A brilliant return to the GDI versus Nod conflict, but it has its issues.
Set roughly a decade after the Second Tiberium War in Tiberian Sun, and the CABAL Cyborg Uprising in Firestorm; Nod has control over the majority of the world and thus has become a formidable super power. The player becomes an instrumental part of the conflict by siding with either the Global Defense Initiative (GDI), or the Brotherhood of Nod during the dawn of the third Tiberium war.
The storyline is told through the traditional C&C FMVs. Fan favorite Joe Kucan reprises his role as the ruthless enigmatic leader of the Brotherhood of Nod, Kane, and he is joined by an all star cast from various television shows and films. The FMVs are what one would expect from the C&C series, somewhat cheesy but mostly serious.
C&C 3 doesn't stray far from the installments prior to Generals. The side bar interface returns with the tab system from Red Alert 2, as does the traditional construction yard system. Unfortunately the flaws in the series are also carried over, infantry becomes useless late game even though forms of Elite Infantry are present. It becomes a "Who has the bigger vehicles" deathmatch, I was personally hoping that EA would fix this but I guess it wouldn't be C&C without tank spamming.
Visually C&C 3 is both beautiful, and dated. C&C 3 uses the SAGE engine which powered Generals, Battle for Middle-Earth, and Battle for Middle-Earth II. Players who have played any, or all of those games will recognize the graphics right away as very little has changed since the engine's debut in Generals. Still, the graphics are nice enough.
The audio is okay. The voice acting is excellent, and the sound effects are typical battlefield sounds. Like the rest of the SAGE games, C&C 3 also has ambient background effects which add to the environmental atmosphere. Unfortunately the game suffers from a poor soundtrack. The lively Frank Klepecki score found in most of the games is gone, as is the atmospheric Klepecki score found in Tiberian Sun. Instead we get a shoddy rehash of the already mediocre Generals soundtrack.
Tiberium Wars is a little rough around the edges. It brings the classic C&C gameplay into the modern age, and though newer RTS fans who are spoiled by most of the more recent RTS gameplay styles may not appreciate it - C&C 3 is simple, and loads of fun to play. Great gameplay combined with the classic C&C campaign storytelling, and you've got yourself an RTS worth playing. Sadly, only C&C fans may appreciate it for what it is.