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| Review - Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath |
| Written by Marco Fiori | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 14 April 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars can be compared to a flash flood. For us, it came out of nowhere, swept us away and then vanished without a trace. In other words, we weren’t excited about it, then we got the game and were, and then finally we completed it and got on with our lives. We loved the retro feel to it; the tank rushes, the real life actors and cut scenes. It was a great strategy title but while it should be commended for its retro experience, that’s probably why, once we were done we moved on. In true RTS style it’s not enough to have a single game. There seems to be an incessant need for expansion packs and Kane’s Wrath is just that. Offering a thirteen chapter single player campaign, a new global conquest game mode and two new sub factions per faction, there’s plenty on offer for the C&C veteran, but does Kane’s Wrath fill your RTS appetite or does it leave you craving for your money back? Anyone expecting radical changes to the C&C format should move swiftly on as Kane’s Wrath has no such intention. The RTS genre has been argued by many to have reached its pinnacle, the highest point it can ever reach and it can be suggested that C&C acknowledges that. With that firmly in mind, it aims to bring everything that’s staple, firm and routine about the genre and add its addictive shine to it. If you’ve played C&C3 then you’ll know what we’re talking about, if not, you’ll need to because Kane’s Wrath is your typical expansion pack (as in it requires the original game). With that firmly in mind, let’s move swiftly on.  Let’s begin where most will start, and where we logically did; the single player campaign. Split over three acts and thirteen loosely linked missions you’ll play from the end of Tiberian Sun: Firestorm to beyond the timeframe in C&C3. That’ll most likely mean nothing to the average player but to the C&C fanatic it’ll make sense and be relevant to know where the game slots into. You’ll be taking your orders from Kane via live cut scenes which are acted with huge amounts of melodrama. It’s typical C&C again but it’s over the top and debatably intentionally amusing. You are tasked with guiding the fallen empire of Kane, from the ashes, to power, crushing everyone that’s in your way. It won’t win any Oscars and we’re not talking about the acting, but it does the job and it’s fairly convincing. The levels themselves and the objectives you’re tasked with (primary and secondary) are well thought out. They make sense and usually have you strategically planning your route of attack. It usually boils down to setting up a base while defending, building masses of troops and then rushing the enemy, wiping out everything in your path. Occasionally you’ll be given a handful of troops and a special commando unit and be tasked with being as stealthy as you can, but the most fun is to be had when you’re simply blowing things up. After all this is an RTS and more specifically, C&C3. We played through on medium and quite frankly found it a breeze. We were rarely challenged to the extent that we lost, but had the odd moment where we were using our full strategic brain. A skilled played can get through the campaign in about 6 hours and that’s if they know what they’re doing. We took it slow and finished a couple hours post that. Overall the campaign is enjoyable but it’s been seen before. This is more C&C3 so don’t expect large scale battles or mind bending AI. Once completed, Global Conquest becomes attractive. It’s the developers attempt to add a metagame to the linear, fragmented campaign. Your units will carry on from battle to battle so sacrificing troops actually has a penalty. As they rank up they’ll stay ranked up and if you’re accomplished enough, you can form an army of skilled, unstoppable units. The world is represented on a 2D plane and can be compared to Risk or Total War. The conquest mode will keep you entertained for a while but it’s unlikely to steal masses of your time.  The sub factions add some legs to the multiplayer, as does the ‘super units’ but you’ll most likely purchase Kane’s Wrath for its progression of the story. The key idea comes down to how much you enjoyed the previous game. If it left you yearning for more then there’s no reason as to why you shouldn’t buy Kane’s Wrath. If it lacked that addictive spark, it’s unlikely that you’ll buy the game. It’s not innovative or fresh but it’s an expansion pack and has no need to be. It’s more of the same and we’re pleased it is. Score: 7/10
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