Command and Conquer is one of the oldest RTS series’ around, it has spawned many games over the last 10 years (not all being RTS’s), but command and conquer 3 is the first version that has graced the Xbox with its presence, and luckily for us it is so far the best game in the series. This game also has the introduction for the third faction into the series, not only is there GDI and NOD, but there is now a new alien race bent on harvesting earth of its recourses, the SCRIN.

When playing the game for the first time you have three real options to choose from in the main menu, Boot camp, single player or multiplayer. If you have never played a C&C game on a console I heavily advise that you go to the boot camp and learn how the game functions (you will also unlock your self a nice 20gs once you complete it).

The Single player portion of C&C3 is great, at first you can only play the GDI campaign or play skirmish matches (basic RTS matches versus a computer), but after a short while playing as GDI you will unlock the NOD campaign . The Campaign’s them selves are very fun and challenging to play, and have a added bonus, C&C’s traditional real action cutscences that star real actors, the first person you are most likely to recognise is Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Allison Cameron, from House), but there are many other faces you will also know such as Billy Dee Williams (Lando, from Star Wars) and Josh Holloway (Sawyer, from Lost).

The missions themselves keep with the traditional build, defend, kick the computers butt style gameplay the series is known for, but there are some escort missions along with stealth missions to keep you on your tows. The most fun missions though are the base building missions though, as they are a lot faster pace then the others and have a constant flow of action "Hmm where should I put this building… Hey I’m being attacked… OMG! Build a Defensive turrent! No don’t kill that! Noooooo!".

The single player is definitely worth playing, though it does get a little hard in the last few missions of the last campaign (I went from completing missions on hard to having trouble on easy). But if single player isn’t your thing, don’t worry, there is a lot of base crushing action happening over on Xbox live. If you enjoyed that single player, you will love multiplayer, as it is just as fun with the added satisfaction of knowing your crushing someone elses base to dust.

The Multiplayer mainly follows the Build base, destroy enemy base ASAP style gameplay but there are some other modes as well, such as king of the hill and Siege. The most common game type is plain old versus where all you start with is your construction yard, no defense, little money and a small recourse deposit near by. Siege plays very similar to versus’ but you have a added defensive wall that will stop your opponent from attacking you for a predetermined amount of time.

The three factions in C&C3 are all very well balanced, though the SCRIN is alot more powerful then the other two factions if they are left alone for two long. GDI and NOD play the same as they always have had in C&C games, GDI relies on brute strength where NOD relies on a mix of strength and stealth. The SCRIN on the other hand rely on powerful aircraft that if given two much time can be extremely hard to beat.

As far as games ported from the PC go, C&C3 is the holy grail, as it controls just as well as the PC version (not a small ask in a RTS game on a console) and has very little noticeable differences other then a minor graphical downgrade. The game itself plays exactly the same as its PC counterpart minus a patch to tweak a few units (We should be getting it soon on xbox360). There is also some downloadable content on the horizon which will just increase the playability of the game ever more, this game is a must have for and 360 owner.