A Review: Command And Conquer: Tiberian Sun, PC 1999

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is a 1999 real-time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios, published by Electronic Arts, and released exclusively for Microsoft Windows in August 1999. The game is the sequel to the 1995 game Command & Conquer. It features new semi-3D graphics, a more futuristic sci-fi setting, and new gameplay features such as vehicles capable of hovering or burrowing. The main story of the game focuses on a second war between the UN-backed Global Defence Initiative (G.D.I.) and the cult-like Brotherhood of Nod, both seeking to rule over an Earth that is undergoing rapid ecological collapse. Tiberian Sun was one of the most anticipated games of 1999. Its development suffered numerous delays, with several features being cut before release. However, it was a commercial success and received positive reviews from critics, despite some of the technical bugs in the game. The dark atmosphere, foreboding soundtrack, and slow-paced gameplay of Tiberian Sun received a mixed reception from fans upon release, although it has earned it a cult following since. Its story of a military-industrial complex preoccupied with terrorism rather than environmental failure has been hailed as a metaphor for modern times. Several additional features were added to the game with the Firestorm expansion pack, including new units and a multiplayer global war mode. The game was later succeeded by the 2007 sequel Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, which was later licenced by Electronic Arts as freeware on February 12, 2010.  

 

I loved this game, and I must have completed it at least six times over the years. I can remember actually playing this game as a boy on my friend's dad's computer and thinking that it was stunning. Having only played the original C&C on the PlayStation at that point, I was astounded by how this game both looked and played on the PC. The new units and structure types fit into the world perfectly, with the new terrain and world generation being straight-up amazing. It was stunning that you could damage the environments with your tanks and heavy weapons, and it was something so new and fresh in the RTS genre. Blowing out the sides of cliffs and bridges was wonderful and added some serious depth and layers to the tactics that the player could employ. Both factions had improved features and responses that matched up much better to their individual core philosophies. With NOD fielding mostly inexpensive masses of foot units and the G.D.I. sticking to expensive, highly advanced tanks and weapons platforms. The new hover units were an amazing addition, and the new subterranean units were absolutely awesome. The plot was very good and tied into the first game very neatly, and of course I loved the Westwood vintage cheddar of the acting. The AI had a noticeable jump in quality and would respond to the player with far better precision and use tactics that were fairly advanced over the previous 'throw them all at him!' responses of the other games. I really liked the quality of life changes too, like being able to stack unit build orders and the lines that would appear on-screen to indicate that your units were doing as ordered. However, I would be lying through my teeth if I said that this game was anywhere near perfect at all. The lack of an air force was something that I thought was sorely missing from this game, and I didn't like how limited the air force units that were supplied were either. I did like the way that they looked and how they responded to controls, but they seemed hollowed out somewhat. There were also big stability issues with Tiberian Sun, and the game was littered with numerous bugs with scripting, softlocks to do with mission objectives, and necessary units being destroyed by accident. Several missions can be failed before the player can even take control due to accidental unit destruction. Not to mention that there were some serious lag issues for the game engine, and the occasional crash out to the desktop was also a thing. It was so frustrating that this game came out in the state that it did, as Westwood were normally very hot on the quality of their games. Yet for Tiberian Sun, they seemed to just rush the game out and leave in some serious, and at times, game-breaking bugs.


The looks for this game were a massive jump forward, in my opinion. Just looking at all the added depth and visual detailing in this game proves that. There was the extra work of adding in shadows to all of the units. Along with the lighting effects, day-to-night transitions, and all of the work put into the structures that are really worth taking note of too. The fog of war was improved and now reveals the terrain much smoother than in the other games. All of the animations are improved, and the work that went into the little standby animations of the soldiers checking and reloading their weapons is fantastic. The environments are rich and varied, and the ability to leave craters and holes due to explosions is brilliant. I loved the way that the tiberium and its plants looked, with individual shards of crystal visible, and I loved the little mutated creatures that you could see running around. The FMV sequences and the 3D CGI videos are great, and the green screen work is perfect. Visually, this game raises the bar for the C&C series massively.


Overall, I loved this game but ultimately knew that it was never going to be rid of the flaws in its foundations, of which there are too many to ignore and move away from. It is a shame, as this is a fantastic game if you take those issues away. Don't misunderstand, I still love this game and would recommend it to any RTS fan, but it does leave me wondering, 'What if?'


8/10 – A Good Game!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ