Technodynamic Tiberian Sun Review

It seems as if I have waited forever for this game. The older you get, the less things seem to excite you, but when Tiberian Sun arrived to the office, a brief feeling of that excitement returned. For the next week, I would play through the single player missions, play some skirmishes, and play some multiplayer games on Wchat, so that I could give an accurate analysis of the game. I should let you know, Command and Conquer, Red Alert, and StarCraft combine to form the most played titles I own, in a library of hundreds of games, so I know what I’m talking about when it comes to quality real-time strategy (RTS) games.

Tiberian is the 3^rd game of 4 that are planned for telling the Command and Conquer storyline. Original Command and Conquer was the first, followed by Red Alert, which was actually a prequel to the story, and finally we have the long awaited Tiberian Sun. Like the original, there are two sides to chose, the GDI, which is the Global Defense Initiative, sworn to protect humanity against their nemesis, and the other playable side, the Brotherhood of NOD. The story is told via in game sequences and through excellent quality video scenes, which is created in house at Westwood, combining live action with computer generated backgrounds. Tiberian Sun does an excellent job of continuing the story while the game is in play, with cut-scenes containing voice and text, and the occasional video clip shown through your map console. While the quality of the story and the way it is portrayed is top notch, the speed at which the story flows seems a bit fast, and the story seems to unfold too quickly. It seems like some of the details between missions were left out. After I completed the campaigns for each side, I wanted more. Maybe that was because of the high anticipation I had for the game.

Tiberian Sun has more specialized units than any of Westwood’s previous games. There are no sea units and there are only a few air units, like original Command and Conquer. The only units that both sides share are light infantry and engineers. After you plant your barracks down, each side will build a separate force, which is different in skill, but equal in balance. The GDI war horse consists of many strong ground units, my favorite being the disrupter tank, which fires a wide beam at an enemy. Anything caught in the path of the beam takes heavy damage. For added effect, the ground has a warp signature when the beam is on. The new GDI Mammoth tank is cool too, firing a rail gun at ground units, and having the ability to engage air targets. Perhaps Westwood prevented “tank rushes” by limiting a player from only having one of these units at any given time. NOD has some devastating units as well, my personal favorite being the new and greatly improved artillery gun. The NOD artillery has awesome range, allowing you to use several artillery guns in conjunction to kill enemy units before they ever reach you. Another way to surprise your enemy is to use the unit named the “Devil’s Tongue”, which is similar to the old NOD flame tank except that it can burrow beneath the ground and dig its way under an enemy base, popping up to surprise them.

The combat system has some unique characteristics that can be viewed as positive or negative depending on what you want. There is a strong presence of “rock, paper, scissors” in this game, meaning, that machine guns kill troops, tank shells kill vehicles, rocket infantry kills vehicles, and so on. If you rely on massing tanks in front of your base for defense, and a few enemy troops come your way, the troops will not threaten your vehicles, but your vehicles will take a long time to destroy the enemy infantry, because the tanks kill vehicles… period. You will see a single infantry unit take 20+ shells from a tank before going down. In my personal opinion, I would like to see a milder form of the current system, where is it still mandatory to use a well mixed attack force, but where the expensive units do slightly more in the multi-role. Tanks should have a slightly easier time dealing with infantry, while infantry should have an easier time dealing with the vehicles they encounter. Overall, I think Westwood has produced a fine array of units that compliment the genre, adding the extra element of underground units, and giving the battlefield greater depth by adding in range weapons like the artillery.

After playing several hundreds of games of StarCraft for the last 18 months, I was used to units looking large, and having the battlefield under your nose. At first glance, using Tiberian Sun in 800 x 600 mode (which is an option), the units seemed too small. But the more I played, the more I enjoyed the design, and to be honest, I like the higher resolution/smaller units better. It lets you plan attacks better and see more at once. I must make a special mention about the terrain detail and special effects that Tiberian Sun uses. The dynamic lighting that the tiberium emits looks awesome, it makes me wish ever mission in Tiberian Sun was a night mission. Bases at night often use searchlights to find enemy units trying to sneak into their bases. Designers and graphic artists did a wonderful job of bringing the environment to life, with detailed terrain, and special effects like the rail gun on the Mammoth tank, the death ray of the Disrupter tank, the shockwave from the artillery, and many more.

Online gameplay is similar to the skirmish mode, where you can play vs. a number of computer AI opponents, or vs. an opponent via Wchat, network, serial, or modem. You can also ally with your friends against CPU AI, allowing for cooperative games. Unfortunately, I am 0-6 on Wchat... not 0 wins and 6 losses, but zero successful connections for six attempts. Most of the time the game would disconnect or be so laggy that the game was unplayable. Perhaps Westwood's game servers are getting hit much harder than they expected. I think it is safe to safe that Westwood is aware of the problem, and is looking into solutions, but at the time of release, the average user connecting via modem will have trouble.

My conclusion? In case you couldn’t tell, I really like this game. Tiberian Sun has a different feel compared to games like StarCraft. At first it felt different, but the more I played, the more I liked it, and deep into the missions I liked it even more. Time will tell as to whether or not it is better than StarCraft, as strategies are developed, tested, and distributed among the RTS fans that play the game. After the campaigns were complete, I wanted more! It hurts to think I will have to wait several more years for the final installment of the game, which by the way, was confirmed while at the E3 Expo in May of 1999! Until then, Tiberian Sun is worth every penny of your RTS gaming dollar. It is easy to pick up and learn, and has advanced tactical strategies to learn and develop for the seasoned veteran. If you are lucky enough to get the Platinum version of the game, for only $10 more you get a pewter figurine of a NOD or GDI soldier, an autographed manual signed by the development team, and a separate audio disk of the game music. This is a great way for Westwood to go out of the millennium, with a bang!

Game highs: Excellent graphics and detail on terrain, wide variety of units, high-quality movie cinematics with use of high caliber actors including James Earl Jones and Michael Biehn, multiplayer options, Platinum version goodies.

Game lows: Hunter Seeker droid in multiplayer games is computer controlled and unstoppable, extremely poor performance on Wchat, no spawn capability for friends.

Overall: Must buy for all real time strategy fans. An excellent opportunity for PC gaming fans to get into the RTS genre if you never have. Tiberian Sun can be both a game that is easy to learn, and a strategic challenge for veterans looking for competition. Westwood's finest game!

reviewed by: Todd Alexander