RTSHeaven Reviews: C&C Generals

[DukeLeto]

RTSHeaven Reviews

I will try to write up one review every day or two for the rest of the summer (or at least until band camp starts). Section scores range from 1-5, one being the worst, five being the best. The overall score is an average of all section scores. All games are reviewed on the following set-up:

1.53 GhZ AMD Athlon 1800+ XP

512 MB DDR RAM

nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB AGP

2.0 MB/s Cable Modem

Windows XP Home Edition SP1

1024x768x32 resolution

So here goes:

Review #1 - Command and Conquer: Generals

Since it is new, and a popular source of reviews, here goes...

I don't think we're in C&C anymore, Seth

What to say about Generals? It was an instant best seller. It was hyped for months before release. People camped outside stores, ran from place to place to find it, marked their calendars weeks, even months in advance. (Guilty of the last one.) So was it worth it? In a nutshell, yes.

Critical Stats

Full Name: Command and Conquer: Generals

Genre: Real-time strategy

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: Westwood Studios/In-house

Graphics

Everybody says they don't care about graphics, as long as gameplay is good. But let's be honest; would you buy a 2D RTS with War2-ish graphics these days? Of course not. So lets dive in to graphics.

The engine is a remake of the one used for C&C: Renegade. The actual engine has been completely overhauled, though, and produces top-notch graphics. The models are between 3 and 4 hundred polys each, producing a nice visual appeal withoput an excessive strain on your computer. Textures are terrific; the facial expressions on infantry, the tiny logos on the sides of tanks, the individual fronds on palm trees are all superbly done. But it'd the attention to detail that makes the graphics truly amazing. Trees sway in the wind, troops limp when they are injured, tanks show signs of battle damage. Destroyed vehicles leave little areas of flame behind. Builduings have crates laying around. You can even see through the holes in the Stinger Site camoflauge canvas.

But all of this graphical excellence comes at a dear price: The game requires at LEAST a GeForce 4 to run smoothely at 1024x768x32. But then again, who doesn't have at least a GeForce 4? ;)

Section score: 5/5

Audio

What's there to say? Some good music tracks, good sound effects, etc. Nothing to really set it apart from the crowd. But then again, it's just background audio. Who gives a cr*p?

One thing that has to be mentioned, though, is the attention to detail again. Trees snap when driven over by tanks, you hear the wind blow, and tanks revving up.

Section score: 3/5

Storyline

Uh, basically these terrorists are trying to take over the world and the US and China have to stop them. Not very original. As the single-player game progresses, the plot really does not. In fact, there is no real plot to speak of. Icky.

Section score: 1/5

Single Player

Well, despite not having any storyline to speak of, are the SP missions enjoyable? Oh, h*ll yes. Whether you're blasting your way through a terrorist camp with MiGs or shooting MiGs out of the sky from you're terrorist camp, the action draws you in. And once again, the attention to detail is amazing. Civilians flee in horror as your tanks apporach, dams are destroyed to flood downstream areas, and flights of aircraft soar overhead. And skirmish mode adds a bit more replayability.

My only major complaint is the nearly-braindead skirmish AI. Even a novice RTS player can soundly whoop it one-on-one on "Hard".

Section score: 4/5

Multiplayer

The QM matchmaker is the most advanced I've ever seen. You can choose your side, the team sizes, what maps you'll accept, even your color. But the best feature is the ping filter; you can choose to play people only with pings under a certain level. Unfortunately, there is no filter for their computer's speed. (Although there are rumors of one in the expansion.)

Custom is less well executed. You have no idea the skill level of your opponents until the game starts, and there are very few setting for you to choose between. There is no game speed slider, for instance, or any way to control starting money or unit count.

The constant server downtime is a bit beyond belief as well, although it's gotten much better recently.

Section score: 3/5

Gameplay

The section you've all been waiting for: gameplay. To me, this is another place where the game really shines. The overall game is very well balanced (except for that blasted MiG, although that's being fixed in the next patch). There are really no completely useless units, and all of the sides have approxamately equal win/loss ratios online.

As for the interface, I have mixed reaction. Whereas it's nice to finally be able to build units from more than one factory at a time, it's a royal poin in the @ss to have to deselect your unit to select a factory to build from.

On the topic of selecting units, my favorite thing about the game: NO GROUP CAP! If you build 13 Rebels, YOU CAN ACTUALLY SELECT THEM ALL! YIPPEE! :D Unfortunately, you still have to select production facilities (indeed, any building) one at a time.

Most importantly, though, the game is just fun. I'm not sure why, but it just has that feel. When you watch your tanks engage a group of outmatched techincals, whe your Nuke Cannons rain radiocative death down on your enemy's poor Stinger Sites, when your commando blows up their superweapon...you see why this game is soo worth your 50 dollars.

Section score: 4/5

The lowdown

Pros:

THE best graphics to date, period.

Excellently balanced.

NO GROUP CAP! :D

Good QM system.

Fun single player.

It just has that feel.

Cons:

No plot to speak of.

Poor Custom setup.

A lot of MP downtime.

It's EA, so don't expect a lot of support.

Reccomended: Yes.

Overall Score: 3.5 (out of a possible 5)

[gunner154]

man! this game is AWESOME! 3.5 isn't doing it justice.

oh well, it's your opinion. i must say that this game lacks one serious thing: disable superweapons. YOU CAN'T DO THAT! grrr