f you want to see PC gamers topple over with laughter, tell them that you enjoy playing RTS on console. Given just how poorly this genre has fared in this venue over the years, you may find more believability in someone saying that they would jump at the opportunity to play World of Warcraft on Nintendo DS. The idea of playing RTS on console may not compute with the PC-savvy nation, but it is something that Electronic Arts is slowly transforming into a reality.
The company’s Xbox 360 port of The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II demonstrates a viable approach to replicating the swift and complex play of an RTS on a console controller. In the Xbox 360 port of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, this formula is further advanced. The PC version still has an edge in terms of user-finesse and sheer speed of play, but the fact that it’s just “an edge” shows just how far EA and the RTS genre have come on console.
Part of this game’s success rests on its simplistic design. RTS fans can rant all they want about how it doesn’t come close to offering the same level of micro-management found in Starcraft, or the genre-bending innovations that made Company of Heroes such a hit, but in its simplicity, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars delivers one of the greatest single player campaigns in all of RTS.
From the moment that you deploy your first unit, you can’t help but find yourself completely engrossed by this epic war. Kane, the leader of the religious cult, Brotherhood of Nod, is once again making his bid to purify the planet through bloodshed. As the Global Defense Initiative keeps this madman and his forces at bay, a greater threat, the biggest one to ever grace this planet, arrives from the far reaches of space. In the midst of another World War, mankind is also faced with combating a hostile alien known as the Scrin. Outside of Darth Vader showing up with his Death Star, this battle really couldn’t be bigger or more entertaining to watch.
Rather than reinventing Command & Conquer for a new generation of gamers, Tiberium Wars is clearly designed for the series’ fans. The complexity of the game hasn’t changed in the slightest. In typical C&C fashion, you don’t out-think your enemy or out-maneuver them, you just crush them with pure force and the largest number of units that you can fit on screen. As much fun as it is to build unstoppable armies, variety can be found in varied mission objectives. A good example of this is the stage that takes place in a rundown and nearly demolished base. You must hold this ground until reinforcements arrive. What makes this feat tricky is that you have to manage the power grid. Not every structure in the base can be online at once, so you’ll have to rotate between base defenses and building. Missions like this one will make you sweat profusely as your unit numbers dwindle or a timer nears zero.
The intensity that accompanies each mission is matched by amazingly intuitive controls. Menu navigation and field maneuvering are as swift as can be. Unlike Lord of the Rings, you never really feel like you are fighting against the game itself. If you can handle an Xbox 360 controller correctly, everything clicks together perfectly. You can even tweak the cursor magnetism and scroll speed to allow a higher level of precision in your tactics. To say something that has never been said about an RTS on console, this game works remarkably well on the controller.
Tiberium Wars is also quite potent online. Seige mode is a serious struggle of skill, and there are some great maps for King of the Hill, Capture the Flag, and Capture and Hold. I didn’t think I would enjoy using the Vision Camera during play, but seeing someone’s reaction as you drop a nuke on them is as priceless as seeing a newborn baby.
Command & Conquer set the RTS genre ablaze way back in the day, and now, after a stellar showing on Xbox 360, it is leading the RTS charge on consoles.