The Bottom Line
Other than 3D graphics, there is nothing revolutionary here, but it's still a great choice for people that want a multiplayer RTS game with a military theme.
Pros
- Solid RTS gameplay.
- Good variety of opponents and units.
- Sweet 3D eye candy.
Cons
- Large online battles can lag badly.
- Unit speech often comes across as a joke.
- AI hasn't seen much improvement.
Description
- Released Feb. 11, 2003. Published by Electronic Arts.
- Supports up to 8 players online, and allows users to host their own games.
- No Nod or GDI. There are now three sides to play - USA, China, or the Global Liberation Army.
- Tiberium has been replaced with supply centers, which are the focal point of most battles.
- Units and players gain veterancy when they win in battle, a welcome addition.
- Nukes, scuds, and beams are, as usual, a bit much. I miss having a flexible tech level setting.
- Control panel has moved to the bottom and the interface is clean and reasonably intuitive.
- Graphics are spectacular but somewhat slow.
- The camera zooms and rotates, but, unfortunately, doesn't tilt.
- After a buggy start, the online player matching service is now working okay.
Guide Review - Command and Conquer: Generals
The C&C series has a devoted following of RTS fans, so this game doesn't stray far from its predessesors. Apart from a few concepts borrowed from WarCraft, such as using special units to build with, the gameplay follows the familiar pattern of acquire resources, amass army, rush enemy, repeat if necessary. Tiberium has been replaced with supply yards, which contain a limited amount of resources and are the focal point of most skirmishes, although there are other ways to get money. The armies are nicely varied and quite well-balanced. While the 3D graphics are impressive, the game's responsiveness does suffer noticeably, even on a good machine. Still, on a fast system with a speedy Net connection, it's a top notch multiplayer RTS experience.
