Command & Conquer 4 – Are you ready?

Electronic Arts announced a few basic bullet points for Command & Conquer 4, the latest and supposedly last in the series of real time strategy games (although there are plenty of ways to work around the phrase “epic conclusion”, and the Command & Conquer universe has about four separate lines of games). You can see the announcement here, which teases more detailed information later this month and encourages you to follow the developers on Twitter, Facebook, and their recurring “Battlecasts”. You’d think Command & Conquer was one part real time strategy game, one part social networking facilitator.

In terms of the game, the main distinction at this point seems to be:

class-based gameplay…and persistent player progression throughout all game modes

The classes seem like variations on the sub-factions from the Zero Hour expansion for Command & Conquer: Generals, which eventually found its way into the expansion pack for Command & Conquer 3 by dividing each faction into specialized sub-factions with distinct units and powers. But the main difference seems to be that you don’t get to use all of your factions units and technologies when you start playing. Instead, you have to advance your class by earning experience points in the campaign, in skirmish games, or in online multiplayer games. From a Gamespot interview with campaign lead Samuel Bass:

By having our players enter the game with a limited but carefully chosen selection of units, we create a much smoother learning curve, giving you time to come to grips with our core gameplay systems before we bombard you with added complexity. However, since players are guaranteed to receive a steady drip of new toys, they soon become conversant in the deeper gameplay elements and can compete at a higher level.

Also, there will be no misguided efforts to bring the game simultaneously to PCs and console systems. Command & Conquer 4 is entirely and only a PC game.

Source

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Adds New Elements

C&C: Red Alert 3 Adds Robots!

Chris Corry, executive producer of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, told SCI FI Wire that the real-time SF strategy video game is adding a Japanese campaign that will add robotic battle mechs and transforming vehicles. The Japanese faction, dubbed Empire of the Rising Sun, is the latest addition to the game, set in an alternate-universe Soviet Union in which World War II never ended.

“The Japanese faction definitely is the most technologically focused of the bunch,” Corry said in an interview. “They do have a lot of cool transforming units and a lot of things that you would expect from a Japanese side that has all those cool pop-culture references, like ninjas and samurais. Certainly mechs are a big part of it. So they’re a pretty effective side.” Read more