There are few games in existence that mean as much to me as the original Command & Conquer. Having played Westwood Studios Dune: The Battle For Arrakis on a friend's Sega Genesis back in the day I was excited to get my hands on their next real-time strategy game set in a wholly original modern world. I saved up for weeks but at last, I had enough money to purchase my very first game, the original DOS release of Command & Conquer in 1995! Throughout the past 25 years, I have bought and sold different versions of the game to the point I now own each version of the game across PC, Mac, and consoles. When it was announced that EA was going to remaster the game in November of 2018 I was immediately hyped! Since then I have eagerly awaited any snippet of news about the project's progress. Now, the remaster is finally available and I am extremely happy with what we have gotten!
Story
Review code provided by the publisher
An alien substance known as Tiberium has infected the earth and spreads across the surface absorbing nutrients from the soil. While poisonous, Tiberium is worth a lot of money once it is refined and has some yet to be discovered properties. The global terrorist group, known as the Brotherhood of Nod, seeing the potential of the substance has set up mining operations all around the globe to get as much of it as possible. The only thing standing between Nod and its bid for world domination are the soldiers of the Global Defense Initiative. Whether Nod or GDI come out on top is purely up to you; “welcome back commander!”
Gameplay
The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection combines the original Command & Conquer and its spinoff Command & Conquer: Red Alert alongside each game's expansion packs into one definitive package. Even the previously console-exclusive bonus missions across PlayStation and Nintendo 64 have been included! While these missions have been modded into the original release for years, it is awesome to finally have them included in an official release of the game! When everything is said and done, there are over 100 missions for you to sink your teeth into.
With this being a remaster, the core game remains practically identical to that original MS-DOS release from 1995. The same missions, the same units, the same briefings, the same strategies; everything will be nearly identical to how you remember it. The biggest change for the C&C Remastered Collection comes from its updated artwork which allows the game to be run up to 4K resolutions. At any point during gameplay, a press of the spacebar key will toggle the graphics back and forth between the old and new styles. If you really want the authentic experience of playing the old DOS version, you can change to the old art style and zoom the game screen all the way down to the original 320x200 view where you could hardly see a thing! Every menu has also been redesigned in an updated visual style that retains the looks of the original games. As you first launch each game you are even greeted by an install screen that mimics those from the original DOS versions! Booting up the game for the first time seriously overloaded my nostalgia and love for this franchise.
Check out the entirety of my Nod playthrough here!Diving straight into the Nod campaign I was amazed at how clean everything looked in motion. The new graphics have really smoothed out the animations and give the game a whole new clarity I am just not used to after so many completions of the other versions. Seriously, there are few games I have finished more than the original Command & Conquer across each of its versions. In fact, I beat the Nod campaign again on Sega Saturn just earlier this year to finish up my Retro-Bit 2.4 GHz wireless Sega controllers review!
The playthrough of the campaign went exactly as I expected with every one of my tried and true legit and cheesing strategies working like a charm. No joke; they didn’t change a thing and I love it! The story was the same for my GDI playthrough but the game seemed slightly easier than normal. Speaking of difficulty, the game now features an adjustable difficulty level with easy normal and hard being selectable. I honestly couldn’t tell much of a difference between normal and hard myself, but easy did result in far fewer attacks than is typical for the game so it will be a great option for those who are struggling with the game's tougher missions.
While I am not as familiar with the Red Alert side of things as far as the campaign goes, it also felt just like I remembered, including its crazy difficulty spikes in even early game missions. I must admit, when it came to Red Alert, all of my joy of that game came from the skirmish mode and playing multiplayer with friends over dial-up. Yes, dial-up; this game came out in 1996 for crying out loud. With the remaster, both games now have a fully functional modern online interface and I have been having a blast with it. I haven’t gotten the chance to play a ton of games online but what I have played has worked well.
What has me the most excited is that the original Command & Conquer now has its own skirmish mode! The original game didn’t include this mode and even the online multiplayer at the time wouldn’t let computer adversaries build bases, so it was really only fun to do 1v1’s with friends. For those out there who love to make multiplayer maps, this remastered package also includes a full map editor to let you create the ultimate battlegrounds!
To help bring the game to the modern era, a number of convenience changes have been implemented, including a new sidebar that has units, vehicles, and structures split across separate tabs. In the original this was all in one bar split across 2 columns and players could scroll through them. To be honest I like the old sidebar better than the split tabs but I am vastly in the minority here. Mouse controls can also be used in a modern 2 button way with left click being select and right-click to move. Double-clicking any unit will select every unit of that type which makes breaking up different attack groups far easier than before. Health bars and resource storage can also be displayed at all times now, giving better awareness of what you need to do. Each of these features are optional and can be turned off to give the original C&C experience if desired.
Visuals
As I have mentioned a number of times already, the game looks really good now! Units and structures have wonderful new details to look at and the terrain looks better than ever. There are a few things about the remastered graphics I am not a fan of though. Infantry look far more cartoony than they used to and it makes them stand out in an odd way from the environment. Vehicles also seem to float on the backgrounds as none of the wheels or treads are animated. Both of these things can be mostly forgotten when played zoomed out but if you want to zoom in to really appreciate the new art they become very obvious.
Now as for the mission briefings, the original recordings were lost to time so the C&C Remastered Collection uses the video files from the PS1 releases. AI upscaling has been implemented to bring the videos to higher resolutions and framerates with some interesting results. Scenes involving real people, like the one and only Joe Kucan, don’t look half bad considering the 320x240 15 FPS source material. Most of the pre-rendered stuff on the other hand looks absolutely ridiculous and anything overlaid onto the video is a pixelated mess. Not a major deal-breaker in any way and I honestly think what they were able to achieve is nothing short of amazing. If they had re-recorded any of these scenes it would have lost the charm that made them so great to begin with.
Audio
One of the things I love most about these older C&C games is the music. I have so many of the tracks on my computer and I listen to them quite regularly. For the C&C Remastered Collection, the original composer, Frank Klepacki, was brought in to update and re-record the music and the results are stunning. Each track that has been remastered has a wonderful balance between familiarity and new tones. New bonus tracks by Frank Klepacki & The Tiberian Sons have also been added to cover a number of games in the Command & Conquer series including Red Alert 2. In total there are over 100 tracks you can choose to listen to during gameplay, and with a customizable jukebox, you can ensure only your favorites are present!
Of course, music isn’t the only thing that has been remastered for this release. Every one of the game's sound effects has been re-recorded and they sound great. Normally I have mixed feelings about these sorts of changes as I did with Halo Anniversary. In this case though it sounds natural and I enjoyed hearing it all. New voice work was also done for a few of the in-game dialogues but it wasn’t much. I just think it was cool they brought back the original voice of EVA, Kia Huntzinger, to do the new lines!
Replayability
The sheer amount of missions included in the C&C Remastered Collection alone will keep players occupied for many hours. Once the missions are done there is the game's multiplayer and skirmish modes to keep the battle raging as long as you want. Mod support is also included in the game so as those get released you can easily enable them to try out new things! What I think will keep me most occupied for the foreseeable future though is the unlockable bonuses, which include green screen takes from the mission briefings and hidden music tracks.
What It Could Have Done Better
Even with how well this remaster has been done there are a few things I noticed that had changed from the original. Airstrikes can no longer be manipulated as easily and they do far more damage than they used to. This also has the unfortunate side effect of them being even more annoying than they used to be. I also had a few problems with units being unable to attack patrol boats like they used to in every other version of the game. Then there are the oddities in the new graphics that I mentioned earlier. None of this is in any way deal-breaking to me but they are moments that made me pause and wonder what the heck was happening.
Verdict
The original Command & Conquer games can now be easily played on modern operating systems with a nice new coat of paint and spectacular audio work. The spirit of what made these games classics and genre-defining from back in the day is fully retained with the added benefits of 25 years worth of quality of life improvements. There is a massive amount of content to absorb here and it will keep long time fans engaged while being approachable to a new generation of players. This is honestly how a remaster needs to be done and will be an example I will point to for years to come. The greatest part of all of this is that the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is only being sold for $19.99! With all of the work and bonuses put into this release I expected it to come in at the typical $50/$60 mark (which I would have happily paid). At this lower price point this is an absolute steal and a great way to relive these games.
