By: OuTLaW
Back when the original C&C came out, it wasn't much. Sound was
okay and the graphics were mediocre but the game play was
something else. I never could figure out what made me love that
game, but I know I spent countless hours blinding myself playing.
After playing Red Alert for some time, I enjoyed the game even
more and when I heard that C&C2 was in development I was
overjoyed, thinking what marvel Westwood would come up with
next. Boy was I disappointed, maybe because I expected drastic
improvements and when it was not so, I was miserable. I mean
C&C didn't have to be so great since it was released back in '95 or
'96 but after 4 years of development, which I might add is more
then enough time, I was let down. The sounds in C&C2 were still
the same quality, graphics were not as detailed as I had hoped
and their supposed 3D terrain was shit! What made me angrier
was that they included pointless / stupid features in the game play,
which instead of enhancing it slaughtered it even further. Like for
example the "hunter seeker", an automated flying object that will
seek out opposing units or buildings, attach itself to them and
explode. There was no way to counter it. In the original, the
A-bomb was designed to only cause damage in a huge area
without destroying a building completely, but the ion canon
allowed you to completely wipe out a single unit/building so in a
way it evened out. Another example I can think of is the Adv.
Guard Tower; it can attack both air and land targets causing
medium damage. But Nod on the other hand had the Obelisk and
the Sam Sites; though separate units each can cause tremendous
damage to a target so again it evened out. The option to extend
your base using walls was also removed which made me use silos,
which is not so great because if I lose a silo, I lose about 500
credits. Even the damn queue system was done very cheaply.
Come on, four damn years and you can't even come up with a
decent queue system? All in all C&C2 was not what I expected
and turned out to be a major disappointment to me.
In Firestorm, since the mysterious disappearance of Kane, a new
leader has emerged. Your first mission playing as Nod is to
retrieve the core of COBAL (Nod's artificial intelligent computer)
and once you do, you are given a series of tasks you must
complete to bring about the victory of Nod. As GDI, you must save
the world from Nod and its evil plans to turn men into cyborgs.
Since C&C2 was not so great, I didn't expect the add-on to bring
about drastic changes and sadly, I was right. Graphics are the
same, the game only supports Direct 3D, nothing special. Though
the game has an interesting story line revealed to the player via
cut scenes, how long will one play just to see what will happen at
the end?
Sound quality is pretty much the same few new tracks but nothing
that won't bore you after a few hours. The sound effects are
normal, you can't expect Dolby Digital Surround Sound from a
game like this but the tracks sure could have been improved.
Paying much attention to new features and improvements, I sadly
report there were very few. Nod was rewarded with a few minor
enhancements:
Mobile Stealth Generator - The name says it all
Fist of Nod - Mobile Weapons Factory with Stealth
Cyborg Reaper (Multiplayer ONLY) - Equipped with 2 rocket
launchers and a web sprayer that will trap infantry hopelessly
Limpet Drone - Goes in to stealth, attaches to enemy units and
allows you to spy on them
GDI had new recruiters and technology upgrades as well. New to
the force are:
Mobile War Factory - Name says it all
Mobile EMP - Must I go on?
Juggernaut - Kind of like Nod's Artillery but less distance, but it
makes up for it with its triple cannon.
Drop Pod - Infantry paratroopers
Limpet Drone - Same as Nod's
Nod didn't get much since the Cyborg Reaper is only available in
multiplayer mode. Even so, it was equipped with a bad
combination of weapons. The Web Sprayer is a great idea but it
was a foolish choice to equip it with rocket launchers instead of a
chain gun. Rockets do very little damage to infantry and you can't
use the Cyborg Reaper on Titans because it will have no use for
the Web Sprayer, not to mention it has very low shields.
The terrain has had some minor enhancements also. In
multiplayer mode, certain maps have Ion Storms; random Lighting
will occur for about 2 minutes causing minor damage. There were
also some new Tiberium plants that added some beauty to the
map but that's about it.
This add-on didn't add much, making it an undesirable game to
purchase. If you were a C&C fan like me and still had some hope
that Westwood would make up for it in the add-on, then prepare to
be let down once more.
Ratings:
[ 18/25 ] Volume of Enhancements
[ 15/25 ] Quality of Enhancements
[ 06/10 ] Worthiness
[ 15/20 ] Increased Fun Factor
[ 08/10 ] Improved Multiplayer
[ 06/10 ] Overall Impression
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Rating
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68%
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