The way we came before: Computer Gaming Antiquity #1: Command & Conquer

Sunday 6 February 2011

Computer Gaming Antiquity #1: Command & Conquer – Tiberian Sun

Everyone fan of computer games who is old enough remembers Tiberian Dawn – the modern classic which saw the introduction of a great storyline pitting warring superpowers NOD and GDI against each other in a global struggle to control supplies of a valuable alien crystalline infestation called Tiberium. But this game also saw something else – a revolutionary change in the mechanics of RTS games and is generally regarded as the defining title in that particular genre. The quintessential formula cooked up by Westwood is still essentially unchanged to this day. This was the game that set the benchmark by which all the others are judged… and it was absolutely amazing.

But it isn’t the original I want to talk about… it’s the sequel – Tiberian Sun. I’ve been playing this game a lot recently. Not through boredom but because for some strange reason it just never gets old especially when played over LAN. Granted for LAN gamers in the early years of Windows Vista and the abolition of the IPX protocol, it was a bitch to get working but now this is easy to resolve this classic has since been given a new lease of life. The game has also since been released as freeware along with Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert. This has come as somewhat of a relief to me as over the years I have purchased more copies of this game than I care to remember. But for some strange reason I can just never find a damn Tibsun CD when I want to play the game. Tiberian Sun CDs are up there with socks as something I continually buy but never seem to have. After Red Alert 2 was released, Westwood Studios was liquidated by its parent company Electronic Arts who subsequently assumed control of further C&C games. The lacklustre Generals was followed by Tiberium Wars – the third instalment which I do regard as an excellent game. I haven’t yet had chance to play either Red Alert 3 or Tiberium Twilight although at some point in the future I will no doubt get round to it. Perhaps not the latter because the most hardcore fan of the series I know told me it was crap which really doesn’t bode too well for it at all.

In my opinion though Tiberian Sun is and continues to be the best instalment of them all. It’s the LAN play that keeps this game alive. By editing the sun.ini file, the graphics can run at the native resolution of modern machines, it doesn’t look dated. It doesn’t feel dated and you can play it for hours and hours and hours. I once played a game that lasted 12 hours, my opponent was virtually certain of their victory erroneously believing that all they were doing was hunting down the last remnants of my forces unaware that much earlier in the game I’d set up a secret base and begun mass producing Cyborg Commandos in preparation for base invasion they just hadn’t seen coming. The game is fantastically tactical and strategic; sometimes it becomes a race to control the high ground, a particular pass, a particular ore field. Sometimes it comes down to predicting what your opponent will do, attack by air, underground, engineer rush, you name it there is an attacking method and against a human opponent it becomes like an ultra sophisticated game of chess. To make this game even more interesting, it is endlessly modable, it’s easy to create new units, to tweak the capabilities of existing units, to alter the core values affecting the overall strategy of the game. By altering the rules.ini file, you can create a completely different game. And lately in LAN gaming parties, that’s precisely what I’ve been doing. If you’re a gamer and you’ve never played this game… it’s a must.