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Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars Xbox 360 Hands-On

By Ricardo Torres, GameSpotPosted Mar 12, 2007 5:46 pm PT

EA's strategy sequel is coming along, and we found out how it will deploy on the Xbox 360.

Face to Face

Check out the Xbox Live Vision features in this footage of C&C3 on the 360.

EA's LA-based studio made some good strides with last year's Battle for Middle-earth II. Aside from the fact that the real-time strategy game improved on its predecessor, the Xbox 360 version made a relatively smooth transition from PC to console and set a precedent that EALA intends to capitalize on. The next RTS from the studio for the 360 is the upcoming Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars, which is also slated to hit the PC. We had the chance to get some exclusive hands-on time with a work-in-progress version of the game to see how it's coming together.

If you're unfamiliar with the Command & Conquer series we'll bring you up to speed with a quick run through its lineage. The series started on the PC in the mid-'90s, and, along with Blizzard's Warcraft series, it was instrumental in breaking the RTS genre to the masses back in the day. The game cenetered on the conflict between two global forces, the Global Defense Initiative (GDI for short) and the cultlike Brotherhood of Nod, or simply NOD. World domination was the order of the day, as is usually the case with RTS games, and the game's accessible gameplay gave the franchise a long-lasting appeal.

This new entry aims to give fans of the series what they want with the return of full-motion video sequences--a cheesy staple of the earlier games--along with cutting-edge visuals and refined gameplay. The third entry in the series finds things getting a little dark for the GDI and NOD forces. The conflict between the two military powers has gotten considerably more complicated since they first started clashing. Besides the fact that the mysterious tiberium, a crystal resource central to the game's economy, is starting to overrun the planet, an alien race known as the Scrin has appeared on the scene, adding a whole set of problems to be dealt with. While this is not so fun for humans currently living on the planet, it makes for a good setup for a C&C game.

You'll be able to see the looks of anguish on your opponents' faces as you crush them in four multiplayer modes.

While the core game content will be the same as in the PC version and will feature more than 30 single-player missions, EALA has had to adapt the game's control scheme for the 360. Fortunately the team is building on the successful control system used in Battle for Middle-earth last year, which made smart use of the 360 controller. The core scheme is returning, but a number of tweaks based on user feedback from BFME are being implemented, the most significant of which is improved grouping options and quicker access to various functions.

Besides the control scheme, the 360 game will feature exclusive multiplayer modes, as well as support for the Xbox Live Vision camera. We had the chance to check out the modes and the camera functionality and were impressed by how they're coming together. The game features four multiplayer modes: siege, capture the flag, capture and hold, and king of the hill. Siege seems like it's going to be a recipe for the fun kind of multiplayer disaster. A five-minute energy wall will be erected between you and your enemies, preventing anyone from attacking. In that time you'll have to build like the wind to prepare for the inevitable onslaught from your foes. Capture the flag is pretty straightforward and challenges you to find a hidden flag on the map and get it back to your base. Once collected and dropped off, the flag respawns and the process repeats until you reach a set number of points. King of the hill requires you to hold one point in the middle of the map for the longest time. Capture and hold is a team-based variation on that theme and requires a team to hold five points on a map for the longest period of time. The games will play out on one of 20 included multiplayer maps, with more maps likely to come via downloadable content on Xbox Live Marketplace.

On top of all of the above, C&C3's multiplayer game also offers support for the Xbox Live Vision camera, allowing you to see your opponents onscreen as you play. The game will pop up a window with everyone's face (provided that's what they aimed their camera at) in each corner of the screen. At the end of a match, the windows will move to form a virtual "winner's circle" with the victorious player's window growing to suitably large "in your face" proportions. Though the feature doesn't seem totally practical for serious players (we were much more focused on stamping our foes out of existence), it's funny for those watching, and if you get taken out, you can mess with your fellow players by making faces at them (or engaging in other unmentionable camera-related hijinks).

Keep the cameras on your faces, people.

Though our version of the game was still early, and there were a number of "work-in-progress" rough spots, the game looked good and ran surprisingly smoothly. The level of detail on the units was slick--though, granted, we were playing on a large TV, so it was easy to see the details. We were especially impressed by the stable frame rate when the screen was flooded with units in a four-player game, which was something that BFMEII had issues with.

Based on what we played and saw, Command & Conquer 3 is looking like a solid RTS for the 360 and a nifty evolution of EALA's strategy control scheme. The 360's multiplayer modes seem to cover the right bases to satisfy our online rumbling needs, and the Xbox Live Vision support is a fun, albeit goofy, extra to the experience that seems like a nifty way to rub people's faces in your victories. Given how well BFMEII turned out, we're pretty excited to see how C&C3 comes together on the 360. The Xbox 360 version of the game is slated to ship this May. Look for more on the game in the coming months.

139 Comments

  • Xrm150

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 7:45 pm PT

    The only type of game that will be even for consoles and PC is racing games...why?....cause they both got wheels!

  • TheJamin

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 4:31 pm PT

    rofl. hey i love my 360. but are you actually suggesting a controller is more accurate? and tehliekownerer, as for the crushing on halo 2..... im guessing someone never pwnt at CS.... keys n' mouse.... its the way forward. i myself will probably be purchasing the 3rd party attacthment for the 360, enables keyboard and mouse support, as well as ps2 controller.... (despite never wanting to use a ps controller).... but rofl! i would destroy you at halo with keys n' mouse, as well as probably doing it with a controller n'all.... nublet

  • jdharano

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 3:52 pm PT

    Hey, I was skeptical, having played almost every C&C for the PC to death. I just finished the boot camp and did a couple of xbox live games, and the controls translated very well into the cross-bar type command style. The camera angle and control are a little wanky at times, but everything else came together very spiffy! A welcome addition to the X360 library!

  • KingOfPanama

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 1:18 pm PT

    It's going to be hard playing an RTS with a controller. Unless you can a USB mouse with the xbox.

  • KingKoop

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 8:02 am PT

    C&C best left for PC IMO, but I suck at RTS's and always get nailed on-line this is going to be no different. There's already masters out there at this game

  • sadikovic

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 7:42 am PT

    Oh and back to the subject this game actualy plays great for a console RTS i just played the tutorial this morning, might get it depending on the review.

  • sadikovic

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 7:39 am PT

    I too have a great PC and a 360 and i actualy agree with hendricks console guys need to stop saying things that make them sound imature and daft to think that a great PC gamer will loose against a great console gamer its just not funny any more, because i love consoles but i hate people who talk out the arse.

  • Caem

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 6:29 am PT

    Hendricks55, first of all I hope that's your last name, and that you didn't spell the famous Guitar God's name wrong. Second of all, all your argument is doing is saying that PCs are easier to use. Wouldn't that make console gamers the better gamers in the long run? I'm so sick of PC owners talking all this stupid crap. I own both, and like both. But if a mouse moves quicker than a controller, and a keyboard has more buttons, then it stands to reason that PC games are just easier, right? I mean, that makes logical sense to me.

  • tomcat51

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 5:23 am PT

    Hendricks55, is it realy that important if a game pad is not as quick as a mouse, as long as the game plays well on a console I wont be loseing sleep over it, its not important, theyre only games.

  • Chef_Bretz

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 1:19 am PT

    Played the 360 demo - loved it. The sooner this game comes out the better!

  • Chef_Bretz

    Posted Apr 29, 2007 11:21 am PT

    @ HYP3RD4SH_666 - "Yo hendricks, if you ain't a console jockey then get the fruk off the console forums and page."

    - Amen to that brother.

  • mobius_basic

    Posted Apr 29, 2007 11:13 am PT

    tehliekownerer .....

    I have to disagree with you on that comment. I am a big console gamer. I currently own all next gen systems, and have a kick ass PC (Core 2 Duo @3 GHZ watercooled, 2 Gigs of crucial Ballistex, 8800 GTX, 680i mobo 74G Raptor). So yeah I am quite the gamer and LOVE all 4 platforms. There is no way that a consoles controller can keep up with a mouse. I would love to see the 360's analog controller sticks keep up with my Logitech 's G7 2000 DPI laser gaming mouse. It is just not going to happen, no matter how high you adjust the sensitvity. I play FPS all the time on my consoles and the mouse wins on control hands down. This is my opinion of course just as you have yours.

  • tehliekownerer

    Posted Apr 29, 2007 6:57 am PT

    Hey hendricks you're a moron....You do realize on the controller for the xbox 360, that you can increase the sensetivity. This can give you faster aiming and equal out the precision of a mouse. I'm pretty sure if I played you in say Halo2 on my xbox and you were on you're PC (hypothetically) that I would crush you.

  • Electricall

    Posted Apr 28, 2007 8:21 pm PT

    Why use Juggernauts, Hyp3? All you need is Mammoths.

  • HYP3RD4SH_666

    Posted Apr 28, 2007 7:11 pm PT

    There is no S in RTS for this game. In MP all you have to do to win is spam mammoths and Juggernauts. Rail upgrade em and BOOM! You win. I played for three days before using the "non-cheap" tactics. Got whooped every time. Now I spam the Mammoths and Juggs. I win.

  • tight421

    Posted Apr 28, 2007 9:44 am PT

    Hmm i found this game easier on the PC for me. Trying to play this game on the console is hard but it looked fun the first time i tried. I would still rather play this on PC though.

  • kujel

    Posted Apr 27, 2007 10:07 pm PT

    @jeffrey123: I used too play on PC but always found consoles more reliable, fun, and inovative. I'll stick with the supirior platform and no consoles are not becoming more like PCs they are just expanding their capabilities as do all technologies.

  • Mad_Cat_HM

    Posted Apr 27, 2007 9:25 pm PT

    From playing the demo, the game looks amazing. The control scheme also makes it really easy for me to command my units. However, the only thing i think they should do is be allowed to drag select units, not all on screen at the same time. Also, i would love to be able to scroll through the command bar faster too. It's a bit annoying when i can't get to my structure tab to quickly deploy a sentry gun or something of the sort. That being said, I'll probably be more likely to get this for my 360, as it would never lagg on all high settings, and because i found the overall control scheme with the 360 controller very simple and easy to use. Of course, all they really need to do is just release mouse support and this would be golden on the 360 as far as im concerned.

  • hendricks55

    Posted Apr 27, 2007 7:21 am PT

    don't get me wrong though. i am not bashing on colsole players. there are many fun console games and stuff. im strictly dissing the ones who think they pwn pc in multiplayer games and bash us

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