On Update Delays
For those who are keeping track, it has been over two weeks since I last posted an update. Primarily, this is due to a sudden onset of gameritus that came on thick, leaving me on the edge of my seat for hours on end, playing games ranging from Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars to Neverwinter Nights 2.
Though the latter of these two I have not yet finished playing (making it join the ever-growing list of (great) games that I have recently started anew and not completed, including Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Starcraft, Fallout 2, and Planescape: Torment), Command and Conquer 3 has vastly impressed me with its lovely graphics, great storyline, and, like its predecessors, live action cut scenes (and, unlike its predecessors, good acting in said cut scenes).
Though I played Command and Conquer: Tiberian Dawn but in passing, and Command and Conquer : Tiberian Sun and its expansion, Firestorm, not at all, running through their respective Wikipedia articles and cut scenes (available via Youtube) left me none too impressed, allowing me to say, with quite some certainty, that Tiberium Wars is the best of the Command and Conquer Tiberian series.
Specifically, I was never left disappointed with the cut scenes, which made up a large portion of the game (for me, since I play games for the story far more than the gameplay itself), which was a big improvement upon the previous games, whose cut scenes either were drab, included poor acting/special effects, contained odd or disbelievable plots, or simply used the rather annoying style in which you (the player) is played by an actor in the cut scenes (works in some games, but not Tiberian Sun, in which it was used). In contrast, Tiberium Wars never left me feeling like a cut scene did less than its intent; debrief, link, and brief. That is, show me what my efforts brought, connect the current mission to the next, and finally explain what is yet to come. And, of course, it had the same wonderful actor playing Kane, leader of the Brotherhood of Nod, as always.
So, I found the graphics to be quite lovely (best use of a 3D engine in a strategy game I have yet seen), the plot to be fascinating and at least entertainingly clever, the cut scenes to be a real treat to watch, and the gameplay itself challenging (I played most levels on Normal, having to switch occasionally to Easy on particularly tough missions) and fulfilling. In a nutshell, it's a fantastic game, and one I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys RTS games.
