60 Second Review of…
Command & Conquer: Generals
Mark's Review: Not wanting to screw around with another
RTS campaign that doled out new units mission by mission and not
wanting to get slapped around in online games, I headed straight
for skirmish mode in Generals. What a disappointment. The AI I experienced
on varying levels was nearly broken. All the AI wanted to do was
maintain its base at a seemingly preset level, send jets at me one
at a time, and attack with small clusters of units now and then,.
Otherwise, all it did was react as I encroached on its territory.
To beat the AI, all I had to do was build rudimentary defenses to
handle the odd attack dribbled my to buy me the time to build a
large enough attack force to crush the AI in one attack. It's too
bad because other than the moronic skirmish AI and some interface
issues, Generals is a first-class effort. It looks great, the explosions
and weapon effects are viscerally satisfying, and the sides are
varied and full of interesting units and potential tactical approaches.
It's another Tin Man of RTS games, unfortunately. I've already uninstalled
it until I get word of a patch that fixes the skirmish mode.
Tom's review: Mark's right on about the skirmish
AI, but the C&C games were never really about skirmishing the
AI; they were about multiplayer games and overblown single-player
storylines. The storylines are AWOL in Generals, which seems to
have tightened its narrative belt after Westwood has been binging
on FMV cutscenes starring minor celebrities in front of blue screens.
But fortunately, Generals has a solid foundation for a great multiplayer
game: three distinct sides with lots of clever units and superweapons,
gorgeous graphics, and Westwood's trademark over-the-top fireworks
when the shooting starts. But here we are, four patches after its
release, and there's still no sign of the developers cleaning up
the godawful interface that demands you use your mouse like a pair
of tweezers, manipulating little details about who's going to ride
in the Humvee and which MiG is going to bomb which unit and now
my Stinger Site is placed so I can build a -- oops!, I ordered a
bunch of units back to base and they're getting killed because I
was trying to click on a worker who was standing around not doing
anything. With Generals, my love/hate relationship with the late
Westwood continues: I love the game, but I hate how these guys refuse
to make their RTSs easier to play.
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Electronic Arts Pacific
Genre: Westwood RTS
Requirements: a third hand
March18, 2003
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