Summary of C&C4 Info from GameStar Magazine - Updated

[Sonic 295]

German C&C fan site, CnC-Inside, has posted summary of the information from the Command & Conquer 4 preview found in this months issue of GameStar magazine. For those not fluent in the German language here is the English translation courtesy of CNC Files.

• Lead Producer is Michael Glosecki, who was part of Dune 2's QA team (!)
• Linear campaign, parallel for both sides
• Scrin actually is part of the story
• You are going to play a renegade military leader, who's fighting both against Kane and his GDI allies
• GDI's campaign motto is "The man who killed Kane", Nod's "Everything has to end"
• GDI's clean slate is going to be desecrated
• FMVs are going to be darker and more serious, but mostly still in first person. Here's an example:

   

  We're rotting in prison, when a man in a suit appears, opening our cell door, and asking us to follow him. Shrieks can be heard in the distance. Just when we're halfway through, an inmate next to our cell grabs us on our collar (With the camera following), of which a guard catches a glimpse, getting his bat ready- but we manage to break free before a row would have started. "You should get used to that" comments the suited man with a smirk on his face. Eventually, he leads us to a desk, handing us a briefcase- "Kane is at the scrin tower", he mutters, "You have ten minutes".

• Defense class is the only one able to build structures, such as bunkers or defense towers, including the Obelisk of Light
• Nod towers can be burrowed
• Offensive class gets the most powerful tanks, support the superior aircraft- and the Ion Cannon
• No navy
• You choose new units, upgrades and powers from a tech tree
• Upgrades you purchase for your crawler are not persistent
• You collect Tiberium from the Core Network with the help of rigs which slowly merge with the outlets and provide a steady stream of credits
• Difficulty in co-op mode depends on your level
• Objectives vary from class to class, but are shared in co-op
• Destroyed crawlers are replaced, but not instantly- However, you're free to choose were to land them
• Gamespy is history, EA uses their own online service
• Matchmaking for even 5 vs 5 matches is possible
• You can create temporary clans to keep track of players you felt comfortable with
• Offline mode is currently being thought of, so that at least the campaign could be played offline
• Dynamic music; GDI's is orchestral/militaristic, Nod's is religious techno interspersed with choirs
• The crawler can hold up to 4 units like an APC

Updated information added, thanks to both CnC-Inside and CNC Files.

• There will be Tiberium crystals for visual purposes
• The shown interface is an early version
• All upgrades have visual implications
• Mammoth tank is back along with the Mastodon, a new version of the Mammoth walker
• Engineers are able to repair vehicles
• Seemingly, Nod employs a multitude of cyborgs again

Click here if you would like to check out the scans of the preview found in GameStar magazine.

[Castleman12 0]

Wow, I loved everything except for the No navy part, but thats understandable as there has been no navy (that you can build) in the C&C games. Though what does it mean for Nod Towers to be "burrowed"?

[BioBen 3]

I'm altogether getting more and more excited about this game each time new info comes out

It's a shame i don't have a computer to play this on... priorities: 1. New PC 2. Buy C&C4

[Nmenth 290]

Though what does it mean for Nod Towers to be "burrowed"?

Maybe a Tick Tank sort of thing?

[Mighty BOB! 5]

It could just mean they retreat into their holes and become more armored (like how they're in holes in TS/TW) or it could mean burrowed and invisible ala the Zerg.

[rEdaSbLood 1]

curious about how tiberium is collected, and the supposed 'dark' theme of this game.

 

i hope its "the dark knight" compared to the tim burton batmans kind of transition.

[ORCaLoVeR 0]

Fighting my own GDI allies?What the hell?

 

Guess we wont have a classical GDI campaign

[cnc_sage 0]

[*]You collect Tiberium from the Core Network with the help of rigs which slowly merge with the outlets and provide a steady stream of credits

 

I don't quite understand this one. Rigs? Outlets? Does this mean resource collecting is like with the ore nodes from RA3?

[Guest Stevie_K]

Dynamic music; GDI's is orchestral/militaristic, Nod's is religious techno interspersed with choirs

This one sucks to be honest.

Everything else on this list seems cool though.

[ORCaLoVeR 0]

I don't quite understand this one. Rigs? Outlets? Does this mean resource collecting is like with the ore nodes from RA3?

Seems to be.EA ruins all the classical C&C things in this C&C4

[Silverthorn 0]

Ok, let me comment on certain ones.

• Linear campaign, parallel for both sides

  - Aww man, that's the end of the Theater of War system! RIP!

   

• Scrin actually is part of the story

  - Ok, sounds interesting.

   

• You are going to play a renegade military leader, who's fighting both against Kane and his GDI allies

  - You're kidding me, man? But oh well, will look into that deeper.

   

• FMVs are going to be darker and more serious, but mostly still in first person.

  - Sounds looking good, but I'm still concern of ensuring the casts are not Hollywood players, put your remaining budget for our CGI, ok? We want serious acting, not Hollywood superstars.

   

• No navy

  - That's ok, it's not always necessary.

   

• Destroyed crawlers are replaced, but not instantly- However, you're free to choose were to land them

  - I'm sure the replacement will take some time to respawn, it's much like you lost your hero in a DOTA match and will take some time to bring him back. Simple concept.

   

• Gamespy is history, EA uses their own online service

  - Haha, adios & sayonara, baby! First, the old official C&C forum & now its other online services. Now that is much better.

   

• Offline mode is currently being thought of, so that at least the campaign could be played offline

  - Booyah, now that's what I'm talking about, that is something worth it, after all, C&C4 is no MMO and it should deserve some offline gameplay for offline goers. Many thanks to the Bill of Rights.

[ghost_zero 0]

[*]Gamespy is history, EA uses their own online service

 

I am not too sure if this is really so good. After all it happened before that EA had shutdown their online services and this game ONLY works online so far.

 

[*]Offline mode is currently being thought of, so that at least the campaign could be played offline

I hope it won't be just the campaing but also Skirmish and if possible LAN. Especially because of the point I mentioned regarding the possibility of a shutdown of those online servers I mentioned.

Edited July 28, 2009 by ghost_zero

[hagren 0]

Jeremy Feasel already commented on the respawn time- 20 seconds. And there's pop cap.

 

D14810: I like the idea, makes for diverse and professional music.

Edited July 28, 2009 by hagren

[ghost_zero 0]

Actually, 20 seconds seem pretty fast to me but well I don't know the game and its dynamics yet, so it is hard to comment that "seriously".

[Mighty BOB! 5]

Jeremy Feasel already commented on the respawn time- 20 seconds. And there's pop cap.

A unit popcap?

[BioBen 3]

Popcaps? no no no no nooooo.

[Sonic 295]

Scans of the preview can be found here http://www.cnc-inside.de/news-artikel,Alle...C4,43267,1.html.

[hagren 0]

A unit popcap?

Yes. CommanderT says it's not very restrictive and'll make sense as soon as the first gameplay vids emerge. I guess it had to be done for technical reasons- 10 players spamming Scorpion tanks would surely turn the match into a slideshow quickly Many RTS I love(d) have/had popcap, so this mustn't be as terrible as it sounds.

Edited July 28, 2009 by hagren

[Sonic 295]

Added extra info. Thanks to both CnC-Inside and CNC Files. And of course hagren

[Saracen 16]

Yes. CommanderT says it's not very restrictive and'll make sense as soon as the first gameplay vids emerge. I guess it had to be done for technical reasons- 10 players spamming Scorpion tanks would surely turn the match into a slideshwo quickly Many RTS I love(d) have/had popcap, so this mustn't be as terrible as it sounds.

 

I need not add anything to this. RTS Games with Popcap add some interesting and diverse strategy and tactical opportunities. So it's all good.

Edited July 28, 2009 by Saracen

[hagren 0]

Added extra info. Thanks to both CnC-Inside and CNC Files. And of course hagren

Your welcome Sonic! My life for Nazu...I mean Kane!

[Luk3us 63]

5v5 games, I can't say I'm happy about this. But I'll wait and see. But I sense bad things.

 

Pop cap = Long periods of building followed by 2 minutes of battle, then rinse and repeat... Hmm...

[Silverthorn 0]

[*]Mammoth tank is back along with the Mastodon, a new version of the Mammoth walker

- Or do they mean the Mammoth Mark II, it's best that EA don't ruin the name to replace that one. Or else hardcore Westwoodians will be very angry with that. They maybe satisfied with the return of the MMII model, but the name must retain.

 

[*]Unit population cap?

- Normally I hate this feature, but I think it's best that they cap stays to the max instead of starting from the min. Starting from min is just like Starcraft 1, I hate building those supply depots, they only consume unnecessary resources & space (That's why I use the "Food For Thought" cheat to play the game, C&C style, no pop cap). For the case of tank spam like we saw in C&C3, a pop cap should be ok as long as it stays to the max, NOT start from the min.

Edited July 28, 2009 by Silverthorn

[rEdaSbLood 1]

Mastodon sounds cool!

[Malevolence 6]

You collect Tiberium from the Core Network with the help of rigs which slowly merge with the outlets and provide a steady stream of credits

 

Ra3 ore node concept?!

 

There will be Tiberium crystals for visual purposes

 

Very very disturbing. Tiberium crystals for display purposes, meaning it won't be harvestable, and that sounds very bad.

 

Ore Node a.k.a. Core Network + Tiberium crystals (display purposes) = multiplayer ok, but story plot = C&C gone wrong, very wrong.

Edited July 28, 2009 by Malevolence