Malevolence's EPIC Review on the EPIC C&C4:TT (SPOILERS INCLUDED)

[Malevolence 6]

Alright it's my time to make an EPIC review on this EPIC game. You and I must have heard so many fascinating and incredible stories on this product, so I've pre-ordered it, played it, completed it, levels 20 for both GDI and Nod, and now making this EPIC review, and here is my EPIC honest opinions on this EPIC product.

 

 

EPIC Summary:

The game is still playable, but there are so many flaws, and the storyline's like a cheese filled with numerous cheese holes.

 

 

EPIC New mechanic:

Nothing major has change since some of us were given the opportunity to test out the new mechanic during the beta phase since months ago. I guess after that long, I've used to this new mechanic to the point that it does not really bother me in regards to the dramatic differences between this new epic mechanic vs the old classic mechanic.

 

It's playable, and the mechanic works reasonably well in the multiplayer modes, although after playing for quite a while the endless cycle of capturing nodes and losing nodes makes it a little boring. I also noticed that this new mechanic just doesn't feel right in the single player mode. I'll elaborate more on the single campaign below.

 

Kudos to the production team for spending some effort producing the new achievement system to motivate the players to unlock those achievements by trying out some new methods ingame.

 

I also like the ranking system and the ranks and the symbols look neat.

 

 

EPIC Single Player:

 

a)FMVs

Alright, this time round the production team has put in some effort to make a good set. It's great to see Joe Kucan back and reprise the role of the bald headed messiah, and its even better to see that the production team decide to cut down resources and stop hiring useless Hollywood actors/actresses and go for some other folks who can do equally better jobs. While the FMVs look better than the ones shown in C&C3: TW, there are some elements within the FMVs that felt really cheap. (For example, the random scenes of interviewing some locals and citizens, it look really amateurish, and the background of the environment is painfully obvious that it was shot outside their building or something, come on.)

I was also hoping to see some CGI sequences as done in traditional classic games like C&C and Tiberian Sun, but they did not do that, and it was a letdown.

 

b)Storyline

The storyline was indeed a major letdown of the game, in fact it has to be the very main component that cause the downfall of the product. Basically instead of continuing from the previous titles' cliffhangers, it went on on its own in another direction and babble its way round some bush, and pose more questions and concludes, leaving the players, especially the fans, in a pot full of unanswered questions and major disappointment.

 

While there were trailers and teasers shown and hyped that you may get answers to more things in regards to Kane, Tiberium, tacitus etc etc, it failed to really explain everything and after everything, I have no idea where the epic conclusion is.

 

What is Kane?

Why does he live so long?

What is the Scrin?

What is Ascension?

 

and the list drags on and on.

 

If it was Sam Bass's move to make the story in such a way for the fans and viewers to make and draw their own conclusions, I'm sorry to say that this writing style fails to achieve it. I also notice that the writing style tries to imitate from the Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica, it failed to capture the winning formula of why BSG became such a hit.

 

I was also disappointed to find too many missing gaps within this very own storyline. The game failed to put in and compile additional resources on things such as the TCN backstory, the huge pipes and the connection to the Scrin tower, the characters, the units and stuff, and please don't tell me to search for it online. I believe these stuff should be in the game itself, and lacking these elements in the game makes causal gamers confused and lost.

 

c) Gameplay

In regards to the units and structures, while majority of them looks good and of acceptable range and style, there are some units that does not seem fitting ingame as it looks too cartoony and just doesn;t make any sense.

 

The red tiberium crystal element ingame was totally unexplained and I was very disappointed with it.

 

The harvesting mechanic was unexplained and it looks comical to see crystals hovering above their head.

 

The gameplay feels not right and it the missions were there for the sake of just being there, makes it feel useless.

 

The new mechanic cause the gameplay in this single player quite a lot of problems. The developers should create missions and unlock units in a progressive manner. The units and the unlocking mechanism in the single player felt so out of place, and the progression is just haywired.

 

 

EPIC Skirmish:

I noticed that there were too many missing options in this skirmish mode. The lack of colors to manually choose from, and the lack of modes (only Dominiation modes).

A major disappointment in this epic skrimish mode was the lack of maps. We are given only ten epic maps to choose from. It gets bored after playing the ten maps over and over again. I wish the team would put in more effort and provide more maps.

 

EPIC Multiplayer:

Nothing major has changed since the beta. Refer to the beta discussions.

 

EPIC Bonus Content (only for EPIC Preorder):

I am utterly disappointed on the bonus content for the finale of the C&C Tiberian Franchise. Yes, it's the ending, and everything, and naturally the fans expected more. Unfortunately, there are no special edition of the game and the only bonus content is available through preordering.

What's included in the preorder package is only two components.

- Nod Mission (Night Moves)

- Soundtrack

 

I was like, "that's all?", but I decide to tell myself "hey let's give the production team a chance and see the quality of these bonus content". To my disappointment, what's truly lacking in the bonus mission was the lack of FMVs, additional detailed explanation on the need for the campaign, the aftermath that leads into the original campaigns, and the mission felt bland and pointless.

 

Next, I decide to take a look for the soundtrack. This time round, EA decided to go on budget and the soundtrack is only available in digital download. Alright then, so I'll wait for my digital download. Behold, after paying so much for the pre-order game and all I got was a 160kbps bitrate mp3 soundtrack. Come on, at least provide us with a 320kbps bitrate. (Although I found other means to get that 320kbps)

Fortunately, the quality tracks within the soundtrack does not disappoint. Indeed all I can say is "awesome!" I really like the tracks a lot. This is one of those components I can tell that the production team really puts in a lot of attention and effort into it. For that it deserves a plus.

 

 

Other EPIC thoughts:

We have once again concluded that the production team is excellent with the hype over this product that turned out to be bland and not much improvement since the beta some of us tested. The game is still playable, I'm fine with the new mechanics, but this new mechanic simply cannot work on the single player campaign well.

 

Overall, while many components in the game feels really cheap, it's like the production team is on extreme tight budget or the lack of effort and it is painfully obvious. This has indeed brought in more disappointment among the community. However, there are other aspects of the game that are redeemable. The awesome soundtrack, and the new mechanic combined with some unlockable achievements keeps the game interesting and fresh.

 

Final EPIC verdict: 5.5

Edited March 26, 2010 by Malevolence

[Luk3us 63]

Its epic, fail, you forgot that very important second word.

 

 

Also, awesome soundtrack? Not really, it like the rest of the game are too far removed from what made a C&C game, a C&C game. Its OK for what it is, but it would have been just as suitable in an entirely different game. RA3 had a good C&C soundtrack, this just has a good "generic" soundtrack.

[Nmenth 291]

Final EPIC verdict: 5.5

Out of what? 100?

[Malevolence 6]

Out of what? 100?

 

That's humorous.

[PurpleGaga27 40]

Out of what? 100?

 

It's 5.5 out of 10.

 

Nice review, Malevolence. I thought it's a real epic fail review anyway.

 

[Nmenth 291]

It's 5.5 out of 10.

 

You are the most oblivious person on the Internet.

 

[Malevolence 6]

It's 5.5 out of 10.

 

Thank you Captain Obvious.

[spark 0]

Next, I decide to take a look for the soundtrack. This time round, EA decided to go on budget and the soundtrack is only available in digital download. Alright then, so I'll wait for my digital download. Behold, after paying so much for the pre-order game and all I got was a 160kbps bitrate mp3 soundtrack. Come on, at least provide us with a 320kbps bitrate. (Although I found other means to get that 320kbps)

Fortunately, the quality tracks within the soundtrack does not disappoint. Indeed all I can say is "awesome!" I really like the tracks a lot. This is one of those components I can tell that the production team really puts in a lot of attention and effort into it. For that it deserves a plus.

 

Just so to clarify, everyone in the world got the same 160kbps mp3 from the official EA downloads right? It's not like the case where some countries get 320kbps right?

[Mighty BOB! 5]

EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC epic EPIC epic EPIC epic epic EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC

I sense sarcasm.

 

 

(Yes that is every instance of "epic" in your review.)

[Malevolence 6]

I sense sarcasm.

 

 

(Yes that is every instance of "epic" in your review.)

 

Just to get things straight for the record I wasn't being anti-EA or whatever. The "epic" stuff was more of a lame in-joke thing as a response to EA's marketing team's hype over their products.

 

I am being neutral and I'm neither siding EA nor the anti-EA fanboys. I've concluded that this game definitely wasn't perfect, neither was it that bad as it's still playable, and 5.5/10 was my score, period.

 

I hope to hear something from Sonic as well.

[Mighty BOB! 5]

Just to get things straight for the record I wasn't being anti-EA or whatever. The "epic" stuff was more of a lame in-joke thing as a response to EA's marketing team's hype over their products.

So yes, sarcasm.

[Gben 20]

---QUESTIONS------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Q1) How did the final retail version of C&C 4 compare with your initial expectations?

 

There are two aspects to expectations in my situation: universe inertia and marketing.

 

FANBOY

 

I own almost every game from the C&C universe (missing Sole Survivor), Dune II, C&C, and RA were very important milestones in my gaming life introducing me to the RTS genre. I should point out that I own very few non-C&C RTS games. The storyline and game mechanics are apparently important to me.

 

It’s probably fair to say that any game in this Universe has pretty high expectations attached to it. But when you add the news that the next game is going to be the epic conclusion of the Tiberium storyline... well expectations tend to exceed “manufacturers recommended tolerances”.

 

MARKETING

 

I have a love/hate relationship with the EA marketing behemoth. Hype, exaggeration, and embellishment seem to be par for the course when promoting a game... but that’s marketing 101. Who’s going to pay money if the marketing is “get the game it’s alright... I suppose”?

 

I’m not upset at the marketing style. I love the mechanics of clever marketing. I love some of the creative campaigns that have been pushed out in recent years. I think the creative people behind a lot of their campaigns well deserve what money they get paid.

 

However there is a big difference when looking at the substance of the campaign in comparison with the style. I take umbrage at frequent and obvious hyperbole used in the EA marketing for C&C games.

 

BETA / MULTIPLAYER

 

Armed the experience of previous marketing campaigns, and trying to read between the lines, I tried to take low expectations into the game. I still managed to be disappointed.

 

I got access into the Beta from Rev 6. MP is not something I really get into online. I prefer the sporadic LAN parties where my opponent is next to me. Regardless, my 20-30 beta games held me in good stead for the multiplayer aspect.

 

It should be said that I personally wasn’t excited about the changes being promoted in C&C4 – mobile crawlers with zero base building and no harvesting. There are a lot of components that combine to make a game worthy of the C&C title, harvesting and base-building are just as important as massive tank battles and Kane. News about a pop-cap wasn’t that off-putting having seen it used successfully in other games.

 

My multiplayer experience, mainly through the beta, did surprise me in some areas. The low lethality of the early versions, the lack of directional armour, and the new damage v armour system.

 

I guess roaming around with what is little more than a squad, makes sense to have slow damaging units, but it doesn’t make it fun or satisfying. I’m glad that was improved throughout the beta patching process. I understood the reason for excluding the directional armour in the early stages, but despite the chaos, players should be rewarded for using sound tactics.

 

COMBAT SYSTEM

 

But the thing I still struggle with is the new weapon types and how they interact with different armour types. Years of playing C&C have taught me that rockets are the weapon of choice for air units, and now suddenly I need lasers. I liked the choice of armour types, but I don’t like how anti-air weapons are handled. I think most units should remain “ground-attack” only, with distinct and specialised anti-air units. I would have expected a new anti-air weapon – the equivalent of the v2 missile (in size) which was purely surface-to-air for the heavy air ships.

 

All that to say, I found the new combat system very confusing, while playing in the beta. It seemed to go against the grain of all the hard lessons I had learn in past C&C combat.

 

SINGLE PLAYER GAMEPLAY

 

So I wasn’t a true believer in the need for change, but I remained optimistic about the SP experience because I expected to see set-pieces. Examples of how the lead designers envisioned the benefits of this new combat dynamic. If you had a mobile war factory – then you could do this! Or this tactic! Or that scenario! Or we could arrange for this event, followed by this trigger, forcing the player to make a choice here...

 

Instead map and mission design was linear and predicable. One mission had you attack crawlers defending stationary positions in a circle. You could go left or right, but still pretty much in a circle. The biggest failure of the mission design is that crawlers rarely undeployed and moved around. In the very few missions where the moved around – the crawlers were too closely tethered to the spawn points like a bulldog on a chain.

 

I had expected at least a crawler to move along a patrol path, deploying and packing up at random intervals. I expected a mission where I had to seek and destroy an enemy crawler under the cover of a fog of war.

 

I had expected to be given specific missions and/or tasks that would suit as specific unit in order to highlight the apparent strength or weakness of the unit for future MP gameplay.

 

I had expected to battle alongside friendly crawlers more often, and I was greatly disappointed at the end of the allied campaign where we are expected to by-pass the main battle and use a cheat to progress the story.

 

I expected to be able to build every unit in my armoury by the end of the campaign.

 

I did not expect the red crystals, and how redundant they made “mining”.

 

I did not expect how hard some missions were for an inexperience crawler, and how much of a doodle they would be with a level 20 crawler.

 

I did not expect to finish one campaign in around 3 hours of game time.

 

I did not expect the final product to be so bad when I first heard about the game.

 

 

Q2) What did you think of the epic conclusion and storyline as a whole?

 

To borrow a phrase... “C&C4 how I loathe thee... let me count the ways!”

 

• Why did the GDI ending reveal more about Kane than the Nod one?

• Where was the floating Tiberium crystal explanation?

• Why are all your actors so young? Especially Gideon!!!

• Why draw/animate the worst looking missile to destroy the transport carrying my beloved?

• Why build two sets when you can have just one?

• Why does my doctor look like Jim Carrey?

• Why does my wife look like my real-life sister? How am I supposed to feel romantic to her now? I guess that’s why I don’t try to hug her!

• Why kill my wife in the very first mission? I mean I barely know her!

• Why does Kane have so much trouble with women? At least this time it wasn’t a blonde!

• Why does Kane struggle so much with his own followers?

• Why recycle the same personal history (Scrin/Cabal) as motivation to betray Kane?

• Why does Kane, a being of an apparent eternal lifespan with resurrection powers look so rattled by the upstart Gideon? Shouldn’t he have plans with plans with plans? I compare his strategic thinking with the great Dune novels.

• Why does Kane look so emotional, so frail, so frazzled as a Nod leader scuttles his plans? He should be more aloof, more stable, more serene... smug and superior!

• Why does Kane act so weird on stage when giving his speech?

• Why does this game have practically zilch CGI?

• Why am I clone of Kane? Is this a by-product of the transfusion or the intention of the transfusion? Does this quasi-explain all the clones in Firestorm?

• If I die, then Kane loses everything, so why am I out in public when I could be killed – and Kane who can’t die remains in hiding doing squat?

• What is the small cost? What am I really doing for Kane – is this a suicide mission?

• 1000’s of followers vanished with Kane – who, why, where, how?

• Why does the GUI show “initiate shutdown sequence” when I die?

• What is the Col James original dialogue that was poorly dubbed over when she says shut down the portal?

 

I firmly believe the art of storytelling requires an intriguing beginning, and a satisfying conclusion to be memorable. I like stories with mystery or a twist ending. I hate being spoiled, and teaser trailers have lost the art of the “tease” and now just run straight to the full frontal nudity. Why bother watching the movie when all the best parts are in the trailer.

 

I can’t wait until this roundtable is posted, because then I can return from my self-imposed exile and start reading everyone else’s reviews, opinions and no doubt rant threads. I didn’t want to spoiled, I want the story to unfold before me.

 

I was glad I did that for the little discoveries I made during the game...

 

Like how I spent the first few missions thinking:- Where is the nod missions? Where is the option to pick the nod missions? I would always do GDI first, but I was wondering where they were. And then I was thinking, why are these missions so easy?

 

And then we had the mission where I finally get to choose my allegiance. What a great idea to have the training missions combined... afterall we are supposed to in an alliance.

 

(I thought it was quaint that James and Kane kept looking at each other through my tv eyes -- A little too Brady bunch for my liking.)

 

This made me think of so many different ways the campaign could have been handled. Why not continue with the sham alliance of Kane and GDI much deeper into the campaign so that even as GDi you are working for/with Kane. You see the signs of of Kane’s secret agenda and you must choose whether to fight or join him.

 

Or why not subtle force the player to choose between two objectives in the game and depending on the choice leads the player to darker and darker objectives and without you actually realising it – Kane is giving you all your instructions and realise you are actually working for Nod. In Kanes Wrath we only had one campaign - I would have preferred one campaign path for 80% of the game where you finally make a decision to choose a side at the end - and do the final 2-3 as your chosen faction.

 

I did love Kane tilting his head before walking through the portal. It’s such a simple gesture that reinforces his alien-ness in way that his dialogue had failed to do in any previous scene. I liked the white room for inside the portal - it's a classic convention for a place that's too difficult/expensive to construct - and it focuses all your attention on the actor. That being said - I didn't like Kane's costume in this game.

 

I did love the emotional blackmail that Kanes uses pretty early in the nod campaign. This is the sort of behaviour that I expect from Nod.

 

(Where is the Nod culture that we saw in C&C1 as shown by Seth?

There is absolutely no personality in Nod in this game.)

 

EPIC CONCLUSION?

 

There were a lot of unanswered questions heading into this game. I’ve said this once or twice before on our forums, but I believe an epic conclusion should have it’s grounding in the introduction. Good story tellers, lay the foundation for their endings in the start of the story – the reader just doesn’t realise how important the clues are. Then when you read the book or watch the movie for the second time – you see or the clues that lead up to what now seems to be an inevitable conclusion... “It was sooo obvious!” you think to yourself now.

 

I think it was a miscarriage of justice that more than 90% of C&C4’s story was spent on the life and times of the new characters in their new situations. The game is so short, we don’t have time to build any attachment to the characters. It would have been wiser to spend that time answering some of the unanswered questions.

 

The only question that was answered to me, was “what” kane has been doing. But that has not been a surprise since it became obvious in C&C3 that he was trying to get off planet. What about the why’s???

 

Why was he on earth?

Why can’t he leave?

Why does he appear to die and keep coming back to life?

What is his connection to Tiberium?

Etc etc etc

 

^ My original answers to the round table.

 

My newest thought it the conciliatory remarks to the devs about budget and time constraints. This is EALA's (C&C3, KW, RA3, RA3:U) fourth game... they should be intimately aware of the sort of time and budgetary pressures that would be coming to bear. They should have adjusted the plans for what is possible in the time and focussed on getting the best result with the time available.

 

I do believe budgets have a lot to do with the end result of the game, and I give the staff the benefit of the doubt, that wanted to do something else but were restricted into what we got.... Unless a particular dev puts his hand up and admits component-X was his sole decision.

 

Now off to track down Hag's comments.