Not the father, but the grandpa of the Real-time strategy-Games is back. Command and Conquer Remastered improved and modernized, but does not change the original too much. It’s a tribute, a flawless implementation on modern PC systems, even playable with a 2560 × 1440 screen resolution and 4K.
Command and Conquer: The breakthrough of real-time strategy games
Sure, there is a certain awe behind this name. As Westwood DUNE 2 launched many things were new and intuitive, but with the first C&C new standards could be set in 1995. Animated sprites, destructible environments, that never existed before. There were full-motion cutscenes with real actors instead of clickable text passages with pictures. These were also completely revised for the campaign and even look good in high resolutions, considering how “bad” the raw material was. The campaign plays like an interactive B-movie like it did then. The series was known for that.
Everything you wanted to know about the first two C&C games can now be found in a bonus gallery.
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Was technical Command and Conquer wide in 1995, albeit limited. Now you can see differences between the infantry units, perceive damage to the buildings was better and the animations were all revised 25 years later. You can tell from the beginning that people were involved in the development here, who were already at that time Westwood have worked on the creation. Especially the new audio files are clearer than ever.
Retro graphics at the push of a button
If you tap the space bar on your keyboard, everything will be as it was back then. Just in 16: 9. The retro graphics look really bad when you consider that after such a long time you have “different” memories of the game. This is of course also due to the fact that our monitors had a completely different resolution at that time. I think I had a 15-inch 800 × 600 monitor at the time, so I remembered it differently. And that also accompanies us through the whole game: the good feeling of knowing it and not having changed too much to be unpleasantly surprised.
Welcome back Commander! Here is my favorite compilation: Mammoth tank with V2 rocket launcher. Add a few helicopters (not shown here) and everything is rolled over in Command and Conquer Remastered.
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There are some improvements or adaptations to modern times, especially in the control, which can also be set in the menu. Of course, the construction menu has been improved and adapted to the current monitors. This is particularly noticeable because everything is sorted so nicely. Units can now be queued, giving you more time to transport your units across the battlefield.
Command and Conquer Remastered: The return of the stupidest collectors
The units, especially the harvest collectors, have to be dealt with in both games. Unfortunately, you didn’t improve the AI much, or you didn’t want to disturb the original feeling too much. Collectors often take unusual paths and sometimes circle around the refinery. Tanks sometimes get stuck and drive slalom around an obstacle that they could have taken with a slight curve. Okay, it also somehow gives the game its flair that you can’t accept everything automatically. If we don’t command our units, they often don’t do anything. It works like this – at least to me – that the balance systems have been “improved” a bit when balancing. Of course I tried that in a fight against 7 heavy opponents. The Tesla coil of the Soviets and the flamethrowers in Red Alert still do a great job of defending an island with a bridge. With the associated map editor, you can create such a map relatively quickly. It doesn’t have many options like it did back then.
Conclusion on Command and Conquer Remastered
(Or what I’ve learned from it)
The late realization that Age of Empires apparently it was the better real-time strategy game. The Starcraft still lives today and I absolutely (!) one Remastered from Tiberian Sun. and Red Alert 2 would like to have. Don’t get me wrong, the old games were the “breakthrough” of the RTS genre and a milestone for 1995. But with the game mechanics at that time only in 4K, it is purely a fan service. Fans will be happy to spend the 20 euros, but the “young players” that are needed for the genre are not to be knocked off.
A “real” new one Command and Conquer will likely take many more years if it comes. General 2 was promising at the time, but never made it out of the alpha stage and was stamped. C&C 4 we forget and delete it from the gaming history books. Nobody talks about that anymore.
Command and Conquer Remastered offers a lot of great things. It’s pure nostalgia and chased me back onto the battlefield for a few hours. A must-have title for fans. The perfect entry into the world of genre newbies Real-time strategy.
Small addendum: Maybe in Skirimish / Online mode you could apply the AI opponent settings and improve the AI of the computer opponents in general. Then I would have my perfect C&C.
You can get more information about the game at official website of EA.com.
