Seriously? This is the longest gap between two titles in the overall C&C franchise, and they phone it in like this? I have to say, I enjoyed and got into every other installment up to this(yes, including Renegade, come on, it was OK... I actually had a bigger problem with Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge, pure camp), at their worst, I found *something* to love about them. Believe me, I have no axe to grind. It's quite evident that these have taken steps downward since EA took over. Hopefully it got better after this. Next to no upgrades(and yes, a couple of them are useful... however, handholding remains a constant requirement, men will wade through Tiberium, and tiny adjustments that ought to have come ages ago are not enough for these... come on, earlier, we got stealth and underground tunnels, this is a mere repeat showing) since Generals and Zero Hour, that this obviously builds upon. This is the first of these... think about that... that essentially does not, at all, introduce any new technology or units for you to use. With minor exceptions, everything here has been seen before. Oh, other than, of course, the Scrin(they're also faster, I think). Think YR, with Yuri's side, if less outlandish and, you know, *interesting*; they have freaky stuff(plenty of lasers and such... unfortunately, so do the humans, so there's barely a contrast, they simply... glow a lot, and other extra-terrestrial clichés), if it largely boils down to other versions of the regular ones(and a craft clearly stolen from the Protoss of StarCraft(that they continue to not top)... not the only theft in this). With a whopping five, count 'em, five levels(about a fourth of the other two campaigns, 18 each), they come and become a bigger part of the plot. Sort of. You know, once they actually show up. Do they come in peace? ... what do you think? No, they come to start to invade, and then leave sequel-bait. That's right, this is just to tide us over. The story-telling(consisting of the usual briefings(in which they will pose dramatically, and where the lighting now doesn't know the meaning of the word "subtlety"), where they talk to the camera that now moves(cinematography and editing are fine)... can someone tell me if I'm supposedly present in front of these people, or if it's transmitted, what, do they have a crew present to record these transmissions, I mean, this goes beyond talking into a receiver that stands still... oh, and there are a few CGI cut-scenes as well, they're reasonable(nothing special, if FX are good), if we care too little about what goes on for them to make much of an impact) spends all of its effort setting up the next one. No character is memorable(if Billy Dee gives it a shot... Holloway is rehashing Sawyer, Morrison is an annoyance and Ironside, well, he tends to dominate the screen, and it can't be all bad to see Rasczak kicking bug ass... and yet it didn't grab me; Kane is at his least intimidating and charismatic here, and yes, of course that continues to be far ahead of many others), no developments excite you, and the endings are extremely underwhelming. Acting ranges, and only half the main cast deliver noteworthy performances. There are hardly any compelling missions(nor any that take you over half an hour, or at least only a couple), and I frankly completed it, on Normal(three difficulty settings as usual), nearly without using any other method than rushing, and on occasion using superior firepower. MP only offers one rule-set, your standard battle(and teams, of course). Twenty arenas. Designs are honestly rather plain and forgettable. Music is passable(why is it so average? It has been steadily declining since Red Alert!), ditto voice acting(and the lines are dumb), and otherwise, sound is well-done, and it allows for mayhem, grandiose, with explosions and killings en masse. You probably already know that this looks great, and it can support a solid scale(until the AI loses track, anyway) of warfare. The graphics are the best thing about this, them, and the balance between the three sides, as it is mostly fair. There are less tactical opportunities in this than in earlier ones of the series, because of streamlining(cutting unique abilities) and, well, not putting them in the game. Every tank can now be made to efficiently take out troops, rendering the machine-gun ones and the like less useful. Changes are hit and miss; the two-button mouse is unnecessarily complicated to get used to, the vehicle production structure also repairs(straightforward, yes, but you can't tell a group to "go get fixed up" the way you could before, and if you send a bunch of ones into the radius where they will get a workup, the ones that don't require attention may block the ones that do), etc. You now train squads(and not only riflemen can garrison) at a time(think Zerglings), and don't worry, they control less awkwardly than the Angry Mob. Patrolling is possible, Plan Mode is useful(have the selected ones do specific tasks that you ask, in the order you choose, when you execute the command), and this adopts the "aggressiveness of the stance" feature from Age of Empires 2, where you can tell them to stand ground or be defensive. That you can assemble a Crane for an additional queue of constructing, and the same for training facilities is nice, and base expansion is very accessible. Frankly, Tiberian Sun is miles ahead of this. This tries to wow us with high-tech gadgetry, even though they already peaked with that(see sentence before this one), and it is so busy making sure they have a strong start-off point for the following one(remember how The Empire Strikes Back *didn't* suck, in spite of being the middle chapter? Or how about X2? It can be done, you know) that it forgets to give us any reason to become engaged in this one. I recommend this purely to forgiving fans. 6/10
