Indie Spotlight - MidEast Crisis 2

Ever since I started working as a File Producer for Gamespot I've uploaded many demos, wallpapers, patches, and of course MODS! Now I was introduced to mods way back when Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 came out, when I was entrenched in an aggressive online battle with player IHATEBANANAS. For the first hour I was kicking ass, and my allied troops took over one of his bases and stole his technology. Soon after I started mixing factions and building up a massive army for battle, until a monkey parachuted down to into my base. My first reaction was to say, "Awwwwww how cute! Look at the monkey in the parachute." Then 50 more decided to drop in too! I was speechless, because I didn't know where they came from until player IHATEBANANAS sent me a message saying, "I hope you hate bananas like I do. Goodbye!" Then the 51 cute monkeys blew up into a toxic liquid engulfing my entire base and newly created super army. Within a couple minutes, IHATEBANANAS had taken over my base and aggressively introduced me to the mods.

I'm a huge Command & Conquer fan and have played them all, except for the black sheep Renegade, and ever since I was rudely introduced to mods I have always tweaked my version of the game. There are some beautiful conversions, maps and balance tweaks out there in the CnC mod world that bring new life to each game.

MidEast Crisis 2 is one of those mods, but this is not just a mod for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, but a total conversion of the game. MidEast Crisis 2 is set in the near-future in the middle-east. This TC (Total Conversion) includes three factions (UN Peacekeepers, IDF, Guardians of Islam) each with drastically different gameplay. Each of these new factions is impressive as they will satisfy all types of warfare if you're more of a turtle fighter and like to build up your base you go with the UN Peacekeepers, but if you like to spread out and get a bit dirty, you go with either the IDF or Guardians of Islam.

One great attribute to this mod is how the map is more involved in the war then usual CnC maps. Usually CnC maps have you capture hospitals, garages, miscellaneous buildings for your troops to garrison, but MidEast Crisis 2 takes it further. Almost the entire map has a function, where some factions take over buildings and towers to gain the upper hand and others take over gas stations and oil derricks to fuel their armies. This style of warfare plays a bit like Company of Heroes, but with a lot more interaction with your terrain.

The resource collecting in this mod moves away from just gathering Tiberium or some metal to fund your war. MEC 2 gives each faction a unique way to gather resources, from deploying reporters into the field and capturing the enemy in action to taking over Town Halls and Wireless Towers for additional resources. This system should give players new tactical abilities instead of the usual one resource method of past CnC's. For now the U.N faction is unavailable till the next update.

Check out MidEast Crisis 2 and many other free indie mods on the GameSpot Downloads Page. Till next time download…download…download!

-MarcoAM