marketplace.comWestwood Studios proudly presents Tiberian Sun the third installment in the blockbuster series Command and Conquer.Tiberian Sun reveals new and exciting ways to wage war. Rise to command the next generation of Nod super soldiers or pit the high-tech tools of the GDI (Global Defense Initiative) against the Brotherhood in the ultimate global defense.From the ManufacturerTiberian Sun is the stunning sequel to Command & Conquer. Fight on dynamic 3-D adventure themefields where nature itself provides tactical opportunities: ion storms destructible terrain forest fires treacherous ice fields and many more surprises that can help or hinder your strategies. Choose from two very different ways to play: command the Global Defense Initiative or join the secretive Brotherhood of Nod. Then prepare your troops for combat in tiberium-infested temperate zones arctic tundras and full cityscapes. Invent new strategies and tactics. Employ a deadly mix of advanced technologies high-energy tools guerrilla warfare and high-tech sabotage. A kinetic and living adventure themefield created with new technology delivers things like flying shrapnel shock waves and crashing debris for an in-game experience like never before.ReviewAlthough several expansion packs and the pseudo-sequel Red Alert have been published over the last four years the Command & Conquer series has never yet surpassed or even matched the level of excellence with which it began. And so theres a lot at stake with Tiberian Sun Westwoods third major release in the series especially because it draws directly from the original game for its inspiration by returning once again to the conflict playween the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod. But because Westwood has no intention of risking any more than necessary Tiberian Sun predictably takes very few risks of its own and feels and plays just like the original Command & Conquer.Although the games landscape looks different from previous games in the series its right-hand interface is identical to how its always been - one scrolling column is devoted to units and the other is devoted to structures. You can designate hotkeys for faster scrolling and you can queue up to five units for production from a single facility though youll need to build structures one at a time. The interface takes up a fairly large portion of the screen but that isnt much of a problem because the units themselves are small. Thats not to say all the various infantry and vehicles in Tiberian Sun look bland; if anything a lot of them look bizarre and it may take you a few hours to get accustomed to the games new look.While your infantry units are still little animated sprites that look much like the infantry units in every Command & Conquer game your vehicles are drawn using voxels which in practice lends them a rough-hewn three-dimensional look. Its not a bad effect and youll see its advantages no sooner than when your harvester lumbers up and over the nearest hill. Some of these voxel units do look pretty bad - the Devils Tongue Flame Tank looks like a giant shoe box a far cry from Nods menacing original.Tiberian Suns units include a number of throwbacks to Westwoods classic Dune 2 including a Nod buggy which is a spitting image of the heavy quad and the GDI Disrupter which may as well have been called a sonic tank. Likewise the story involves a breed of mutants indigenous to Tiberium-infested regions which closely parallel Dunes enigmatic Fremen. Dune 2 fans will enjoy such references; Command & Conquer fans may find them disconcerting. The fact is Tiberian Sun is a science fiction game.This emphasis on science fiction wouldnt be so problematic were it not that Tiberian Sun rather shamelessly borrows unit designs from other science fiction real-time strategy games including Dark Reigns burrowing APC and Starcrafts transforming siege tank. The consequence is that fans expecting trucks tanks
