$20 GOTW: Command and Conquer: The First Decade

When you think of great real time strategy games and franchises, several names come to mind: Starcraft, Warcraft, Age of Empires, Total War, and Warhammer. One name that you may also think of (or should) is Command and Conquer. EA/Westwood’s RTS series made a huge impact on the genre when it debuted in the mid-90s, and today, it retains its status as one of the most enjoyable RTS franchises in gaming. Yes, there are games with deeper gameplay mechanics and better play control, but very few have contributed as much to the genre as Command and Conquer did. Now, fans of the series can play through the game’s glory years on this DVD, which contains every C&C game up to and including Generals, their expansions, a poster, and a DVD containing a documentary. This disc contains it all, from when GDI first threw down with NOD, to Red Alert’s alternate reality, to Tiberian Sun’s bleak post-apocalyptic future, to Red Alert 2’s goofiness, and to General’s more realistic spin on C&C. It even contains Renegade, the first person shooter spinoff putting players in the role of Havoc. Although it wasn’t well received as the rest of the series, it was cool being able to see many of the Command and Conquer units close up and get the chance to pilot some of the vehicles. Of course, Command and Conquer wouldn’t be complete without the series’ enigmatic villain, Kane. Be warned, it’s imperative that you visit EA’s website for information on the latest patches and fixes, especially if you’re a Windows Vista user. You’ll also want to visit this site and download the fan made patch 1.03, as it fixes several issues throughout each of the games. The game takes well over 9 gigabytes of hard drive space, so make sure you have plenty available. Apart from those issues, fans of the series, as well as RTS fans in general, will want to pick up this dvd. It’s basically a history lesson about the progression of one of the genre’s most memorable titles.