Let me tell you an entertaining anecdote that I heard from my friend just now. Once upon a time there lived one terribly famous and popular series of strategies. Millions have played it. Hundreds of thousands could call themselves fans. And the fans would go to war for her if she asked. This RTS had three main projects and many alternative gizmos in the same universe. But one day its developers woke up and decided to break everything. Was a strategy – the strategy was removed. She was reputed to be beautiful – she was so disfigured. Allowed you to defeat the enemy with “money” – cut off the economy. And then we thought a little more and decided on the main feature of our competitors from Relic peek. However, maybe this is not a joke at all.
When the third Command & Conquer came out, there were joyful cries of “Kane is back.”!"there was no limit. Even fans of the first parts admitted that the new game was a success. It almost immediately became an e-sports discipline, on the gamesreplay website.org, battle records and tactics guides began to appear. Soon an addition was released that only improved the balance and made the strategy even more entertaining.
So there was nothing surprising when everyone found out that the fourth part would appear. Like, since Kane is alive, and if he wants to do more mischief, then the harvester is in his hands and let the land in which he will never lie down be his Tiberium. However, the developers decided not to amuse the fans too much and immediately announced that that’s it, the number “4” is the last. There will definitely not be a fifth part, no revenges, comebacks or other “bi-backs” for us.
But then no one would have thought that E.A decides to end it in such an extravagant way. The game has changed genre. Let’s go our way Relic, which turned Dawn of War into real-time tactics. Another question is how well C&C will he stand on someone else’s rails and will he be able to please as much as before?. After all, the revolution is not intended to ruin everything, but simply to make it better, more interesting and more unusual. Moreover, “Electronics” had no experience at all in creating projects of this genre. And the same Relic has been moving towards the rebirth of Warhammer since the days of Company of Heroes, where it gradually abolished RTS aspects and introduced new, useful.
Genre. The genre sometimes changes.
Previously, as you remember, in order to win, you had to abuse the enemy fighters and destroy his base. This time such a number will not work. And all because there is no more base. There are, so to speak, mobile barracks that produce soldiers and. All. No factories, harvesters, power plants – nothing at all. Only fortifications can be built here. Only.
How to win? By points. There are control points on the map that bring you closer to victory if you capture them. So the players run from one such “pillar” to another. Moreover, in addition to such points, there are also all sorts of additional objects. For example, rocket launchers. They strengthen you somewhat in the region where they are located. Capture such a defensive position, and all enemies passing by will receive an explosive dose of goodness right in the sirloin.
“Well, where the hell is the Tiberium??"- you exclaim. These are such green and blue crystals, yes? I’ve seen several. No, no, no fields or processing plants – this is all a rarity. Nowadays, a “piece” of the coveted resource flies to a certain point on the map, which can be picked up by any fighter and taken to your landing zone. Why is this? Let’s talk now.
Without equality, but with Brotherhood
I remember, E.A immediately promised that jettbet-casino.uk players would be able to upgrade to C&C 4, and a beginner will be very different from an already experienced user. It sounded strange. The main basis of almost all RTS is being violated. The opponents must be completely equal before the start of the match. They both have the same capabilities in achieving the goal, the same tools and tactical potential. Then the more skillful, experienced, and physically prepared person wins (this is a nod to StarCraft, where the ability to quickly click the mouse means a lot). And in Tiberian Twilight the developers were going to give more opportunities to those who play longer.
I didn’t fully believe that it would be like this. It’s still very strange. But it turned out that E.A still took the risk. As a result, after each battle you receive experience points and when you accumulate them, a new level is given. And the higher the number next to the “level” inscription, the more sophisticated tactics and strategies you can use.
Let’s say that at the first level we could only use five types of fighters and two skills (yes, there is such a thing here, but in general it is very similar to what was there before, for example, in Red Alert 3 – the ability to use a reconnaissance plane, drop a missile on the enemy, cause a magnetic vortex), on the second they will add one more warrior to you, on the third – two and a skill, and the coolest one will be the one who reaches the twentieth.
Are high-level fighters stronger?? Yes, partly. They have a large set of chips and are able to use very interesting tactics. Can a talented first-level newcomer beat a “folder” with the number 20 in his profile?? Undoubtedly. However, there is a preponderance in the direction of the “hells” here.
Well, now let’s return to Tiberium, with which we started the story about pumping. Those small crystals that can be carried by any units are needed specifically for using high-level soldiers and powerful skills. At the beginning of the battle, everyone has the same set of troops, but whoever takes the most resources to the base will be the first to be able to call upon giant fighters to support him (if, of course, the level allows). However, it is very difficult to obtain such an “amplifier”, because competition occurs not only between opponents, but also among allies.
Yes, one-on-one fights are becoming a thing of the past. If you are a lone wolf in spirit, then C&C 4 you will be uncomfortable. She is very demanding of team interactions. And if in Dawn of War 2 the “soloists” felt quite comfortable, then here they are no longer quite.
And all because the developers came up with another cunning plan to change their brainchild. They introduced classes. But the classes are not fighters or even heroes (which are not in the series C&C), and player classes.
What area are you from??
Before the battle, you need to decide what class you will fight with: attacking, defensive or supporting. The set of troops and skills completely depends on this. The attacker of the gentlemen from Nod fights with tanks, giant scorpion robots that can burrow underground, and other large humanoid robots. The Defender prefers infantry, but a wide variety – from quite weak to those that can easily disassemble any equipment for parts. And the support is fast and mobile troops – mainly aviation.
But in addition to recruiting fighters, these classes also have different main buildings. The support assembly shop flies, and the defense workshop can build defensive structures. And thanks to the fact that the specializations are completely different from each other, team interaction is achieved.
Support can help out a comrade who is attacked by enemies who do not know how to attack air targets. A defensive class player is able to build up allied points with defensive towers or rivet a bunch of repairmen and simply run after his teammates and repair them.
I don’t argue, it turns out very good. Moreover, classes can be juggled right during the battle. You’ll just have to save Tiberium again for tough troops. But, nevertheless, you can always quickly change tactics and take the enemy by surprise.
What do we get in the end?? Quite a classic real-time tactics game like Dawn of War 2. There are also skills, leveling up of soldiers and fighters of different “tiers”. But only unlike Warhammer, C&C4 something too simple. After all, all soldiers are tailored to strategies, and Relic they are all for tactics. Remember the infantrymen hiding behind the destroyed walls; machine gunners who climbed into buildings and created an impenetrable barrier of bullets; scouts who became invisible in order to bypass the enemy and throw grenades at him.
Here the war is very much in the spirit of RTS, although C&C 4 now a completely different genre. And what is allowed for strategy is unacceptable for tactics. And team interaction is somehow not impressive yet. Company of Heroes, World in Conflict and Dawn of War were much better. You can build such interesting schemes, but here everything is somehow primitive. It plays nicely, but if you compare the sensations, then it’s a new project E.A significantly inferior to competitors.
Death to those who love beauty
Yes, the graphics here are just terribly outdated and ugly. Look at the screenshots. See what colors are used? Tiberian Twilight sometimes looks disgusting. Sometimes cute, but never beautiful. I also recently played StarCraft 2 and now I don’t understand how to start the “Epilogue” again. After the brainchild Blizzard return to C&C 4 — how to climb into an old and time-worn Oka after an expensive, comfortable Rolls-Royce. It’s cramped, ugly, and also noisy when it drives.
Now imagine a situation where both of these cars are placed in front of you. And the seller says: “We’ll give each one 450 rubles, whichever one you choose.”?“And I believe that if someone points a finger in the direction of a square misunderstanding, it will only be out of love for the domestic manufacturer, that is, out of devotion to the series.
Yes, perhaps the campaign will extend the game, and new videos with Kane will make us forget about the terrible graphics, but the network mode, in my opinion, now looks weak. And if we continue the allusion, then it’s quite possible to drive our Zhiguli cars, especially if they are new, but previously we had BMW, Ford, and Nissan in our garage. And even if we’re already tired of them, we shouldn’t change to “Nine”.