Begin with an existing hugely popular franchise: Command and Conquer is known and loved throughout the gaming world for its unique mixture of futuristic RTS game play, three wonderfully unique factions and for its entertaining live action cut scenes. It has also given us one of the most famous bald-headed baddie ever, Kane.

Now with this groundwork and huge fan base firmly in place one would think that making this fourth and final instalment, Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, would be a cinch and that it would be virtually impossible for this game to be anything but a huge success. Unfortunately the game designers at EA have shown us that if you put your mind to it, nothing is impossible.

For some inexplicable reason the Scrin have been dropped as a playable faction. This seems really odd as the closing video sequence of Command and Conquer 3 portrays a defeated Scrin vowing to launch a massive new offensive against earth. I guess they were just kidding… Instead the plot revolves around GDI and the brotherhood of NOD (the remaining two factions) working together in a bit of a love-hate relationship. Yeah, WAY better than an intergalactic invasion. Additionally Kane struggles with yet another splinter faction threatening the unity of his brotherhood. One would think that the idea of a NOD rebellion of some form would begin to lose its appeal after appearing in the plot of just about EVERY Command and Conquer Tiberium game since Seth defied Kane’s orders in Command and Conquer 1.

Fortunately Command and Conquer 4 retains its use of the ever popular cut scenes between missions. However this time around they are shot with a mobile first perspective. This sees you moving through different rooms in a single briefing and even having conversations with soldiers in the hallways while en route. While this is an improvement on the previous instalments, the quality of the acting has deteriorated mainly as a result of EA having decided to forgo the usual ensemble of ‘B’ list stars. Instead they have opted for complete unknowns whose previous acting experience include toothpaste commercials and a memorable performance as lobster #2 in a school nativity play. While Joe Kucan puts in another solid performance as Kane the others range from forgettable to downright creepy.

Big departures from the previous titles abound in this game, with the removal of the base building mechanic being a prime example. This means no more Tiberium refineries and thus no more harvesting. Now you have a single manoeuvrable construction yard (called a crawler) from which all your units are produced. Three types of crawler are available for each faction – offensive, defensive and support. Basically the offensive crawler gives you powerful tanks, the defensive crawler gives you basic defensive foot units and allows you to build defensive structures, and lastly the support crawler allows the construction of flying units and for you to call in special support powers to aid your own units or those of an ally. At any time you have the ability to “retire” your current crawler and deploy a new one of a different type. If this all sounds very “World in Conflict” to you it’s because basically it is. However, in World in Conflict the game area was A LOT larger, allowing this deploy mechanic to work well. With Command and Conquer 4’s much smaller land area this mechanic generally turns every match into a ping pong game of capturing and losing control nodes.

Yes control nodes, how very Dawn of War. The designers obviously concluded that raining hot death on your opponents’ bases was not a very enjoyable way to achieve victory. This mechanic has instead been replaced by having to camp out next to control nodes and wait for the ticker number at the top of the screen to reach 0, riveting stuff.

On the subject of units: Tiberian Twilight does bring back some of the favourites from previous games as well as adding many new ones. However, with restrictions on unit selection based on which crawler you have, it almost feels like you are only playing with a third of the game at any one time. The units and powers (both in multiplayer and single player modes) are also only unlocked over a period of time, meaning that for a good few hours this fraction will be even less than 1/3. Lastly Tiberian Twilight imposes a miniscule unit cap on the amount of units you are able to excrete from the back of your crawler. Gone are the days of epic battles between two huge armies, instead the fighting seems relegated to the realm of minor skirmishes around control nodes. In the end we see a game very unlike the Command and Conquer games of old.

Fans are upset. Since the beta their reaction has been generally unfavourable. Many think the wholesale changes made to the series should have been kept for a possible new game in the Command and Conquer universe rather than into the final chapter of an existing series. Forums are awash with thousands of comments and opinions with even Hitler adding his own controversial two cents worth.

EA’s use of draconian DRM has further added fuel to this fire. Command and Conquer 4 requires an active internet connection to play even the single player campaigns. People with any router or connection issues have been left seething as any interruption in connection means the current level must be restarted from the beginning. Undoubtedly once EA shuts down its servers for this game you will no longer be able to play it anymore, even the single player campaigns. The whole experience almost makes it feel as though you are renting the game from EA – but still paying the full price.

Tiberian Twilight looks and plays very differently to its predecessors. The designers have tried to take the series in a completely new direction by boldly dropping some of the most loved aspects of Command and Conquer and unfortunately replacing them with elements that don’t work or that have been “borrowed” from other games. While the goal here may have been to create a supermodel of a game by combining the best elements of these, what they ultimately end up with is a slightly below average looking Frankenstein.

Instead of tying up the plot and having the series ending with an explosive finale, Command and Conquer 4 sees the series whimpering off into the distance, tail between its legs, like a freshly spanked puppy.

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