Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360) Demo Impressions

Back in the day when I followed RTS titles on the PC, there were two major companies to watch: Blizzard Entertainment and Westwood Studios. Blizzard Entertainment is know for its hugely successful Warcraft and Starcraft games, and Westwood was huge with Command & Conquer.

Personally, I never liked Westwood's titles. I found they lacked the depth and strategy, as well as the quality, commitment, and polish that Blizzard's games had. It looks like I picked the right side to root for as Blizzard Entertainment is still around developing games and Westwood is no more.

I can't recall if Westwood was bought out by EA or not, but EA has been continuing their franchises for some years now, and based on the recently released demo for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360), I can say that even with a controller over a mouse and keyboard the franchise is as bland and shallow as it always was.

First and foremost though, I need to mention that Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars goes back to its roots with the original storyline, as well as full video cut scenes. And it has Michael Ironside trying to act seriously.

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Okay, now that I've stopped laughing my ass off and wiped the tears from my eyes, the full motion video cut scenes featured in the demo are complete cheese and I couldn't take them seriously at all. They pale in comparison to the excellent CG cut scenes that Blizzard has always used, and the in-game cinematics that most modern titles use.

Moving on to the gameplay itself, the demo features a tutorial, and 2 missions from the GDI Campaign, one that's very tutorial-ish, and none of them difficult. The last of these missions in particular sums up the Command & Conquer playstyle that has been in existence for over a decade: mass tanks and plow through your opponent(s).

Whereas Blizzard generally balances things to encourage a mixed group of units and appropriate counters (be they hard or soft) for the opponent to use, Command & Conquer has always been about tank rushes and this, to me, gets boring. Fast.

I did find that EA has done a good job with the limited Xbox 360 Controller, however. The controls for the most part are fluid and responsive, and have been tweaked since The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II to allow a greater level of control over a quicker time frame. Of course, it still can't compare to a keyboard and mouse, and this is why I believe that the RTS genre will not prosper on a Console.

Graphically, the game looks nice enough, but like The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, I still found it hard to properly see all the units on the battlefield, even though I'm playing at 720p. Perhaps that's because my TV, though 26" compared to my PC's 17" monitor, is a lot farther away.

To cut this post short, the Demo was good for a quick run and certainly provided me with a good laugh, but if you are looking for a non-Blizzard RTS, I would check out the PC version of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars of its upcoming Xbox 360 counterpart.

In truth though, based on this demo, I wouldn't recommend the PC version, or any version, of the game at all. It has a complete "been there, done that" feel, and there are better things to blow your gaming cash on.