Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (PC CD)

Tiberian Sun is one of the first of the Command & Conquer series but is no less challenging than subsequent C&C games. Since it is a relatively old PC game it does not demand a great deal from your PC and is an excellent introductory game to those not familiar with PC games.

It is set on Earth and is played in the third person i.e. you command your forces from an elevated perspective.There are 16 missions to complete and each mission gets gradually more complex as the game progresses. If you fail to complete level 3 you cannot progress to level 4 and so on. A good tip here is to try each level on 'easy' before aiming for 'hard' as this will give you an excellent idea of what to expect in the more difficult levels.

Most missions require you to build a base, amass an attack force then unleash its diabolical firepower on some very aggressive enemies. The soundtrack is eerie and atmospheric and helps sets the tone for each level. Many of the levels are genuinely challenging and you'll pull your hair out trying to figure out a strategy to get you through. Another good tip here is to save your game regularly so that you won't need to go back to the very beginning of a mission if you try a strategy that fails.

Forces at your disposal range from armed human personnel to fighter bombers and if you're going to complete all 16 levels you'll need to use the lot! Games don't get much better than this.

Like its predecessor, this second instalment in the Command & Conquer series received high critical acclaim. In between the original game and Tiberian Sun, the Westwood Studios team had created the spin-off original Red Alert, and had been bought out by EA Games, still a global gaming industry giant. Sun and following instalments have attracted certain criticism from gamers following the change in management, but do the sequels live up to the originals or have they gone down in quality?

Sun draws in an interesting mix of acting talent, and its obvious that, compared to the original C&C wher ethe budget was tight, a big effort was made to create a visual story to accompany the action. This was a mixed success in my judgement. There was undoubtedly a touch of over acting here and there from the bit parts, and a few times from Michael Biehn, but Joe Kucan is Kane, and Frank Zagarino and Monika Schnarre were deliciously evil as Slavik and Oxanna. Tiberium played a much bigger role in proceedings, and the inclusion of the third faction of the mutant Forgotten provided a clear demonstration of its effects as well as adding to the complexity of the story. That said, there were certain plot points which frustratingly were never fully explained. What is this divination process, for example? Why is Nod interested in it and what do they hope or believe it will achieve? I got the sense that the divination process involved injecting or exposing people to tiberium - but this makes the Forgotten terminally sick, and surely Nod doesn't have or indeed want sick, weakened soldiers?

The graphics are pretty good, if dated, but don't feel too blocky or grainy at all. The interface sticks to the tried and true sidebar with select and click commands via mouse. The best improvement on the original is that you can stack up unit build commands up to five in a row, so whilst you're waiting for five titans to build you can grab your orca bombers and focus on taking down specific Nod defences, and when you come back the titans will have been built for you without any further input. It still felt like tiberium collection was fairly slow. On some missions I had four or five harvesters gathering tiberium at once and occasionally I'd still have to wait for funds to come in, which slowed the mission down.

The campaign is truly epic in scale with its 18 missions for GDI and 17 missions for Nod - provided that the player takes every opportunity of completing the optional missions that is. In certain places, as in the original game, divergent missions are offered in which only one or the other can be selected for completion, meaning that the game offers notable replayability. Another great improvement is the revamping of all the units and buildings afforded to each faction. There's barely a sign of conventional warfare here, as GDI and Nod each wield their own futuristic, though reassuringly familiar, units and technologies. Tanks in the GDI faction have been replaced with massive armoured robot walkers, and though the Nod tick tank is a bit more well-known to the eyes, it can transform at a click to an entrenched turret. Long drawn out missions which require you to spend time building up your forces and slugging it out with the opponent are balanced by small team infiltration type missions where successfully navigating your way across a map crawling with enemies before the time limit runs out provides a fast paced change of action. Each and every mission is different, presenting tricky new challenges, and whilst the first couple of missions are reasonably easy, the trickiness soon ramps up.

So how does Sun sit within the series? The wacky storylines and colourful, imaginative technologies from Red Alert 2 and 3 place them at the top of the pile in terms of sheer fun - but the originals of both C&C and Red Alert are, if more sparse, truly classics. Sun offers more entertainment value than C&C, but certain points of the plot could be a little clearer, and in certain places the media is a mixed bag of good and bad points. Overall I'd say Tiberian Sun delivers through the sheer length of its campaign and the redevelopment of a more focused futuristic ambience and storyline, combined with completely reworked tech and an enhanced interface experience.

Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun is still one of the best RTS Games I have ever played. Yes, it was hyped up more than deserved in magazine reviews and it was delayed for 2 years from it's first initial release date but most games are, at least good games are that have no bugs, glitches or limited gameplay.

You get to play great games - every mission is a challenge and great fun with a story line. The storyline with all C&C Games make it what it what it is. This game has brilliant graphics too.

I just wish Westwood Studios had made more games as good as this after Tiberiun Sun because Command and Conquer Generals and C&C Renegade were a bit of a let down for me but the Red Alert 2 is great, as is Yuri's revenge.

In Tiberiun Sun you still have to decide which side you play evil v good - NOD v GDI and you still harvest Tiberium for credits and get to train advanced new military units and soldiers.

Some of the machines, buildings and advanced tanks were never to be seen in the final game but this was down to the hype that was in the game reviews before the game had been released.

I waited for this game several years and was not let down. Game expectations were high for me but I doubted some even though hype was enourmous.

Electronic Arts Developer: Westwood
Studios First Announced: 1995 Released: August 1999

If you enjoy playing RTS Games in the New World Order then this won't disappoint you.

Welcome to the New World Order.

No other strategy games compare to this one, there are many I have played years later and none have matched this yet. I doubt any ever will. Yes I am a big C&C fan with good reason.

New units and options bring new strategies to gameplay, after you have completed all missions you will be wanting more. This is one addictive game and great fun. C&C series did firestart RTS games off to a good start.