Product Description

The armies that will clash in Command and Conquer: Generals are the super powers of United States and China, and a massive underground organization, the Global Liberation Army, bent on drowning the world in anarchy and terror. Each of the three sides represents a distinct geo-political viewpoint and will fight the war with vastly different tactics and weaponry.

To make the experience of modern war as immersive as possible, EA Pacific is using a proprietary state-of-the-art 3D engine, code-named "Sage," which delivers unprecedented detail and interactivity. Because of Sage, Generals' battlefields will include fully modelled urban cityscapes, rugged deserts, vast forests and frozen wastelands. Amazing special effects will allow players to crush cars with hulking tanks, blow out the windows of skyscrapers, or lace the skies with smoke from duelling fighter planes.

Generals will include a full single-player campaign along with a full multiplayer component played over a LAN or the Internet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3963 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2003-02-14
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of PC strategy gaming's most influential franchises comes scarily up to date, inviting the player to take command of technically advanced armies in a world that's teetering on the brink of war. Command & Conquer: Generals also successfully maintains the hybrid of strategy and battle that have made its ancestors so revered.

The game presents three armies in need of command--the US, the Chinese and the Global Liberation. The game is subsequently broken down into 27 single-player missions. To throw in a further twist, you now command a general. As you progress, the general gets promoted and this opens up new technologies and tactics.

The most obvious move forward is in the graphics, with the action more close-up and detailed than before. In some ways, it takes a leaf out of the book of the excellent Medieval: Total War, but Generals is a strong game in its own right. Made suitably accessible by a tutorial campaign, it's surprisingly simple to control yet presents numerous options to mull over in every situation. The missions are varied and challenging and the arsenal of weapons--from hardware such as a scud storm through to a simple kamikaze car driver--keeps the brain constantly ticking.

Perhaps it doesn't stray too far from the tried and tested formula, choosing to do most of its building on the sturdy foundations set over the years. But there's little denying that this is polished, highly addictive and engrossing entertainment. And if you play it online, it could very easily eat your life away. --Simon Brew

Customer Reviews

... a wonderful little slice of megalomaniacle mayhem ...
... C&C:Generals is initially *very* thrilling to play.. the graphics, sound and presentation are all absolutely top notch. Everything is done to make the playing ecperience satisfying and rewarding. Theres very little 'economics' to the game, even the most conservative RTS turtler will find themselves charging into the fray in next to no time. Theres simply nothing quite like seeing your echelons of battle tanks pound there way through the enemy base. If you've ever been one of those people who like there movies with plenty of big explosions.. this is for you.

Gameplay is also well balanced, each of the three sides being equally strong despite widely differing play strategies. There doesn't seem to be as many units available as previous C&C games.. but the ones that there are are all useful in certain situations.. even the infantry.

Speaking of infantry, this is my first 'niggle' with the game; Despite the overally graphic excellence, for some reason your soldiers look like dorks from a 60's sci-fi movie with guns made from painted shoeboxes, regardless of which side you play. Most of the time, this is forgivable as you play zoomed out and you're usually watching the tanks.. but on the odd occasion you look closer.. yuck!

The C&C series traditionally set itself apart from the usual RTS genre by having strong story-based campaigns with full-motion video cut-scenes. Unfortunately, the campaigns in 'Generals' are short and lacking any real story-line and the full motion video is now no more (no great loss as it was a bit hammy sometimes). This wouldn't be a problem if the single player skirmish mode was up to much, but unfortunately without a random map generator (as in Age of Mythology) it simply aint. The pre-made maps that come with the game all have a fixed number of sides associated with them.. so if your the sort of player who likes skirmish games againsed three other independent AI components you're limited to only three or four maps.. once you've played each these a few times.. it all gets very boring indeed. As has been said before; multiplayer would be great but its only really worth considering for those with some sort of broadband.. the humble modem user need not apply apparently.

On my system, I'd say that the minimum system requirements on the box could actually be lowered. I use a 1GHz machine with 512Mb RAM and a 64MB Geforce MX440 G card.. nothing special these days, but the game runs great (with no crashes) at 1024x768 with the detail levels on 'medium'. As usual, using windows98 helps free up more RAM (If you play games.. stick with 98/ME, and keep your system CLEAN.. ) especially with all but the essential background processes turned off.

The lack of a decent campaign/single player options is a bit of a shame really, because the game itself is immense fun.. it has you grinning from ear to ear as you send in the nukes/bombers/skuds. Its a wonderful little slice of megalomaniacle mayhem. Recommended for a short term fix or just some cheap, hot thrills when you need it. Think Donner Kebab as opposed to a Sunday Dinner: Cheap, tasteless fun, but no real substance.

Shame Really, could have been sooo good
I'm a big fan of the past C&C games and was looking forward with baited breath to the realise of Generals.

When it came I was instantly blown away by the graphics, smooth and details (if a little resource hungry). They had for the first time changed the building and unit manufacture menus, it took a little getting used to but is straight forward enough, if a little ungainly. The units have become more akin to real life (gone are the tessla tanks and radio-active splurge guns :), I really love the marine’s abseiling into buildings from helicopters though.

I think this game has some exceedingly good ideas and innovations but in doing so they have lost the fun that was rampant in Red Alert 2.

After reading a previous review, I understand that Westwood is no longer, which is a pity as I would have loved to have seen what they would do with this game platform to create Red Alert 3.

All in all, a good game but lacking the sparkle that make Red Alert 2 a great game.

Quality real-time strategy set in a world too real for some.
This is a monster of game which not only rips out a sizable chunk of your hard-drive space but also demands a beast of a 3D card. Good luck to those with a PC more than a year old then.

Costs aside though, C&C Generals is a stunning game to look out. Wave goodbye to the static isometric views of the previous C&C games, C&C Generals has gone three-dimensional with beautifully detailed terrain, buildings, and explosion effects taken straight from a Hollywood movie. Sound effects are suitably realistic and the music of a convincingly militaristic style too. C&C Generals is definitely a new benchmark in technical achievement.

And, mercifully, there is an excellent game here too. The plot resides around a modern battlefield with the US and China battling it out against the Global Liberation Army (GLA), a terrorist sect if you will. The game has three campaigns allowing you to control each of the different armies to complete their respective missions. The U.S. rely on technically superior units along with air supremacy, China possess a versatile number of units which can attack in great numbers, while the GLA can produce angry mobs, scud missile silos and suicide bombers. You could argue that this is a little too close to modern warfare in a real and tasteless sense, especially considering the current political climate we find ourselves in. One of the missions even involves the remodelling of a section of Baghdad, demolition style. Slightly stepping over the boundary one may feel.

Ignoring the moral concerns the missions that are there are well structured and great fun. Although the C&C series has now made the transition into 3D, it's lost none of the gameplay mechanics that made it so good in the first place. It's well paced with a perfect level of balance and the learning curve is just about right. It doesn't take long to settle into your own style of play with the units you like to use and the tactics you favour. I'm not suggesting that one tactic is better than the other, but 'each to their own' usually works. For example I tend to totally ignore the commando unit of the US and like to have mobile units instead of static defence lines guarding my structures. But if employed correctly, any strategy can be successful.

Beyond the technical improvements, Generals also heralds a new 'Generals' system. You can earn stars through eliminating enemy units and using then use stars to purchase mega weapons such as carpet bombing or specialist units such as the scud launcher. A fun and useful addition.

However, with the cutscenses gone and the lack of any real plot progression within the single-player missions, I can't help but feel that C&C Generals is geared towards multiplayer gaming. You can flip through the single-player campaigns within a weekend and the computer A.I. still suffers from the same idiocy. Essentially to beat the computer all you need to do is build a big army and swamp its base. Simple really. Of course, playing against human opponents is a different kettle of fish. That's where things get interesting, and bloody good fun.

Highly recommend for those with high-end machines, a modem and a lack of political correctness.