RTS Games: The Best and the Worst

In the last couple of weeks I have picked up two new RTS games. Well to be a little more accurate I picked up the latest releases in a couple of well established RTS franchises: Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising and Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight.

These games illustrate perfectly the two ends of the current RTS spectrum, from entertaining gameplay to plodding methodical and poorly implemented trash. Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising adds another satisfying chapter to the Dawn of War series, even going so far as to allow you to import your character from Dawn of War 2. Command and Conquer 4 (lauded as the conclusion to the tiberium universe and 15 years of story) is sadly disappointing across the board. There has been much debate online about the removal of base building and resource gathering in favour of small scale battles with artificially imposed unit limits. Well perhaps debate is the wrong word, most gamers agree that this was a huge mistake on the part of the developers.

I did play in the beta of C&C 4 and thought it was a interesting idea. The beta was multiplayer only though, and didnt even give you the chance to try out skirmish mode against the AI. As a result I had no prior indication of how the single player missions would handle the drastically redesigned format. Well now I have my answer, the new format is a dire choice for the single player campaign. The devs were talking up the vast options we would have in approaching each of the missions, how they didn't code in solutions, just objectives that we  could tackle in new and inventive ways. Well I call bullshit!! I finished the Nod campaign yesterday - yes you read that right I completed an entire campaign less than 24 hours after buying the game - and I can say that in almost every instance, there was only one way to win (and it usually involved the selection of a particular battle class). The entire campaign comprised of around 7 missions, which is pathetic for the grand conclusion to the Tiberium saga that has lasted 15 fucking years. Add to that the fact that most of the missions can be completed in a half hour at most (really 15-20 minutes should be enough in most cases).

Now Gamespot tells me that the real value of C&C 4 is in its multiplayer aspect. Well I played through a bunch of that in beta and while it was fun to muck about with for an evening, I don't personally see much longevity in it. There are only so many times you can run around in circles capturing nodes, losing nodes and capturing nodes again before it becomes stale. Add to that the fact that the community is (just as in previous C&C games) dominated by the hardcore fanatics, those people who are kind enough to curse you out if you haven't won the game in less than 5 minutes.

So to summarize C&C 4 delivers a lukewarm, vanilla single player experience and a repetitive multiplayer experience dominated by pricks and assholes alike. Well you have a winning strategy there EA (not to mention another example of 'always on' internet DRM).

Alternatively Dawn of War offers a rich RPG/RTS that really draws you into your character (you build your hero your way and thus you feel more invested in him as opposed the faceless commander of C&C). Additionally the missions are kept fresh in DoW as the maps are varied and the textures are diverse. Sure when you get down to every mission really amounts to kill everything else, but the story is solid and plot moves along nicely. In C&C it feels like the story is being dragged kicking and screaming behind a truck to get to its - lets face it - preposterous conclusion.Finally DoW offers a far variety in its multiplayer via the Last Stand mode, where you face off against a horde of enemies with other hero characters. This offers a nice alternative to the tried and true capture and hold style gameplay that I find rather uninteresting.


Overall it's just really sad to see the franchise that essentially solidified RTS gameplay fall so far from grace. I still own all the old C&C titles and even fire up the first game every now and then. I have very fond memories of the old style C&C, but then perhaps that's why I find the new gameplay style so pathetically drab. I know Tiberian Twilight is the end of the Kane saga, but if they do release another game in the Tiberium universe, I believe I will skip it - in fact given the poor quality of this title I think it will be the last C&C game I ever buy. Looking forward to the next Dawn of War title though, that should be fun!!