The C&C Time Machine

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C&C History

Part 1. Sand Worms and Spice

The year is 1992 and Westwood Studios is about to release their latest game; Dune 2 The Building of a Dynasty a game that would define how all RTS games after it would be created. While Dune 2 may not be the first RTS game it was the first game to have all important features such as collecting resources, the minimap and the fog of war. Despite being called Dune 2 it wasn't actually a sequel, it had to be renamed at the last second when their publisher's; Virgin Interactive released another game was to be released under the title "Dune" a month before. All they could do in the short time was add the number to the game's title.

Dune 2 is about three factions fighting over a planet called Arrakis, which is also known as Dune. The factions are the Atredies, the Ordos and the Harkonnen they came to Arrakis after the Emperor gave them all a challenge "Those who collects the most spice, controls Dune, there are no set territories and no rules of engangement." Now what is so special about spice? The spice extends life, the spice expands consciousness and the spice is vital for space travel. So there is no point in not fighting over it, is it?

Dune 2 was not as successful as C&C, it was successful enough for Westwood to create their next RTS game and suprisingly people are still modding 17 year old Dune 2 today!

Click here for Dune 2 screenshots

Part 2. The Dawn of the Tiberium Age

In 1995 Westwood Studios were finishing a game that would change the face of RTS, forever. On August the 31st, 1995 Command & Conquer was released, C&C were one of the first games to have fully digitized sound and FMV's. (live action cut scenes) Together with fast paced gameplay and network support C&C became very popular, it was so popular infact that it was ported to over 6 platforms; DOS (1995), Windows (1997), Playstation (1996), SEGA Saturn (1996), Macintosh (1997) and Nintendo 64 (1999). It has many features Dune 2 has, such as the sidebar, construction yards, minimap and a growing resource. Though the sidebar was a little redefined, instead of having to click on the construction yard and enter the construction menu you could just click on the buildings and units directly from the sidebar to build them.

C&C was originally going to be a 'Swords and Sorcery' themed game, but the publishers sent them back to the drawing board claiming those sort of games were loosing favour. C&C is the first game in the C&C universe, and is also known as Tiberian Dawn by fans and officials alike. This is the first game to introduce The Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and The Brotherhood of Nod (Nod) and Tiberium. C&C starts off in 1995 when a mysterius meteor crashes near in the tiber river in Italy, from this meteor a substance known as Tiberium emerges. Tiberium is both a blessing and a curse, Tiberium contains highly valuable metals it creates from leeching minerals from the soil and because it grows on the surface these metals are easily harvested an processed this makes Tiberium exremely valuable. But shortly after it's arrival Tiberium begins to corrupt the Earth, plants die because of starvation and Tiberium starts emtting hazardus gasses which kills anyone which it comes incontact with and sometimes, Tiberium poisoning not only kills you but it can also mutate you into a hideous pile of living flesh which only seeks to consume other things. Tiberium also transforms plantlife, turning trees into weird plants known an Blossom Trees which sole purpose is to spread more Tiberium. The first to safely harvest Tiberium is the Brootherhood of Nod and because of their Tiberium harvesting Operations Nod grows so strong it can challenge the World! And because of this the United Nations creates the Global Defense Initiative to stop Nod from gaining global domination.

Click here for C&C screenshots

Command & Conquer became freeware as of August the 31st, 2007!
Download iso files of the disks here (Large files, with movies, harder to install, no expasions)
C&C as a installation file (smaller filesize but no movies, easier to install and expansions included)

Part 3. Changing History

On October the 31st, 1996 the game that dragged many people into the C&C franchise was released, Red Alert. Red Alert was not as "revolutionary" as C&C as it was more of the same however Red Alert is far from a simple clone of C&C as Red Alert has two new campaigns, a lot of new units and controllable ships even a truck load of new multiplayer maps and two new factions the Allies and the Soviets. The RA story starts as Albert Einstein uses a time machine to remove Adolf Hitler from history hoping to prevent the second World War, but this plan backfires as the Soviet Union lead by Joseph Stalin invades Europe as he now belives that Europe is a part of the USSR, the nations of Europe forms a alliance lead by Germany, France and Britan to stop the Soviets from taking Europe. Red Alert was so popular it was sold out shortly after release!

Developement: Red Alert was supposed to be an expansion pack for C&C, but it became so large that it became it's own game. This may be the reason why Westwood choose to recycle some graphics from C&C with some minor edits.

Click here for RA screenshots

Red Alert became freeware as of August the 31st, 2008!
Download iso files of the disks here (Large files, with movies, harder to install, no expasions)
Red Alert as a installation file (smaller filesize but no movies, easier to install and expansions included)

Part 4. The Sole Survivor

Part 5. Long live The Fighters!

Dune 2000 was released for PC in 1998, a version for the Sony Playstation was created and released later in 1999. It was originally intended to be a remake of Dune 2, hence the name similarity and the penchant for using "2000" in names at the time. However as the game developed the storyline became increasingly detached from the original. It uses a similar engine to Red Alert and Covert Operations, the last game to use it before the new voxel engine of Tiberian Sun.

It introduced the concept of unit balance to the Dune RTS universe, this was not something that features in Dune 2. It was also the first game to feature a well-known actor in the full motion video sequences; staring John Rhys-Davies of Indiana Jones fame.

Part 6. The Tiberian Sun

The much-anticipated sequel to Tiberian Dawn was eventually released in 1999, it's presence having being hinted at ever since the sneak peak video as part of the original game. The game was significantly delayed, by the time it was finally released it had been four and a half years in development and many of the new features were severely cut back or removed entirely. Despite this it still received an impressive aggregate score of 80%.

The story follows on from the events of Tiberian Dawn from the GDI perspective (ie. GDI successfully ion cannoned the temple of Nod and killed Kane). However it appears the strike was not as successful as they hoped, and Kane returns - although injured - to cause the Second Tiberium War by leading the Nod uprising.

Tib Sun took the leap from a 2D pixel based engine to an isometric psudo-3D voxel based engine, giving the appearance of multi-levelled and destructible terrain and other visual effects. It is the most atmospheric game of the series, with a particularly gritty storyline including numerous betrayals, executions and throat slittings. The in game maps are detailed with large derelict and Tiberium-written urban environments and atmospheric lighting.

Click here for TS screenshots

Part 7. Changing History, Yet Again

Red Alert 2 was a long-rumoured game, but the first hint of a release was the listing of a Prima strategy guide on various websites, it was eventually released on April 27th 2000. The game itself took the hints of wackiness that appeared towards the end of its predecessor and ran with it. The soviets have been defeated and all is well in the world of apple pie and baseball, when suddenly and without warning the Soviet's puppet leader attacks the USA, influenced by a mysterious adviser; Yuri.

The user interface was refined, adding tabs separating structures, defences, infantry and vehicles, an idea that was subsequently dropped but has been revisited with much success in recent games. This game and its expansion, Yuri's Revenge built on the success of Tiberian Sun and represents the high point of the C&C series' popularity, especially its modding community which is still going strong.

Click here for Red Alert 2 screenshots

Part 8. For Shai-hulud!

Emperor: Battle For Dune is the direct sequel of Dune 2000 and the first game developed by Westwood Studios in full 3D using the Westwood 3D (W3D engine) better known as SAGE. That's right; the engine developed for the 2001 RTS PC game has since been used for an FPS and on the Xbox360 and Playstation 3 � although significant areas have been rebuilt since!

Once again the cut scenes featured several famous actors; namely Michael Dorn (AKA Warf in Star Trek) and comedian Mike McShane. The storyline surrounds a war of assassins proposed by the Spacing Guild between the three main factions (House Atreides, House Harkonnen and House Ordos) with the winner becoming Emperor of the Universe.

As well as introducing 3D the game also added sub-factions, a feature to become familiar in successive Command and Conquer titles, in-battle reinforcements and a much more dynamic campaign similar to the World Domination mode later reintroduced in Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath. The game received a welcoming 79% aggregate score on Metacritic, but unfortunately the modding capabilities were limited and so community interest was somewhat smaller-scale, but EBFD has a clear and marked impact on future C&C games.

Part 9. The Renegade

Westwood struck out from its established RTS genre and produced a First Person Shooter with massive environments and innovative team-play elements. It's a little-known fact that one of the producers on Renegade went on to produce the Battlefield series; the link with teamplay, class and vehicles is clear.

The singleplayer features only a GDI campaign, the player took the role of Havoc the commando and playing through the events of C&C1, allowing the player to see inside the Hand of Nod and all other structures for the first time. Its release in 2002 was somewhat rushed as the game had already missed one date and air units had to be patched in at a later date. The multiplayer was where the game shone, and was the focus of the massive "Be A Renegade" promotional LAN tour, but critics found it difficult to see beyond the slightly lacklustre graphics.

Click here for Renegade Screenshots

Part 10. The War on Terror

Generals was Command & Conquer's first completely 3D game, however it featured neither Nod vs. GDI or Allies vs. Soviets, but instead introduced a new combination of USA vs. China vs. GLA (Global Liberation Army). The game features themes very close to current gulf war conflicts; the GLA representing the evil terrorist organisation seeking revenge on the new Chinese Government for evicting them from their land. The USA become involved when a biochemical missile hits mainland Europe. This is the extent to which the story goes, and was criticized by the fans for dropping the involved storyline and live-action FMVs of previous titles.

The game was controversial not only for its content, but also its lack of connection to the fiction of previous games. However it was praised for the gameplay, balance and tactical opportunities thanks in part to the Public Beta Test - the first C&C game to have one. The interface changed so that the sidebar was moved to the bottom and it was necessary to click a building to construct its associated units, but this also enabled upgrades to be purchased to grant new abilities or enhance existing ones. The Generals Points system also rewarded players for offensive play, granting more points for destroying enemy units than merely defending against attacks.

Click here for Generals screenshots

Part 11. The Tiberium War

Following a 4 year hiatus for the series, Tiberium Wars was announced in April 2006. It was the first title to be developed by the consolidated EA Los Angeles studio, the new home of C&C following the closure of Westwood Studios. The game still used the Sage engine of Generals, but significantly improved during two Lord of the Rings games. Following the events of Firestorm; the orbital headquarters of a complacent GDI have been destroyed by a Nod missile and the commander is tasked with subduing enemy forces. Joe Kucan made a welcome return reprising the role of Kane in High Definition videos along with other well-known sci-fi actors.

The in-game interface returned to the Red Alert 2 tabbed style sidebar with some additions and heralded a concerted effort by the developers to introduce RTS as a sport. The multiplayer included a commentator mode with a telestrator allowing the analysis of plays and strategy over the built-in VoIP voice chat and online publishing of matches. It was the only game in the series so far to feature in the World Computer Games lineup and even made the BBC News website! It was the first game in the series to be sold online, a Mac version was developed by Transgaming and a team at EALA even developed an Xbox 360 conversion.

Click here for Tiberium Wars screenshots

Part 12. Changing History, for the third time

The next entry into the saga came less than a year after the Tib Wars expansion; Kane's Wrath. Red Alert 3 sees the wackiness factor turned up another notch when the Soviets develop their own time travel machine and eliminate Einstein from the timeline and introduce a Japanese side into the equation. Any inconsistencies in the cannon are explained by "they killed Einstein". The fiction was detailed, each unit featured a secondary ability and a full history explaining how it came into being.

The game was slated for Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. However the PS3 version was seemingly cancelled, before being reinstated out of the blue in March 2009. The console versions sported an innovative radial interface that allows the player to choose structures using the joystick. Despite the multi-platform release, an extensive community alpha, a public beta test and an unprecedented 12 patches, the game did not sell quite as well as expected, meaning the pressure was really on for the next game.

Click here for Red Alert 3 screenshots

Part 13. The Tiberian Twilight

Announced in July 2009, the name Tiberian Twilight was chosen by fan votes and announced at CommandCOM; the first gathering of over 100 community leaders. It controversially will be the last game to feature the character of Kane and Tiberium has been brought under control thanks to the cooperation of GDI and Nod.

The gameplay underwent a significant overhaul for the first time since inventing the genre twelve years previously. Gone were bases and massive tank rushes, replaced instead with Crawlers, hard counters and a focus on micromanagement.

Click here for Tiberian Twilight Screenshots