Welcome back, Commander
For a quarter of a century of a well-deserved series, we were blessed with a remaster of the first two games under this banner: Command & Conquer from 1995 (also known with the note Tiberian Dawn ) and Command & Conquer: Red Alert released a year later . These titles then defined how we should imagine a representative of the RTS (Real Time Strategy) genre * and had what is most important – smooth and dynamic gameplay, available in single and multiplayer modes.
Status on FB – it’s complicated
The plot in both games takes the player to an alternate past. The titles divide one universe, which in the 90s felt the effects of the pollution of Tiberium – a highly poisonous substance straight from the cosmos that discovers deposits of precious ores and rare minerals. The world is divided between two factions – GDI (Global Defense Initiative – the equivalent of NATO) and the Brotherhood of NOD – a terrorist organization with unclear goals. Whether the evil Kane managed to achieve his goals, we will not find out, however, by using Command & Conquer: Red Alert , because it is a prequel in which Albert Einstein created a new timeline. In 1946, the scientist decided to erase from history the leader of the Third Reich – Adolf Hitler, as a result of which the second war broke out only in the second half of the 1940s between the Allies and the USSR.
This mixing with the entanglement makes the plot served to us in cutscenes worthy of B ** movies, but it does not interfere with the reception of the game. While watching them, you can boldly hunt for illogicalities or geographical inconsistencies. Thanks to Red Alert, I learned that we have mountains near Toruń, and regardless of the time continuum, Poland has its borders set in Yalta, even if the Second World War has not yet broken out.
Reinforcements have arrived
As for the arsenal, the two games are virtually identical. Red Alert develops the options available in the Command & Conquer series – you can see Albert Einstein flew not only into the past, but also into the future, taking toys from the 90s with him. In both games, we have several infantry units (depending on the side of the conflict, two or three ), a few tanks, which are usually slightly changed counterparts on the other side of the barricade), rocket launchers and combat helicopters. On the plus side of the renewed edition, which has all additions (a total of three – two for Red Alert and one for Tiberian Dawn)), there is also a renewed user interface adapted to today’s standards; you no longer need to desperately search for buildings and units in two rows on the right side of the screen – everything is available with up to two clicks.
It takes two to tango
Przystępność interfejsu nie ułatwia jednak trybu rozgrywki wieloosobowej. Tutaj wszystko jest po staremu – zabójczo szybko dla początkujących oraz interesująco dla doświadczonych graczy. Multiplayer z nieznajomymi zalecam tylko masochistom i osobom, które zjadły zęby na podobnych tytułach – po 25 latach istnienia gra ma wysoką barierę wejścia. Przed rozpoczęciem rozgrywki musimy jedynie wybrać frakcję – w przypadku Command & Conquer z 1995 możemy jedynie wybrać pomiędzy GDI a NOD, natomiast w Red Alertwe choose the country, thanks to which we get a small perk, e.g. increased rate of fire of units. You have to be ready for a match the moment the loading screen is extremely short – if someone goes out to the kitchen for tea after starting the game search, they could get into quite a bit of trouble. In general, it has everything that tigers and seasoned StarCraft veterans like the most – you can lose in 4 minutes, and on larger maps, players build several bases, in the meantime creating new hordes of units.
Playing RTS, I haven’t felt so excited in my life since the game started. In addition, this feeling did not leave me throughout the entire meeting in Red Alert – in the middle of the game I often howled terribly when, after a good exchange in the middle of the map, I lost one tank too much by oversight. It was an amazing adventure for someone who was used to sluggish RTSs like Company of Heroes or Iron Harvest , where three tanks are wealth – here we have to operate at least a dozen machines at the same time .
The only disappointment was the not-so-impressive matchmaking screen, as everything is old-fashioned here as well; People looking for attractive badges and ego-building ranks will reject the ruthlessly given ELO points, the W / L ratio and the current position in the world – only and so much. If anyone had told me that this is what the Red Alert multiplayer screen looked like 24 years ago, I’d take his word for it.
Chronoshift ready
Traveling a quarter of a century into the past was an amazing feeling – Command & Conquer Remastered allows you to take a new look at the genre that has been struggling for many years to return to the glory that, from the perspective of 1995, was yet to come. It’s amazing to rediscover that once even the minimap was not compulsory, and it was only unlocked after upgrading the base at that time
Subsequent Westwood Studios titles from the Command & Conquer series : Tiberian Sun, Red Alert 2, Yuri’s Revenge, as well as competitor productions: Star Craft, Fortress or Age of Empires – all of these games appeared in later years and were remembered by fans of the genre. However, none of them was as groundbreaking as Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn. With a clear conscience, I recommend the Command & Conquer Remasted Edition to everyone, regardless of whether you played RTS 20 years ago – you need to know the story, even if it can be changed by some strange gentleman with a time machine.
