[Dagolith]

Generals was EA's excuse to put out some random RTS which hinted at the time it was made in.  Big Bad America with it's superior air power and power-hungry technology based weaponry vs, the Middle-East countries burrowing away in tunnels and such, with nationalist China lurking somewhere in the mix, ready to squash everyone with hordes of tanks.
As always, pure speculation here.... but that's how it felt to me.

no, that is exactly what the theme was, always Top Of the line tech for America, raw power for a communist nation "Russia, China, ext" and Gurilla tactics for the middle east nation "Iraq, Afghanistan, ext" it's actually really dumb, but at least the games are really fun, even if they've gone completely of the path, as far as the traditional C&C goes. Which is a shame.

[aldo_14]

Well PC Gamer UK has a review already (not sure how that works) with a 90% score so I'm hopeful.  I know some people want different things but I like the consistency of C&C overall.  They tend to be just fun to play with small revolutions and a fair bit of style (Generals had the least style to it).

They get the beta and review it.  They did the same with BF:V; even to the extent of mentioning features like the B-52 which were dropped after the beta.

[IceFire]

Generals was EA's excuse to put out some random RTS which hinted at the time it was made in.  Big Bad America with it's superior air power and power-hungry technology based weaponry vs, the Middle-East countries burrowing away in tunnels and such, with nationalist China lurking somewhere in the mix, ready to squash everyone with hordes of tanks.
As always, pure speculation here.... but that's how it felt to me.

Definitely its like that...but then if you go back and play the original C&C the themes are very much the same.  Actually I was sort of freaked out, having pre-ordered C&C3 and gotten the C&C Gold pus preview package as a nice pre-order bonus, how political the original C&C game was.  Except things were a little more fictional...NOD wasn't specifically middle eastern and GDI wasn't specifically the US although some undercurrents were present.

The thing about Generals is that it was blatant...not everyone enjoys that although I thought it was sort of fun...the other C&C games generate an alternative reality and use modern day themes and place them into their fictional world.  If anything, I see C&C Generals as a sort of symptom or marker of the time it was published.

[Kosh]

Generals was a totally unrelated filler to buy themselves time to write a half assed story for C&C3.

[Fineus]

So what the hell are they playing at? CnC is incredibly popular and they've got the financing. So what's with the suckage?

[Dagolith]

I think that they should have redone CnC 2 red alert, like they did with yuri's revenge, that game kicked ass. but instead of one different unit per nation, they should have rebuilt the unit list for each nation, baring some things, they'd just have to put a different skin on, (footmen, light tanks ext.) but that would kick ass. I'd buy it. or at the vary least download it.

[NGTM-1R]

So what the hell are they playing at? CnC is incredibly popular and they've got the financing. So what's with the suckage?

Is this a comment on Kosh's comment or the game?

[Fineus]

Kosh's comment - which granted is opinion - but I didn't exactly enjoy Generals and haven't been inspired much by anything since Tib. Sun.

[NGTM-1R]

Ah. Okay.

I just ordered it so I'm a wee bit sensitive to reports of it sucking.

[Fineus]

C&C3?

I can't make a comment about that one. I haven't played it - so for all I know it could be a smash hit. Here's hoping it is!

[Sarafan]

Wasnt the demo going to be launched today?

[CP5670]

Yeah, it's out. I'm downloading it now. All the servers are loaded, so it's going to take a while.

[G0atmaster]

I heard from someone who's played the demo that it's awesome.

I, however, won't be playing it for a couple weeks, due to a crappy, dialup-tastic internet.  All my tubes are clogged XD

[Ferret]

As a huge C&C fan I'd normally be very happy to sample EA's latest pile of dung into the once grand franchise.

But for 1.2 GB they can get lost...

[NGTM-1R]

* ngtm1r hears the demo is multi-only.

[Ferret]

* ngtm1r hears the demo is multi-only.

what

[Nix]

Fileshack's demo says Singleplayer...  hmm

[Ferret]

Yes the demo is single player. You get a tutorial mission, and two GDI campaign missions, as well as skirmish. (The only way to sample NOD units currently is to capture their buildings do'h.)

The fastest way to get the demo at the moment is to use EA Link, and I'm getting ridiculous speeds from it. (Yeah i decided that 1.2 GB or not, this is C&C for godsake!)

Apparently, although the sidebar is back, they've gone to using right-mouse button = action. Rather than left clicking.

Here's hoping that it's good. The forum I frequent seem to be raving about the demo, and they're all mostly fans. So I have renewed interest in it.

I'll let you guys know in a few hours what it's like.

[NGTM-1R]

Downloaded the demo. Intial impressions favorable.

The actors are people you'll recognize. This perversely has made it more difficult for me to take seriously. (Note the GDI lieutenant you meet in the Prologue...look familar? I keep expecting somebody to call her "Boomer".)

Totally new ground vehicle lineup on the GDI side. The only ones that fit into a normal role at first glance are the Juggernaut and Mammoth. Didn't play with aircraft much. All GDI infantry units can now be made airmobile. Those power-armored GDI troopers we've been seeing are quite capable. The Orca we all know and love is still in.

New Ion Cannon is impressively destructive, though I must admit I rathered liked the more surgical nature of the original models and Generals'. This one bears more resemblence in action to a nuke.

NOD seems to deploy larger infantry squads then GDI but without a meaningful difference in performance. Poor training and equipment I suppose.

They've added not one but two units that allow you to build secondary bases or defenses at choke points without the contortions you used to have to go through. One deploys and just allows building, the other repairs nearby vehicles and has its own armament but doesn't apparently include the "build near me" capablity.

Unit durablity overall seems to be down. Units don't last as long under fire as you're probably used to. Because infantry come in squads however there's a lot more fire flying around out there then normal as well.

No controllable music tracks that I could tell. Booo. I barely even noticed the music at all.

[Ferret]

I am amazed by this demo.

I expected it to be complete tosh, but amazingly, I think they've done nearly everything right. (Except the right-click = action control.)
This is the first time since RA1 that I've even considered calling something worthy of name "Command and Conquer". It really is brilliant.

Anyone who is a huge fan of the original needs to play this.

I don't think the units die any faster than they did in C&C1. (with the exception of Mr.Mammoth maybe, and oooooh thank god they dumped that awful walking dog.)

Yes there are no selectable music tracks, but I can see why they did this. They know full well that it's impossible to replace Frank Klepacki's soundtrack, so instead they went for the next best thing and used a dynamic soundtrack while trying to keep with the overall feel and rhythm of the original offerings. If you turn down the sound effects and voices, then turn the music up to max, you do start to appreciate it a lot more.

On the graphics side of things it's absolutely gorgeous. It runs amazingly well on my modest machine at all highest settings. Not to mention everything loads faster than Red Alert 2 does.

I'm so glad, after the colossal disappointment that is Supreme Commander, I expected nothing from C&C3, but it looks to be utterly brilliant. I can only hope the full story works well, and that the Scrin fit in okay.