July 2019 Retro Article: Command and Conquer
By Thonos
7/31/2019
By Thonos
7/31/2019
I got Command and Conquer the same day as Civilization 2 and Warcraft 2. That alone was a great summer. While Civilization 2 was its own beast, Command and Conquer and Warcraft 2 played very similarly. While I have played many turn-based strategy games, this was my first real time strategy game. I was drawn to Command and Conquer, due to its more modern units, setting and storyline. What I got was a good game that I sunk hours into.
When you start the game you pick from either the GDI or NOD forces. I always chose NOD mostly because they had flame tanks. Each side had their own units that cater to different playstyles. From there you go from mission to mission, building your base and forces with the goal of wiping out the enemy force. Each mission gets progressively harder and require different strategies to win.
I remember playing this online with the guy who sat with me on the school bus when I was in high school. He was GDI and I was NOD. We were evenly matched throughout the game, although he started to pull ahead later in the match. Then I launched a nuke at him, which he never saw coming. He started flipping out in the chat while I moved in the rest of my army for the win. Those were good times.
Command and Conquer spawned three more main games that continued the storyline to its end. While I skipped the second game, I really enjoyed the third one and its expansion. The series also spawned the Red Alert games which I actually enjoyed more than the main series. Even the first person shooter game Renegade was fun. While the series is pretty much dead now with the exception of a mobile game, it can not be understated the importance of this game and franchise when it comes to real time strategy games.