My stance on the Command & Conquer franchise should be a fairly open public record by this point, but if by some chance you are unaware let me make it plain for you: the relationship I hold with the Generals property in particular is more extensive and passionate than that of several former lovers. I don’t want to go into details, but suffice to say that back in 2004 several unusual indiscretions were made.

When faced with a new iteration of a fairly multi-directional property such as C&C that is based largely on the engine of a predecessor, the question therefore becomes whether or not said iteration can live up to the high water mark and simultaneously surpass the limitations of the predecessors, which are henceforth to be known as the Sins of the Fathers. The answer, disappointingly, is both yes and no, in that precise order.

Yes, C&C3 is a great game insofar as that it adequately straddles the line of reinvention and status quo by providing a fresh mix of options operating under the familiar rules, all wrapped in a comforting blanket of fresh, shiny graphics. Overall balance appears to be achieved, and there are enough new units and tactics to be absorbed to keep this from feeling like a standard RTS re-hash.

Still, C&C3 is tragically marred by what has come to represent the EA hallmark, which is promise marred by insultingly egregious technical difficulties. Online game performance is so bad in general that I’ve resorted to turning my resolution down to 800×600, which I don’t believe I’ve used as a game resolution since the original Command & Conquer. Indeed, the entire multiplayer experience can be considered an affront to both good taste and general sensibility. I wish there was some lighter, more constructive way to put it, but I can basically guarantee that anyone attempting to play C&C3 multiplayer will wonder at least once within ten minutes whether or not they dedicated more than a single person to testing that aspect, and that’s not a positive feeling at all.

I’ve devoted some time to the pursuit of a means by which the gaming community can collectively know game publishers such as EA the myriad ways in which they’ve fucked up and pissed us off, but so far my efforts have been fruitless. As much as I want to punish EA for the ways in which their product has caused me to grind my teeth (and worse, wonder what features have been cut for future inclusion in an essentially mandatory “expansion pack”), but at the end of the day my desire to play with my equally flabbergasted friends consistently wins out. The message as it stands now is simply that averaged mediocrity is acceptable and sometimes even encouraged. Is that an exciting way to think about spending $50, or what?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 12:04 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.