Commanding and Conquering Real-Time Strategy

The Command and Conquer series helped invent the real-time strategy (RTS) genre, and with every expansion and sequel, the series has further cemented its status as a fan favorite. With Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars for Xbox 360, the series makes its next-gen debut in a lightning quick, easy to control and simple to understand real-time epic.

Time to tear up the Nod.

Tiberium Wars
While the Global Defense Initiative have supervised a seventeen year period of peace after quelling the Brotherhood of Nod's terrorist uprising, the world at large has suffered terribly from the toxic tiberium deposits poisoning the globe. Global opinion leans toward cutting GDI funding to tackle the tiberium epidemic. But at the same time, the Brotherhood of Nod has launched a series of surprise attacks around the globe, crippling the GDI's infrastructure and throwing global security into a tailspin. The Third Tiberium War has begun.

C&C 3 hurtles along at more than twice the pace of most real-time strategy games.

In the Near Future
The game series has always been set in the near future, but far enough ahead to allow its modern units, weaponry, and structures to seem like a natural progression. From high-tech missile platoons, mammoth tanks, self-building structures, 'mechs, and massively destructive ion-blasts, the tools, units and weaponry at your disposal merge science-fiction with modern reality.

Established Control
Smooth and intuitive control has always been a point of contention for real-time strategy games on home consoles. Selecting and grouping units, calling up build queues, powering down buildings, resetting the camera, changing stances, employing powers, and any number of a dozen or so other standard actions all need to be readily accessible.

Classic chokepoints drive the action.

With last year's The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II though, EA managed to strike gold with their trigger-based control scheme. The same team behind that project has tackled Commander and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars for Xbox 360, and with the extra time, they've further refined their groundbreaking mechanic. For example,

• Holding the right trigger will call up all the required menus for building units, structures, using powers, assigning groups, and more.
• Holding down the left trigger and tapping A will select all available units on screen at once.
• RB and A will select all units of the same type.
• Groups can be quickly built through the right trigger menu, and toggled through with the D-pad.
• Waypoints can be set for each building so finished units can head out straightaway without further orders to a strategic location.
• Double-tapping A when giving a move order will instruct selected units to stop and combat all enemies they find along the way to their destination.

The list of options can and does go on and on, but the point is that executing complicated RTS strategy is made simple with an elegant system of menus, commands, and mechanics.

Wicked Quick
While gamers familiar with Battle for Middle-earth II will feel immediately comfortable with the control scheme, they may be shocked to find just how quickly Command and Conquer 3 plays. Whether it's building troops and buildings or engaging in combat, C&C 3 hurtles along at more than twice the pace of most real-time strategy games.

This added speed to gameplay ensures that you'll never have to wait around for the game to catch up to what you want to do. You will be constantly engaged in the game as units pour out of the barracks, research upgrades are finalized, reinforcements arrive, defenses are built, armies are organized, and war is waged.

Get that army organized.

Live Action Presentation
The Command and Conquer series has always provided unique, live-action sequences to showcase their storylines. Instead of animated or in-game cut-scenes, live actors on real sets react to the drama of the Tiberium Wars conflict, and remarkably, it fits right in with the game's presentation. With actors like Michael Ironside (Sam Fisher from the Splinter Cell series), Jennifer Morrison (Grey's Anatomy), and the always smooth Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian from Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back), the talent on display is refreshingly top-drawer.

Campaign Trifecta
Also a staple of the Command and Conquer series is the ability to play both the good-guy Global Defense Initiative campaign, and the tiberium-crazed terrorist Brotherhood of Nod. However, new to Tiberium Wars is a third, mysterious, and alien faction known as the Scrin. The Scrin campaign will unlock once you've completed both the GDI and Nod campaigns and represents a massive departure from the more standard military units and tactics of the GDI and Nod. With alien technology, biological units, and a more strategic dependence on tiberium, the Scrin are a welcome change of pace for the Command and Conquer series.

Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Warsfor Xbox 360 further cements the home console as an effective host for the real-time strategy genre. Whether you love to micromanage, revel in war games, or just love tactical gameplay, Command and Conquer 3 gives you all you can handle with quick, hard-hitting gameplay and smooth, gorgeous presentation.