Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Josh does, as he packs up his MCV and makes some units while rollin’. C&C veterans might cry sacrilege at that statement, and it’s true that there are some radical changes in this final installment of the Tiberium saga. Read on for details.
[imgclear] Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.
And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.
This review was submitted by Josh J. If you’ve played C&C4, or just want to ask Josh more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight
C&C4 is the finale to the fifteen year old franchise starring our beloved and very bald Joe Kucan. This game concludes the tale of Kane and Tiberium while completely deviating from the tried and true C&C formula of RTS gameplay – gone are such apparently antiquated concepts as harvesting and base building.
Loved
Nostalgic bliss: There is something vaguely triumphant about the game’s title, Tiberian Twilight. This is a fan voted title choice. See, the first game was Tiberian Dawn, the second was Tiberian Sun, but then Westwood exploded and EA called the third game Tiberium Wars. And then there was no stellar themed meteorological nomenclature. And it sucked. But now there is Twilight and nothing will dull this victory.
Tiberian Sun was my childhood – don’t judge me – and it soothed my soul to see units like the Cyborg Commando, Titan, Mammoth Mk II, and Hover MLRS make a comeback in gloriously crisp 3D.
Quality Audio: We all love Frank Klepacki and it was decidedly disconcerting to hear he wasn’t involved in C&C4. Music, however, is surprisingly fresh and unique, giving battles much needed atmospheric effect. Units have great voiceovers with nice variety – there are actually chicks in your armies now, as crazy as that sounds.
[imgclear] Hated
What the shit have you done to my C&C?: Players start with one of three “classes” of pseudo MCVs dubbed Crawlers. Crawlers can build units (Defense class can build turrets) while moving but must deploy for the unit to be produced on the field. By the way, units cost nothing. Let me repeat that, just to make it absolutely clear:
Units cost nothing.
There is no harvesting. You build any unit you want at any point in the game with the only drawback being each unit counts toward a population limit. Upgrades and “teching” are accomplished by a rather bizarre method of “capture the flag” where units grab chunks of Tiberium and take them to “deploy zones”.
So, where does that leave us with regards to tactical options? There is no way to deny enemy resources. There are no enemy bases to attack. There is just a huge, fat, and annoyingly hard to kill super-tank which is constantly producing units to smash against yours.
Story suckage: This setting is fundamentally about GDI and Nod hating each other a whole lot. So, it makes sense that apart from splinter groups, GDI and Nod are essentially friends for the entirety of the game. Alternatively, this doesn’t make sense at all.
The campaigns are short. If you’ve become accustomed to C&C campaigns being epic and satisfying, prepare to feel ripped off as they suddenly stop without having built up any momentum whatsoever.
In summary, C&C4 is a tortured, piteous freak – the twisted result of forbidden experimentation on genre hybridisation and brutal DRM prototyping. We cradle this poor, wretched spawn and cry for its very agony of existence. We choke out a final farewell to the Tiberium saga as its twilight dwindles into darkness.
Reviewed by: Josh J.
You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 500 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.
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