C&C makes its debut on consoles quite successfully.
In the year 2047 the struggle between the allied nations of the Global Defence Initiative (GDI) and the shadowy superpower known as The Brotherhood of Nod has escalated into a worldwide conflict. Both factions fight over Tiberium, an enigmatic green crystal of alien origin that is both ultimate resource and the worst environmental disaster in history. Earth has been divided into three different zones: Blue Zones are under control of the GDI and are still free from Tiberium. Yellow Zones are covering a much larger area and is partly inhabitable, but mostly controlled by NOD. Red Zones do not support human life and are too contaminated with Tiberium. In time you'll notice that an alien race called SCRIN is also after Tiberium and soon humanity finds itself struggling for survival of their species. At times the story gets a little thick to say the least, but it's funny and keeps you entertained all the way through.
Story is told through live action video cutscenes with real actors and this aspect alone makes C&C3 different from most games today. Cutscenes are made well and all actors do their job like a professional would. It's this ambition and seriousness that makes these short episodes so funny. At times you'll find yourself completing missions just to be able to see that next hilarious cutscene. My only complaint is the lack of subtitles, but luckily this is not a huge problem, since the spoken language is clear and easy to understand.
In C&C series you can always play both sides of the conflict (or 3 sides in this case), but in the beginning you can only play as a commander for GDI, while NOD and SCRIN campaigns are unlocked later. Maybe it's for the better, because this forces you to first learn the ropes and get into the story before exploring multiple sides of this global war.
Graphics are colorful and detailed and it's almost always clear on what unit you're commanding or fighting against. Only infantry units tend to be so small that it might be hard to tell them apart from their appearance alone. Luckily every unit always tells you what they are as soon as you select it. Animations are nicely done and all in all C&C3 looks just as good as you would a modern real time strategy game (RTS) to look. Frame rate issues are also kept to a minimum when comparing to EA's previous game Battle for Middle-Earth II. Loading times are also shorter than before, but still they take way too long and it can really test your patience at times. I hope that this problem comes to an end after November 19th, when you are able to download a game into Xbox360's hard drive.
Sound design is that one aspect you'll appreciate the most, if you have ever played a C&C game before. Music is appropriately sci-fi and stays in the background letting you to focus on the action. Sound effects are also nicely done: every unit sounds different and it's also a nice way to tell them apart from other units. Only the sounds of gunfire, cannons and explosions seem to be the same in all types of units.
But what about the controls? An RTS game on consoles can easily fall on its face, if the controls are too clunky and hard to handle. At first I must say that controlling your army is much better than it was in Battle for Middle-Earth II, but still it requires a lot of practicing to handle effectively and especially in the first few missions it's easy to give wrong orders under stress. Still I think that this is the way future RTS games on consoles will be played and it works. I also wait eagerly on how the concept of voice command works in Tom Clancy's EndWar.
Game progresses mostly in a linear fashion from mission to mission, but occasionally you can make a choice about which mission to take. There is plenty of gaming here: 17 missions in GDI's campaign, 17 in NOD's campaign and 4 missions to play as SCRIN. Structure of your assignments is very repetitive falling into 1 of 3 categories: 1) attack somewhere with a large force, 2) defend something with a small force or 3) build a base and annihilate the enemy. Despite of this it's unlikely that you would get bored.
GDI's units are large in size and numbers, but also slow to build and slow to move. NOD relies on fast moving light units and sneak attacks while SCRIN brings that futuristic sci-fi feel to this package. It can take a while for you to learn the strengths and weaknesses of different units, but its well worth it. Only the GDI's Mammoth Tank feels unbalanced: it takes 4 of them to completely destroy a NOD base on Normal.
Save system is just like it should be: there's an autosave after every successful mission, but you can also save manually anytime anywhere. Only downside is that saving and loading takes too long. Difficulty level is also mostly done well. On Easy it's pretty much just a fun joyride, on Normal you need to think in advance, but a hardcore gamer takes the challenge and plays on Hard.
C&C3 of course features online multiplayer with modes like Versus, King of The Hill, Capture and Hold, Capture the Flag and Siege. Up to 4 people can battle against each other and usually matches are fast-paced skirmishes where players try to a) build an acceptable defence and at the same time b) train enough units to attack others. There's also a voice chat and a support for Xbox Live Vision Camera, but I don't think they will be a huge hit in a game like this, except if people are playing 2 vs. 2 matches with friends.
EA succeeds in its task to bring RTS games on consoles with Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. If you enjoy strategy games and are willing to learn a new kind of control scheme I can assure you that C&C3 with over 30 missions will keep you busy for quite some time.