose goals is the elimination of the military forces of China and the United States.

The game begins with a devastating GLA nuclear attack on Beijing and a subsequent GLA attack on the Three Gorges Dam. The player assumes the role of a Chinese general who rallies the remaining Chinese forces and counterattacks. The general eventually destroys the GLA cell masterminding all Pacific Rim operations.

The player then assumes the role of another GLA general who regroups GLA forces in Central Asia and gathers funds and biological weapons. In doing so, he has to face both American and Chinese armies and a GLA splinter cell. His campaign eventually culminates in the overtaking of the Baikonur Cosmodrome and the firing of a rocket bearing a biological MIRV at an unnamed city.

At this point the American campaign begins in which the USA engages the GLA across the Middle East and the Central Asia. A joint American-Chinese operation eventually destroys another GLA command base in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Factions[]

Generals takes place in the near future. The United States and the People's Republic of China are the world's two superpowers, and are the targets of the Global Liberation Army, a large, well-organized terrorist organization, fighting as a fanaticalirregular force. The United States and China are depicted as allies in the series, and frequently co-operate with each other throughout the storyline against the Global Liberation Army, which is depicted as an omnipresent, borderless organization with unclear goals beyond opposition to and expulsion of both China and the United States.

[edit]People's Republic of China[]

The People's Republic relies largely on brute force and sheer numbers, culminating in a variety of powerful and heavily armored tanks, and has limited air power. China's playstyle emphasizes direct assaults and sheer power to defeat American technology and GLA stealth. Chinese troops and tanks gain special bonuses when in groups, and make extensive use of propaganda (passive healing) to support their troops. China has a wide range of vehicle types, including several specialized tanks like Type 69 as "Battlemaster", BTR-80 as "Troop Crawler", "Overlord" tank(s) and two artillery units: the Chinese "Inferno Cannon" and "Nuke Cannon". They are the only artillery units whose shells cannot be intercepted. Chinese forces also make heavy use of gatling, nuclear, and napalm weaponry to destroy the enemy. China also utilizes advanced electronic warfare technology, including elite hackers, a spy called Black Lotus, listening outpost vehicles and electromagnetic pulseweapons. There is an electronic warfare tank which can be used in tactical scale and a bomb delivered by a plane for strategic purposes. It can black out an entire base and bring down aircraft.

China has a major disadvantage in that its ground forces are generally slower than those of the other two factions. Due to having virtually no fast attack units, except for their MiGs, China is forced to make large, ponderous assaults with heavy units, a tactic that can be countered by the GLA's speed or the USA's air power. However, the Chinese forces are well-suited to winning drawn-out battles of attrition.

China's campaign is the first chronologically in Generals. China retaliates after the GLA launches a devastating nuclear attack on Beijing. During one battle, China destroys the Three Gorges Dam in order to eliminate a large GLA army. China uses its nuclear arsenal to further fight against the GLA and eventually crushes the GLA cell masterminding all Pacific rim operations. In Zero Hour, China defeats the GLA during their invasion of Europe and seizes the opportunity to rise as a world power.

[edit]Global Liberation Army[]

Being technologically disadvantaged, the GLA has comparatively weak (though highly mobile) ground vehicles and no air force, prompting the use of guerrilla tactics such as tunnelling, suicide bombing, hijacking, and ambushing.

The GLA has a larger array of infantry types and vehicles to make up for this disadvantage, and has the widest range of stealth options. The GLA also has a very powerful economy, with various resource-gathering techniques such as salvaging wreckage, gaining cash bounties on destroyed enemy units, and building multiple "black market" structures to bring in large amounts of money over time. Also, the GLA are unique in that they have no energy requirement for any of their structures or units. The GLA's upgrades make it more powerful when fully equipped, transforming a relatively weak group of units into a more respectable threat. The GLA is also unique in that its structures retain two stages of integrity. Stage one is the functional stage where the building acts normally compared to its Chinese and USA counterparts. The building reaches stage two when it would have conventionally been destroyed. In the remains of the building there is a "hole". Overtime, the hole will regenerate health and at 100%, the destroyed building will respawn, as in return to stage 1. This special ability makes it difficult to permanently damage the GLA with many single-shot weapons or units.

The GLA's toxic weapons, suicide units, and stealth and surprise abilities enable it to hit enemies from unexpected directions, and its powerful economy, combined with cheap, fast units, enables it to flood opponents with sheer numbers. The GLA's primary disadvantage is that, in terms of firepower, range, and durability, its units are outmatched by Chinese and American units, and it has a complete lack of air power.

The GLA campaign is the second chronologically in Generals. Following the setback at the hands of the Chinese, they raise funds and instigate attacks against their American and Chinese antagonists. They eventually overtake the Baikonur Cosmodrome in order to fire a Soyuz rocket bearing a biological MIRV at Astana city. In Zero Hour, the GLA loses control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the USA and attacks the west coast of America in retaliation and eventually invades Europe. They are defeated in Europe by China.

[edit]United States of America[]

The United States is the most technologically advanced faction, and fights with a combination of powerful ground units and a large, versatile fleet of aircraft. USA forces rely on skill, mobility, and high technology to defeat the raw firepower of China and the guerilla tactics of the GLA. USA ground vehicles can construct unmanned drones to support and repair them in combat, and American troops and vehicles make extensive use of laser technology to guide weapons and defend against attack. American infantry have a number of special abilities, and include stealthy long-ranged snipers and a powerful commando named Colonel Burton with a number of abilities revolving around demolition and stealth. The USA also fields the largest air fleet in the game, including attack and transport helicopters, fighter planes, high speed bombers and stealth bombers. American Generals' abilities revolve around air power, including air strikes by A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and fuel air bombs. They also possess a Particle Cannon super weapon capable of destroying units and most buildings instantly.

The USA has a major disadvantage, however, in that it has the most expensive economy in the game; in comparison to troop costs, it has a less stable supply of power than China, and its high-tech units are very expensive. However, they gain resources the fastest, with their speedy chinooks taking $600 at a time. This method, though makes them vulnerable to a GLA quad cannon attack, or a Chinese Gattling tank.

The USA campaign is the third chronologically in Generals. In response to the GLA's launch of the biochemical weapon, the USA engages the GLA across several locales, including Baghdad and the Caspian Sea. They later defeat a rogue Chinese general supporting the terrorists and track them back to their base of operations in Akmola, Kazakhstan. In Zero Hour, the USA retakes the Baikonur Cosmodrome, but is later pushed back from Europe after the GLA invades the west coast of the United States.

Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour
Cncgzh-win-cover
Developer(s) EA Los Angeles

Aspyr Media(Mac OS)

Publisher(s) EA Games (Windows)MacSoft (Mac OS)
Series Command & Conquer
Engine SAGE (Strategy Action Game Engine)
Version 1.04 (as of April 15, 2005)
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows

Macintosh

Release date(s) September 22, 2003
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)
Media/distribution 2 CD-ROM(PC)DVD(Mac OS X)
System requirements

Command and Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour[]

Command and Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour is the expansion pack for the computer game Command & Conquer: Generals. Zero Hour added several new abilities and units to each side, and a new mode of play called Generals' Challenge.

[edit]Campaigns[]

Zero Hour also contains 3 new campaigns of five missions each, one for each side, with their chronological order being USA first, GLA second, and China last. Unlike the previous campaigns, which were noted by Command and Conquer fans for not having full motion video cinematic sequences during mission briefing, the Zero Hour campaigns return to that Command and Conquer tradition, each showing a live-action video of a news reporter of the respective side giving details about the situation behind the current mission. The plot behind the Zero Hour campaigns picks up where it left off at the end of the previous campaigns.

At the beginning of the USA campaign, the Global Liberation Army (GLA) launches a biological weapon using a refitted Soyuz launch station from the captured Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at a U.S. naval base located in Northern Europe. The United States military retaliates quickly, destroying the launch platform, before the GLA can fire another missile. Later, while providing humanitarianaid to Mogadishu, Somalia backed by an aircraft carrier battle group, documents detailing a hidden GLA bio-lab are discovered. Black Lotus and Colonel Burton head to the area to destroy the bio-lab. While Black Lotus captures a GLA outpost, Colonel Burton leads a team of army rangers and destroys the bio-lab. Some time later, the United States learns that a GLA general codenamed "Dr. Thrax" has been developing a more lethal variety of anthrax known as "Anthrax Gamma". The USA manages to cut off Thrax's funds, which were coming from oil fields in Iran. When the USA locates his base of operations, they discover that he is planning on launching several missiles loaded with this toxin at major population centers within the USA itself. A swift strike by the USA, with the help of GLAdefectors, succeeds in preventing the launch, and stops "Dr. Thrax."

In the GLA campaign, the GLA, though disappointed by the failure of Dr. Thrax, receives a boost in morale with the successful appointment of their new leader, General Mohmar "Deathstrike". The GLA first attempts to reunite its splintered factions under Deathstrike's leadership, which it succeeds in doing after eliminating the reganade Prince Kassad's forces in Egypt as well as stealing Kassad's stealth technologies, and then begins a fervent mission to drive the Americans from Europe. Despite their seemingly obsolete technology, the GLA succeeds in inflicting tremendous harm against the USA, by capturing an American particle uplink cannon which they then use to destroy the USS Ronald Reagan (splitting her in half from starboard to port, as shown in the game's cover) and infiltrating the US West Coast to steal toxins from a chemical storage facility. This reaches its climax when the GLA overruns the USA’s European central command base in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, partially with the use of captured Chinese weaponry. The GLA's primary objective accomplished, they now begin to invade a vulnerable Europe and create a new repressive state.

In the Chinese campaign, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is sent to Europe to relieve the USA and gain revenge against the Global Liberation Army for their humiliating use of Chinese technology in the capture of the U.S. European Command base in Germany. In order to prevent the GLA from making use of advanced USA weaponry, China launches a nuclear missile at the military base, destroying it, and then sends its forces into Germany, where the GLA invaders are concentrated. China tightens its homeland defenses to prevent an infiltration so they don't suffer any more attacks in their homeland. This pays off when a nuclear power plant is attacked by the GLA. Chinese forces hold their position until reinforcements arrive, and they launch a counterattack, destroying the GLA in the hills. China is also asked by the Defense Council to use restraint in their military program, to which China agrees. They later liberate a major European city oppressed by the GLA, causing China's international opinion to skyrocket. The GLA attempt to retreat, but their forces are intercepted by China and destroyed. Finally, the nearly defeated GLA takes control of an abandoned U.S. military base and uses its weaponry against the Chinese army. China succeeds in destroying the GLA, and eliminating the GLA for good, rooting out their influence in Europe. Establishing the Eurasian Unity League with the newly liberated Europe, China takes its new role as a major superpower on the world stage.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Cc3tw-win-cover
Developer(s) EA Los Angeles (Windows)TransGaming Inc. (Mac OS X)
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Designer(s) Jason Bender, Tim Coolidge (Console)
Composer(s) Steve Jablonsky
Engine SAGE
Version 1.09[1](as of October 24, 2007)
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows,Xbox 360, Mac OS X, Mobile
Release date(s) Windows:
  • NA March 28, 2007[2]
  • EU March 29, 2007[3]
  • AUS March 28, 2007
  • UK March 30, 2007

Xbox 360:

Mac OS X:

  • NA August 28, 2007
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)
Media/distribution DVD-ROM, Steam[5]
System requirements

Windows XP/Vista 32-bit only


Macintosh:


  • Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later
  • 1.83 GHz Processor
  • 1 GB RAM
  • 2 GB HDD space
  • Video card: ATI X1600 series or later; NVIDIA GeForce 7300 or later
  • DVD-ROM drive (s)
  • Note: This game does not support IntelGMA 950 integrated graphics device[6]

Command and Conquer 3 - Tiberium Wars[]

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and published by Electronic Arts for the Windows, Mac OS X and Xbox 360 platforms, and released internationally in March 2007.[2] The direct sequel to the 1999 RTS title Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun by Westwood Studios, a now defunct company that was taken over and liquidated by EA in 2003, Tiberium Wars returns the Command & Conquer series to its roots in the Tiberium story arc of the franchise, once again featuring the factions of the Global Defense Initiativeand the Brotherhood of Nod, and also introducing a new extraterrestrial faction known as the Scrin. An expansion pack to Tiberium Wars, titled Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath, was released on March 24, 2008.

Tiberium Wars takes place in the year 2047, at the advent of and during the "Third Tiberium War" when the Brotherhood of Nod launches a worldwide offensive against the Global Defense Initiative, abruptly ending 17 years of silence and temporarily crippling GDI. With the odds tipped in the Brotherhood's favor this time, GDI field commanders rally their troops and begin to combat Nod's second re-emergence, trying to restore lost hope. In the middle of it all, a new playable faction appears: the alien Scrin.

Factions[]

Main article: List of Command & Conquer factions===[edit]Global Defense Initiative=== 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.[11] 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.[11] 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 Brotherhood is notoriously adept at exploiting these weaknesses through its combination of futuristic guerrilla warfare with uniquely advanced Tiberium-based technologies.[12] By the year 2047 GDI's forces have been restructured to allow for decentralized operations in multiple theatres of war, through the establishment of forward-operating bases in all types of terrain,[11] 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 those of Nod and the Scrin. Their superweapon is the quintessential ion cannon, an orbital weapon that has appeared in every Tiberium title to date; previously capable of destroying only a single building at a time, the ion cannon can now devastate a large area, through 8 small ion beams forming up into the center and ionising the air before the larger, more destructive main blast.[13]

[edit]Brotherhood of Nod[]

The Brotherhood of Nod is a mysterious and highly militant Abrahamic society of allegedly ancient origins.[14] Throughout its struggle with GDI, Nod is shown possessing characteristics of a vast religious movement, a multinational corporation and a decentralized nation-state, while being none of the three in itself.[14] The globalized brotherhood is led by a mysterious man known only as Kane,[15] and its influence at the advent of the events in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars reached nothing short of the status of an unconventional superpower.[14] The Brotherhood of Nod represents a flexible, elusive and worldwide cultic army which thrives on the sophisticated synergy between low-tech guerrilla warfare and advanced forces equipped with state-of-the-art weapon systems derived from the Brotherhood's understanding of Tiberium-based military technologies.[14] Nod tactics are highly radical and appear more unethical than GDI's, often showing little regard for human life. In addition, their religious fascination with Tiberium has lead them to use the substance as an offensive chemical. Nod forces typically are weaker than GDI's or the Scrin in a head-on engagement, yet they use stealth and advanced hit-and-run tactics to their advantage to control of the battle and sabotage an opponent's momentum. Like in the original C&C game, their in-game superweapon is a nuclear missile,[15] which replaces the cluster and chemical missiles deployed during Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

[edit]Scrin[]

The third faction featured in Tiberium Wars is an extraterrestrial force is known as the Scrin, which is trying to terraform Earth with Tiberium and harvest Tiberium deposits.[16] They aren't referred to by name; they are only called by GDI as "invaders" and "Aliens" and by Nod as "Visitors". They have remained dormant along the edge of the Solar System for a millennia, until awakened by the massive detonation of liquid Tiberium beneath the Brotherhood of Nod's "Temple Prime". The Scrin swiftly proceeded to launch an assault on Earth's cities, wreaking havoc on GDI and Nod alike. These attacks were actually diversions that allow the Scrin to construct large "Threshold Tower" structures. Scrin units and structures show a distinctly bio-mechanical and insect-like appearance. Furthermore, they possess several economic and military advantages related directly to Tiberium,[16] including the ability to promote the growth of the substance, to store infinite amounts of it, and to use it to enhance their units and weaponry. As they are Tiberium-based, the Scrin are immune to the radioactive and toxic effects of Tiberium. However, they are vulnerable to anti-Tiberium weapons like Nod's catalyst missile and GDI's sonic emitters. The Scrin has the passive ability to create wormholes to instantly teleport units around the battlefield. Of all the factions, the Scrin possess the most powerful aerial force,[16] consisting of fighters, warships, and carriers. Their aerial fleet can even deploy a unit known as the "Mothership", which has a powerful Catalyst Cannon that can devastate adjacent structures beneath it by initiating a chain reaction upon them. Their in-game superweapon is the "rift generator", which creates a black hole that pulls in nearby units.[17]

Plot[]

The storylines of the game's three factions are closely interwoven in the same fashion seen previously in the Firestorm expansion pack of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. In any one faction's campaign, references are made to the events and missions that occur in the campaigns of the other two factions.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars begins roughly sixteen to seventeen years after the events of Tiberian Sun: 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.[18]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 GDSS Philadelphia, destroying the fulcrum of GDI's senior command structure in a single major blow, after taking out GDI A-SAT System in Goddard Space Centre in a surprise raid. 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 enforcement of stability, strategically placed medical aid and hate-mongering against GDI and the Blue Zone populations from within the Yellow Zone territories, the Brotherhood is now supported by a significant percentage of the world's population. Unprepared to handle the coordinated offensives led by Black Hand shock troops across the entire globe, the remainder of the Global Defense Initiative's top military and political officials take charge and begin rallying all of their standing forces, determined to turn the tide and achieve a new victory over Nod.

As the conflict unfolds however, extraterrestrial forces known only as the "Scrin" suddenly enter in the battle, and alter the nature of the Third Tiberium War entirely.

[edit]Campaigns[]

After driving the invading Brotherhood of Nod forces out of a number of the world's Blue Zones, GDI's General Granger, acting on intelligence gathered from Nod POWs, begins to fear that the Brotherhood may be preparing to use WMD's and orders a pre-emptive strike on a Nod chemical weapons facility near Cairo, Egypt. Once there, GDI discovers that Nod was not only preparing to deploy their full nuclear arsenal on them, but that they are also in the process of manufacturing a liquid Tiberium bomb of unprecedented destructive power. The swiftness of GDI's response prevents a pending nuclear strike from Nod, but Kanecontinues the construction of the liquid Tiberium device unabated within his newly erected "Temple Prime" in Sarajevo.

Temple Prime subsequently comes under siege by GDI forces. General Granger plans to lay siege to the site until Kane and his Inner Circle would surrender, but Director Redmond Boyle orders the use of theion cannon upon Temple Prime to eliminate Kane's threat "once and for all". When the ion cannon is fired over Granger's strenuous objections, it detonates the liquid Tiberium bomb inside the temple, creating a cataclysmic explosion that reaches out into space and kills millions of people in Eastern Europe's Yellow Zones. Kane and his Inner Circle are believed to be among the casualties.

Shortly after these disastrous events, GDI's deep space surveillance network suddenly begins to detect multiple large unidentified objects rapidly closing in on Earth. Director Boyle orders the ion cannon network to be turned against the vessels, but the craft are unfazed by the attack and alien forces, known only as the Scrin, land on Earth and begin to swarm throughout the world's Red Zones, soon after launching massive assaults on all major cities across the globe. GDI realizes these attacks are meant to divert their attention away from the construction of massive tower structures in the world's Red Zones.

Kane, who somehow escaped alive, reveals to the player that he deliberately started the war with GDI to provoke the ion cannon attack on Temple Prime. It was the only thing that could detonate his liquid Tiberium bomb with sufficient power to lure the Scrin to Earth. Kane hopes to seize one of the Threshold towers the Scrin are building, which are interstellar teleportation devices they use to ship Tiberium offworld. The Scrin, for their part, realize they have been tricked, as only 5.3% of Earth's Tiberium is fully mature. They also did not anticipate such heavy resistance from the humans, whom they thought were driven to extinction by the Tiberium. Curiously, they recognize Kane from their databanks, and seek to learn more about him.

GDI succeeds in destroying all but one of the towers, which is protected by elite Nod forces, and the Scrin are able to finish the tower's construction just before GDI destroys their central control node in Italy. With the tower completed, it becomes invulnerable to all known forms of human weaponry and GDI is left with no option but to leave it standing under close observation, as it is completely inert following the destruction of the control node entity. Kane prepares to enter the tower using key codes stolen from the Scrin forces. At the end of the Nod campaign, Kane welcomes the Nod Commander to his Inner Circle. The GDI campaign has two endings, depending on whether the GDI Commander uses a GDI-built liquid Tiberium bomb in the final mission. If the bomb is used, the Scrin are defeated at the cost of massive collateral damage. Boyle becomes a hero and Granger resigns from the GDI in disgust. However, if the bomb is not used, Boyle flees and goes into hiding to avoid being tried as a war criminal. The Scrin, meanwhile, plan to invade Earth with a larger force.

Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
Cc3kw-win-cover
Developer(s) EA Los Angeles

BreakAway Games[1]

Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Series Command & Conquer
Engine SAGE
Version 1.02 (December 17, 2008)
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows,Xbox 360
Release date(s) Microsoft Windows
  • NA March 24, 2008
  • EU March 28, 2008

Xbox 360


  • NA June 23, 2008
  • EU June 27, 2008
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)
Media/distribution DVD-ROM, Steam[2]
System requirements


  • OS: Windows XP/Vista (64-bit not supported)
  • CPU: 2GHz, 2.2GHz (Vista)
  • RAM: 512 MB, 1GB (Windows Vista)
  • HDD: 6GB free space
  • Video card: nVIDIA GeForce 4, ATI Radeon8500 or greater (ATI Radeon 9200 and 9250 PCI, nVIDIA Geforce 4 MX cards not supported.); for Windows Vista NVIDIA GeForce 6100 or ATI Radeon 9500 or greater
  • Sound card: DirectX 9.0 compatible

Command and Conquer 3 - Kane's Wrath[]

Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath is an expansion pack for the 2007 real-time strategy video game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Developed by Electronic Arts Los Angeles andBreakAway Games studios, it was released on March 24, 2008 in the United States and on March 28, 2008 in Europe by publisher Electronic Arts,[3][4] and was also released on June 24 for the Xbox 360.

Plot[]

In the first act of the campaign (set immediately after the conclusion of Tiberian Sun), Kane enters a bunker deep in the Earth's crust apparently healed of all injury save for his face mask. He instructs the player to begin the Rio Insurrection by taking out the GDI presence in the area. After the player succeeds, Kane informs the player of his plan to reunite the Nod splinter factions. Since he cannot risk revealing himself to the world yet, he chooses Brother Marcion, the leader of the "new" Black Hand to convey Kane's will to the Brotherhood in his stead. The player is then commanded to drive Marcion out and capture him. Brought before Kane, Marcion comes back into the fold of the Brotherhood as Kane reveals himself to him, and removes his face mask, showing a completely scar-free face. Kane then orders the player to destroy a Liquid Tiberium facility in the Australian Outback as a 'grand gesture' to the remaining splinter factions to rejoin him.

During the second act (set before and during the events of Tiberium Wars), Kane begins to lay down the plans for the destruction of the Philadelphia, commanding the player, LEGION, to steal plans for the Ion Cannon network. Since the destruction of the Philadelphia would eliminate most of GDI's leadership, Kane predicts that Redmond Boyle will be his pawn and become the Director of GDI, so as to provoke the future liquid Tiberium explosion. The player is also ordered to capture Dr. Alphonse Giraud from his research facility, explaining his disappearance in the GDI campaign of C&C3. Afterwards, Abbess Alexa Kovacs has taken the view that General Kilian Qatar is a traitor to Kane, and plans to have her discredited by attacking Temple Prime in her guise, then leaking Ion Disruptor technology to GDI,thereby leading to General Qatar's execution being ordered by Kane. She reveals her doubts and fears about LEGION, and about LEGION being connected to the Tacitus during a cutscene before a mission and also tells the player(LEGION) that CABAL's cyborgs murdered her family, and is worried as LEGION is based upon the same technology that created and powered CABAL. After the Tacitus is secured on a mission, a highly distressed Abbess Alexa loses her cool and infects LEGION's core systems with a powerful computer virus while screaming: "I cannot let you connect to the Tacitus! I will not let you usher in an age of machines. I will not be your slave! I will not!". The virus destroys LEGION's systems, and Kane is alerted to LEGION's infection and catches Abbess Alexa red-handed in the act of destroying LEGION. Kane discovers to his horror that Alexa attacked Temple Prime in Killian's guise and had Kilian executed for a crime she did not commit. Alexa snatches a pistol from one of the guards as she is about to be taken away for interrogation and aims at Kane with it. Clearly beside herself, she shouts Nod's motto "Peace through power" and then commits suicide by shooting herself in the head, just as LEGION shuts down.

In the third and final act, LEGION reawakens five years later in the post-Tiberium War 3 period, and Kane focuses it on recovering the Tacitus. GDI has been meddling with the device, causing it to become highly unstable; Kane needs the Tacitus for his master plan, so he orders the player to first awaken the Marked of Kane, a faction of cyborgs that only LEGION is capable of controlling due to its link with the destroyed CABAL. With the successful reactivation, Kane then sends the player to recover the Tacitus from GDI's NORAD. After the Tacitus's successful capture, Kane connects it to LEGION, and the AI becomes infused with the vast knowledge of the object, ending the game in a cliffhanger. The ending video shows a reverse of the Scrin campaign introduction video in C&C3, and a message that implies that the Scrin would later try to send a full invasion force, similar to what the Scrin Overlord states at the end of the Scrin campaign in the original C&C 3.

ommand & Conquer: Red Alert 3
CnC-RA3-win-cover

Red Alert 3 cover art

Developer(s) EA Los Angeles
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Composer(s) James Hannigan

Frank Klepacki Timothy Michael Wynn[1] Mikael Sandgren[2]

Series Command & Conquer(main)Red Alert (sub-series)
Engine SAGE
Version 1.12 (July 15, 2009)
Platform(s) Windows, Xbox 360,PlayStation 3, Mac OS
Release date(s) Windows:

Xbox 360:

  • NA November 11, 2008[3][7]
  • EU November 14, 2008[5]

PlayStation 3:

  • NA March 23, 2009[8]
  • EU March 27, 2009[9]

Mac OS:

Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, co-operative,multiplayer
Rating(s)
Media/distribution DVD-DL, Blu-ray Disc,Steam
System requirements

Minimum: Windows XP SP2,

  • AMD Athlon 3000+/Intel P4 2.2GHz,
  • 1GB of RAM,
  • 6GB of free space,
  • nVidia GeForce 6 series/ATI X1800 or better,
  • DX9c or 10 compatible sound.

Recommended: Windows Vista SP1, or better

  • AMD Athlon X2 (3500+)/Intel Core 2 Duo (2.6GHz) or better,
  • 2GB of RAM or more,
  • 10GB of free space,
  • nVidia GeForce 6800 or better/ATI X1900 or better.

An internet connection is required to activate for online gaming.

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3[]

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is a 2008 real-time strategy video game developed by EA Los Angeles and published by Electronic Arts. It was released on October 28, 2008 in the United States for Microsoft Windows PCs and October 30, 2008 in Europe. An Xbox 360 version was released on November 11. On January 21, 2009 EA officially announced Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Ultimate Edition,[11] the PlayStation 3 version which contains bonus material extra to that of the Xbox 360 and PC versions and released on March 23, 2009 along with the Mac OS version byTransGaming. The game is a continuation of the Red Alert games within the Command & Conquer series. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising, a stand-alone expansion pack, was released forWindows in March 2009. It was offered via digital distribution.[12]

Like the previous entries in the Red Alert series, the game is set in an alternate reality from World War II, in which the Western Allies fought the Soviet Union. In Red Alert 3 the Soviet leadership, facing defeat, goes back in time to kill Albert Einstein and prevent his assistance to the allies, paving the way for Soviet domination in the present. However as an unintended consequence, a third world power, the Empire of the Rising Sun, is created and all three sides go to war. All three factions are playable, with the gameplay involving constructing a base, gathering resources and training armies to defeat other players. Each faction has a fully co-operative campaign, playable with an artificial intelligence partner or with another human player online. The game intersperses strategy missions with full motion video footage featuring an ensemble cast led by Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry and George Takei as the leaders of the three adversaries.

The game received mostly positive reviews, with reviewers citing the co-operative and multiplayer components as strengths, along with the enhanced role of naval combat compared to other real-time strategy games. Commonly cited weaknesses included aspects such as unit pathfinding.

Plot[]

The central premise of all three campaigns is the same, although each follows a different variation of the storyline. Facing defeat at the hands of the Allied nations, Soviet General Nikolai Krukov and Colonel Anatoly Cherdenko use a time machinebeneath the Kremlin to travel back to Brussels in the year 1927 at the International Physics Conference and eliminate Albert Einstein, thus changing the future. Returning to the present, General Krukov discovers that Cherdenko is the Premier of the Soviet Union and that the Soviets are on the brink of conquering Europe. However in this alternate timeline a new faction, the Empire of the Rising Sun, has risen in Japan who declare war on the Soviets and Allies desiring complete world domination, something they perceive as their Divine Destiny. The world is then plunged into a three-way war between the Soviet Union, the Allies and the Empire.

[edit]Soviet Union[]

In the Soviet campaign, the player who assumes the role of newly appointed Soviet commander who expels the Imperial Japanese forces from the Soviet territory while also fighting the Allied forces. The battle against the Empire of the Rising Sun culminates in the commander invasion of Japan to kill Emperor Yoshiro in his palace in Mt. Fuji. Despite an initial setback, the commander successfully defeats three Imperial commanders and kills the emperor on board his large battle mecha. The commander also participates in the parallel campaign against the Allied forces and is responsible for conquering Geneva and Mykonos.

The Soviet commander's campaign however is complicated by internal conflicts. Soviet General Krukov is accused of a coup d'état against Premier Cherdenko. Premier orders the commander to kill General Krukov during the joint invasion of the Von Esling Airbase. Dr. Gregor Zelinsky, the scientist who created the time machine, later contacts the commander and tries to reveal the events that has altered the past, but the communication link is abruptly cut and Zelinsky himself disappears. After the conclusion of a Battle in Easter Island, Cherdenko finally declares that the commander has outlived his usefulness and launches a surprise attack, only to be defeated and killed.

Following the Soviet commander's invasion of New York, the war ends with the player becoming the next Premier of the unopposed Soviet Union.

[edit]Allies[]

The Allied campaign places player at the role of the Allied nations' new commander who prevents a Soviet invasion of Great Britain and retakes Germany and France. The campaign however leave both sides vulnerable to the Empire of the Rising Sun that sends its floating fortresses to blockade the Allies and the Soviets. This prompts a joint attempt between the Allies and the Soviets to repel the Japanese invasion and to destroy the Imperial fortress in the North Atlantic. U.S. President Ackerman however, who did not approve of such a coalition attempts to destroy Moscow with a laser superweapon in Mount Rushmore. The Allied commander however, defeats the U.S. forces of Mount Rushmore and kills Ackerman.

With the alliance secured, the coalition plans an attack on Tokyo to wipe out the entire Empire military leadership with one stroke. This critical battle however is further complicated when the Soviet forces fail to show up and leave the Allied forces to fend for themselves. Despite the odds, the commander succeeds again.

After the battle of Tokyo, Dr. Zelinsky defects to the Allies and informs them of both the Soviet time travel and the Cherdenko's secret gathering of force in Cuba. Having discovered the Soviet treachery, the Allied commander eradicates the Soviet forces in Cuba. Subsequently, the commander and his forces are teleported to Leningrad. Cherdenko and his General attempt to escape to the Moon but are eventually captured and placed in a Cryo-prison for life. The Vice President of the United States, played by David Hasselhoff, then accepts power as the new American President in a public speech.

[edit]Empire of the Rising Sun[]

The Empire of the Rising Sun campaign begins with a full-scale invasion of the Soviet Union, just as the Soviets are defeating the Allied forces. Emperor Yoshiro's strategy involves striking at symbolic targets such as important monuments and employing fear to deteriorate the morale of the enemy. On the other hand, the Emperor's son, Crown Prince Tatsu, advocates modernizing the Imperial army and attacking true military targets, although his father would overrule him. The validity of the emperor's strategy however is soon challenged by the Allied full-scale attacks on Pearl Harbor at the Imperial islands of Hawaii and on one of the Empire's Floating Fortresses in the Pacific. Though both attacks are repelled and Hollywood is taken, a joint Allied-Soviet task force gains a foothold in Yokohama.

Having replaced President Ackerman with an android doppelganger, the Emperor learns of Zelinsky's defection and Cherdenko's time travel. This devastates the Emperor, as he thinks there can be no "Divine Destiny" if history can be altered. He surrenders the leadership of the Empire's military to his son. Under Prince Tatsu's command, the joint Allied-Soviet invasion of Yokohama is repelled and a full-scale attack on the Kremlin results in the deaths of Premier Cherdenko and General Krukov. Finally, the Empire invades Amsterdam, which holds the Allied Headquarters as well as FutureTech, the company responsible for much of the Allied technological advances. At the brink of defeat, Dr. Zelinsky's deploys a prototype FutureTech ultraweapon that annihilates almost everything in the city. Yet the remaining Imperial forces succeed in destroying what was left of the Allied and Soviet forces. Thus the war ends and the Commander is given the title of "Supreme Shogun".

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising
RA3UprisingPack
Developer(s) EA Los Angeles
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Composer(s) James Hannigan, Frank Klepacki, Timothy Michael Wynn
Series Command & Conquer(main)Red Alert (sub-series)
Engine SAGE
Version 1.00
Platform(s) Uprising

Microsoft Windows Commander's Challenge PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Release date(s) Uprising

Commander's Challenge

Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player
Rating(s)
Media/distribution Digital distribution[3]

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising[]

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising is a 2009 real-time strategy video game developed by EA Los Angeles and published by Electronic Arts. It is a stand-alone expansion to Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 released only for Microsoft Windows and offered via digital distribution. It does not require Red Alert 3 to play. It features about 30 new maps for traditional skirmish with many of these taking place in new environments. It does not contain any multiplayer elements such as cooperative play, online play or network play.

A part of Uprising called Commander's Challenge was also released as Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Commander's Challenge on PlayStation Store and Xbox Live for the PlayStation 3 andXbox 360 respectively on September 24, 2009. It functions as a stand-alone game and does not require Red Alert 3 to play. Commander's Challenge contains only the Commander's Challenge mode ofUprising and the new units and weapons, but not the campaign or skirmish modes. It currently costs 800 Microsoft Points on the Xbox Live Arcade.[2]

Campaigns[]

Uprising picks up on where the Allied Campaign of the original game left off. Four "mini-campaigns" are available, one for each faction in Red Alert 3 and a bonus one centered around the origins of the Empire's commando Yuriko Omega. Each of the campaigns is three missions long, with the exception of the Soviet one, which consists of four. Initially only the Soviet and Yuriko campaigns are available, the campaigns for the Allies and the Empire of the Rising Sun becoming available after finishing the first mission in the Soviet campaign.

Plot[]

All three campaigns assume that the Allied faction was victorious at the end of Red Alert 3. Both the Soviet Russia and the Imperial Japan have surrendered.

The Soviet campaign focuses on the remaining Soviet resistance trying to stop FutureTech, an Allied defense contractor which plans to create a super weapon called the "Sigma Harmonizer", a device to selectively stop time. FutureTech is revealed to have been helped by European Union President Rupert Thornley. Thornley plans to remove Soviet Union from the timeline.

The Allied campaign concentrates on defeating several Imperial commanders who still resist Allied occupation. Emperor Tatsu has seemingly begun to cooperate with the Allies, but reveals his true intentions after his military authority is restored by the fall of Takara, the last commander in the Allied campaign.

The Empire's campaign covers the fight against two Soviet generals whose attempts to conquer parts of Japan is ignored by the Allied governor. The Allied forces finally decide to intervene in the last mission by attacking both belligerents.

The Yuriko campaign recounts the story of Yuriko Omega, her origins and discovery by the Imperial military, her captivity by the Allies and her fight to rescue her sister. Unlike the other campaigns, this campaign resembles an action role-playing game instead of a real-time strategy. The camera is always locked on Yuriko and the sidebar, minimap and threat meter are replaced with a compact command bar dedicated to Yuriko and her abilities.

Command & Conquer 4:
Tiberian Twilight
Cc4tt-cover
Developer(s) EA Los Angeles
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Producer(s) Michael Glosecki
Raj Joshi
Designer(s) Samuel Bass
Composer(s) James Hannigan

Timothy Michael Wynn Jason Graves

Series Command & Conquer
Engine SAGE
Version 1.03
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
  • NA March 16, 2010[1]
  • EU March 19, 2010[1]
Genre(s) Real-time tactics
Mode(s) Single-player, cooperativemultiplayer
Rating(s) *ESRB: T
Media/distribution DVD, digital download
System requirements

Mouse, keyboard

  • OS: Windows XP (SP3), Vista (SP1), 7:
  • CPU: Intel Core 2 or AMD 64 X1
  • RAM: 1.0 GB (XP) / 1.5 GB (Vista, 7)
  • Graphics card: 256 MB compatible with Shader Model 3 support (DirectX 9.0c)
  • 10 GB HDD space
  • 8× DVD-ROM drive
  • Internet connection

Recommended System Requirements[2]

  • Intel CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz
  • AMD CPU: Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5400+
  • Nvidia Graphics Card: Geforce 7900 GTX
  • ATI Graphics Card: Radeon X1900 Series
  • RAM: 3 GB
  • Internet connection

Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight[]

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight[3] is a real-time tactics video game and the latest installment of the popular Command & Conquer franchise, released March 16, 2010. It constitutes the final chapter in the Kane saga. Command & Conquer 4 is the first game in the series to implement a form of DRM that requires constant Internet access; this type of restrictive DRM is fairly new and targets the used games market as well as ensuring that households must buy a copy per person. The game was released for digital download via online gaming distribution service, Steam on March 19, 2010.Command & Conquer 4 also utilizes EA's own servers for online play, rather than GameSpy Servers which EA has relied on for previous Command & Conquer games. A closed beta of the game was officially released by EA to contest winners on November 21, 2009.

Plot[]

The prologue takes place in the year 2062, 15 years after the Tiberium Wars (which led to the invasion and defeat of the Scrin), and 10 years after the end of Kane's Wrath (where the prophet regained possession of the Tacitus). Tiberium has evolved and is spreading at such a rate that the whole planet is expected to become uninhabitable by 2068. Humanity is on the brink of extinction.[7]

At this time, the leader of the Brotherhood of Nod, Kane, heads directly to the headquarters of the Global Defense Initiative,[4] in hopes of using the Tacitus and GDI's resources to construct a worldwide Tiberium Control Network. This network will allow the spread of Tiberium to be controlled and turn Tiberium into an inexpensive power source. Even though the idea of alliance has been met with hostility (which has sparked the brief Incursion War), the two factions have nevertheless united. The campaign itself starts 15 years after the formation of the alliance, as the Tiberium Control Network nears completion. The spread of Tiberium is finally stopped, bringing optimism to the world's remaining population. However, extremists from both factions start to cause unrest, which sparks the Fourth Tiberium War.

The player takes the role of Commander Parker, a GDI military officer who receives an optical implant after his battle wounds have caused him to lose his eyesight. The player is presented with the possibility to aid either Colonel Louise James' GDI extremists or Kane's Nod Loyalist forces in the Fourth Tiberium War. Both campaigns' events are considered canon, even though some details of the characters' interactions are different.

The game's missions chronicle Kane's attempt to activate the Threshold 19, a tower constructed by Scrin aliens during the Third Tiberium War that functions like an interstellar portal. According to canon, Kane is Cain from the story Cain and Abel. He explains how he has been around for thousands of years because he is punished to walk the Earth forever after killing his brother. He is very anxious to leave Earth so he can finally rest, and he plans to bring about "ascension" by using the tower. He claims to have used the Tacitus to help create both the Tiberium Control Network and the optical implants; these are, in fact, the keys to the activation of the tower. While the GDI and the Nod finally form an alliance, two groups of separatists desperately try to spark a war to stop (or punish) Kane. The madman Gideon leads the Nod separatists, while Colonel Louise James commands the GDI.

After the final battle for the Threshold 19, Kane is about to leave Earth using the Scrin tower. He convinces Commander Parker (the player) to activate it for him with the optical implant, as the four other implant recipients have been hunted down and killed by Gideon. The player is mortally wounded by Colonel James but nonetheless succeeds in activating the portal. In both campaigns, Kane promptly thanks the player before entering it. Commander Parker soon succumbs to his wounds and dies. The Tiberium growth recedes following the complete activation of Tiberium Control Network as Kane fulfills his "ascension". In the ending cut-scene, news channels announce that all the Nod followers have strangely disappeared as well after entering the Scrin tower, which shows that Kane's promise of ascension for all of the Brotherhood of Nod is, at least partially, real.

Credits[]

C&C Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer_(video_game)

C&C - Red Alert Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Red_Alert

C&C - Tiberian Sun Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Tiberian_Sun

C&C - Renegade Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Renegade

C&C - Red Alert 2 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Red_Alert_2

C&C - Yuri's Revenge Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Yuri%27s_Revenge

C&C - Generals Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Generals

C&C - Generals - Zero Hour Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Generals_%E2%80%93_Zero_Hour

C&C 3 - Tiberium Wars Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer_3:_Tiberium_Wars

C&C 3 - Kane's Wrath Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer_3:_Kane%27s_Wrath

C&C - Red Alert 3 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Red_Alert_3

C&C - Red Alert 3 - Uprising Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Red_Alert_3_%E2%80%93_Uprising

C&C 4 - Tiberian Twilight Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer_4:_Tiberian_Twilight

C&C (series) Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer

C&C Wikia: http://cnc.wikia.com/wiki/EVA_Database

All information, citation, and reference can be found on these Wiki's.

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