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UPDATE: Command and Conquer: Kane’s Wraith

Recently Apoc (EA Community Manager) commented on the previous article Command and Conquer Compared.

The previous article was written to highlight the inconsistency between CNC3 and previous CNC games. The hope is that EA might fix Command and Conquer 3 or at the very least improve CNC3: Kane's Wrath.

I followed up Apoc's comment with an email.

I didn't have to wait long for Apoc's reply

To be honest, this wasn't the reply that I was hoping for.  However it sounds like Mike Verdu (Executive Producer) did read the article.  Maybe some of the ideas with become reincorporated into Command and Conquer.

Mike's comment about me being a fan of Tiberian Sun is not quite right.  Yes I am a fan of Tiberian Sun, however there were pictures from Red Alert 1 and 2.   I think what Mike noticed was a complete lack of Command and Conquer: Generals.

The reason Generals and its expansion pack Zero Hour didn't feature predominantly in the comparision was because they didn't bring anything to the Command and Conquer genre.  There was no Tiberium, no sidebar and players have to use "workers" or "dozers" to construct buildings.

Command and Conquer: Generals was a playable game, however I personally feel that, along with Zero Hour, they did not deserve to be part of the Command and Conquer genre.

Come on EA, make Command and Conquer the best it can be!

Update: Apoc from EA has responded, for information see Command and Conquer Compared Update

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UPDATE: Command and Conquer: Kane’s Wraith

This game is impressive, and the new interface is growing on me. I was mortified to find out they had swapped over the mouse keys and very relieved to find that there was an option for "classic mouse buttons" from a patch. The latest patch available at the time of writing is v1.08.

Patches are available from the Command and Conquer website.

Command and Conquer 3 is a great game to play. The introduction video cut scenes are nice, the special effects are excellent, people are in better proportion to everything else.

Online gaming is a mad frantic rush to build up your base. With the addition of cranes, you can add extra production queue to speed up building of your base. The downside to the crane is it adds a useless queue for building defences.

New and Improved Features

• War factory and Airport repair nearby vehicles, planes
• Solider unit is now comprised of 5 men, rocket solider unit contains 2 men
• Change attack stance
• New camera controls (can rotate the map, zoom in and out)
• Scrin
• Reverse move
• Multiple build queues
• Tabbed Interface (as seen in Command and Conquer Red Alert and Red Alert 2)
• Battlecast
• Easy internet multi-player setup

With all the good things about this game, it is still not quite the Command and Conquer that everyone knows and loves. It misses a few key items that have been available in some or most of the previous games.

Missing Features (in order of preference)

• Method for indicating whether a target is within range of attacking unit. (highest)
• Walls, Tarmac and Gates
• Indication of item being built is currently on hold
• Collateral damage to near by buildings by a destroyed building
• Water based units
• Command Outpost controls the radar (no radar without any, and when last one is destroyed the radar is not available)
• Engineers repair Garrisonable buildings
• Multi-player options (Shroud regrows, tech level, super weapons, start with base, Tiberium regrows)
• Control over game replays
• Random map
• Tiberium veins
• Par times for campaign game
• Better AI. (2x Brutal enemies crippled with 4 planes. Enemies built no anti-aircraft, when playing online.)
• Change music (lowest)

Compiled below is comparison of all the Command and Conquer games (excluding CNC Renegade) and all the features that are missing or in need of improvement.

If any features have been missed, please post a comment about it.

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