An okay game in its own right, but this is not Command & Conquer.
Generals is set in the near future, where the US and China are the largest super powers in the world, and a middle eastern terrorist organization known as "The Global Liberation Army" are seeking to "free the world" from the grip of evil superpowers like the former two. In both Generals and Zero Hour that is the extent of the story, there's nothing more to say about it really. Generals unfortunately doesn't feature any live action cinematics, but Zero Hour has some in form of a news report, but they're nothing compared to the cinematics of their predecessors.
The gameplay is a hybrid of the traditional C&C style, and the style made famous by Blizzard. Instead of using a construction yard to build structures, you use builder units, but you'll still need power plants in order to keep all of your structures operational. Fortunately, there's no population cap, so you can still build an infinite amount of units. Also the side bar interface is gone, you now have to select specific structures to build specific units. For example, if you want basic infantry you'll need to select the barracks which is the streamlined system most RTS games use. The gameplay isn't bad by any means, Generals is fun, but it doesn't have that traditional C&C feel.
Graphically Generals is the best C&C to date, but its graphics aren't anything special by today's standards. Being the first C&C game to use a 3D engine it was quite impressive for veterans of the series, myself included. There's some very nice effects in Generals, for example one of the GLA vehicles is a truck with a gunner on the back, if the truck is destroyed he'll be thrown off of the back.
Audio-wise Generals is decent. You've got your traditional gunfire and explosions, along with some decent voice acting. Unfortunately Frank Klepecki went with the rest of the late Westwood studios to form Petroglyph, but Generals and Zero Hour both feature solid musical scores. Too bad the playlist feature from the past games is absent.
Command & Conquer Generals and Zero Hour are solid games, but they are definitely not C&C despite some similarities. Generals is still a worthwhile game for real time strategy fans, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining RTS to kill time with.