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Here's my review of Command and Conquer Generals. The short of it is, I liked it, and I'll be buying it. As soon as it gets released anyway. 
Game play 8/10
Generals is a basic Westwood RTS, no apparent selection limit, harvester based resources. While some things have changed in this version of C&C, most of the game their basic design is still here. Base power system is still intact, and the basic war model is still the same. Infantry, tanks, air support, and super weapons. There still doesn’t seem to be any limit to the number of units you can build, as masses of Chinese infantry can quickly attest to. Units still advance in rank with kills, and infantry can still occupy buildings.
But while a C&C fan will still be right at home, there are some changes that can come as quite a surprise. The construction bar is gone, units are built at their facility now; and buildings are built by individual construction unit. The resource model has changed a little; while harvesters still go and pick up resources, each side also can make something which provides a constant source of income. The Chinese can build hackers in abundance, and this reviewer quickly used them to unbalance his single player campaign. After you get enough of them, the computer simply cannot compete with the resources they provide.
A problem I had was with unit control. Grouped units prefer to move in lines, rather than as mobs. While this means you can have realistic ambushes against troop columns, it can be extremely irritating to watch your tanks plug up a road and just stop, with half the column still behind them. These troops will then all just sit and wait, apparently hoping a traffic cop will show up to resolve the situation.
Air power works well. Helicopters simply hover constantly, and recuperate ammo, while planes have to return to their airstrips. Planes can be ordered to move to a position on the map, and their orders can be easily modified mid flight. I found that migs with improved napalm simply annilated enemy ground fources. The only irritant is that you can only have four planes per airfield
Story 7/10
The storyline was kind of a let down. the game’s missions come at you basically as scenarios, with little to no background. While the videos from Red Alert 2 could be a little too far over the top sometimes, the lack of any sort of video in the game is a bit of a letdown. One of the highpoints for me in Warcraft 3 was the way everything connected together. There’s very little of that feeling here. But even though the missions didn’t have much in the way of a connecting story, each was well designed, sometimes with several objectives, and I had fun on all of them. Even the ones where the enemy was bombarding me with impunity.
Graphics 9/10
The graphics were quite impressive, even for someone who has been playing a lot of Warcraft 3. For the most part, the units all look quite nice; the infantry being the main exception. And as long as aren’t zooming way in, the infantry work just fine. Vehicles and planes are all quite detailed, and the flame and explosion effects are fantastic. The camera is zoomable, and rotatable.
One problem I noticed was a tendency of vehicles to drive through some of the smaller, unoccupiable buildings. It was rather disconcerting to watch my gatling trucks drive through storage containers on the docks.
Large scale explosions such as the nuke come off very well, and the glowing green goo is quite nice. The game has numerous environment sets, and all the buildings look quite nice. Buildings go through several different levels of damage, and tower like buildings will tip over and crash into the ground. Destroyed vehicles stick around as wrecks for a ten seconds or so, and scorched earth seems to stick around for good. Infantry are thrown around like rag dolls if they're caught in an explosions; caught in a fire and they'll run around screaming flailing their arms. And of course, the napalm explosions are simply delightful.
Performance 9/10
I had some odd issues with this. My system is an AMD XP 2000, with 512 mb of pc2100 ram and a geforce 3 ti200 running XP. I initially attempted to play with max settings at a resolution of 1020x640. The game speed was insanely slow. Troops appeared to be moving in slow motion, and although scrolling speed was fine, it took forever to do anything. I then fiddled with the settings, eventually reducing my resolution to 800x600, with max settings. The game runs great this way, but I’d still like to know why I can’t run it at higher resolutions. The game didn’t seem to have any issues with large numbers of units, as I had hordes of Chinese infantry marching across the field, with my overlords escorting and 18 migs flying overhead.
Balance
Since I was unable to play multiplayer with this, I won’t make any comments it and the accompanying about balance issues. Except, I have never liked super weapons, and I do not enjoy the presence of those in Generals either. There’s something about being bombarded by artillery that you cannot reach, attack, or prevent, that truly irritates me.
Final Decisions 8.5/10
Command & Conquer Generals is a great looking game, with better than decent game play. The campaign is fun to play, if not very inspiring. Each side have significantly different unit trees, special weapons, and basic strategies. I feel that Generals incorporates just about all of the best parts of the C&C design, as well as the Starcraft / Warcraft design. All in all, I give it an 8.5/10 and I will be picking up a copy.
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4
Game play 8/10
Generals is a basic Westwood RTS, no apparent selection limit, harvester based resources. While some things have changed in this version of C&C, most of the game their basic design is still here. Base power system is still intact, and the basic war model is still the same. Infantry, tanks, air support, and super weapons. There still doesn’t seem to be any limit to the number of units you can build, as masses of Chinese infantry can quickly attest to. Units still advance in rank with kills, and infantry can still occupy buildings.
But while a C&C fan will still be right at home, there are some changes that can come as quite a surprise. The construction bar is gone, units are built at their facility now; and buildings are built by individual construction unit. The resource model has changed a little; while harvesters still go and pick up resources, each side also can make something which provides a constant source of income. The Chinese can build hackers in abundance, and this reviewer quickly used them to unbalance his single player campaign. After you get enough of them, the computer simply cannot compete with the resources they provide.
A problem I had was with unit control. Grouped units prefer to move in lines, rather than as mobs. While this means you can have realistic ambushes against troop columns, it can be extremely irritating to watch your tanks plug up a road and just stop, with half the column still behind them. These troops will then all just sit and wait, apparently hoping a traffic cop will show up to resolve the situation.
Air power works well. Helicopters simply hover constantly, and recuperate ammo, while planes have to return to their airstrips. Planes can be ordered to move to a position on the map, and their orders can be easily modified mid flight. I found that migs with improved napalm simply annilated enemy ground fources. The only irritant is that you can only have four planes per airfield
Story 7/10
The storyline was kind of a let down. the game’s missions come at you basically as scenarios, with little to no background. While the videos from Red Alert 2 could be a little too far over the top sometimes, the lack of any sort of video in the game is a bit of a letdown. One of the highpoints for me in Warcraft 3 was the way everything connected together. There’s very little of that feeling here. But even though the missions didn’t have much in the way of a connecting story, each was well designed, sometimes with several objectives, and I had fun on all of them. Even the ones where the enemy was bombarding me with impunity.
Graphics 9/10
The graphics were quite impressive, even for someone who has been playing a lot of Warcraft 3. For the most part, the units all look quite nice; the infantry being the main exception. And as long as aren’t zooming way in, the infantry work just fine. Vehicles and planes are all quite detailed, and the flame and explosion effects are fantastic. The camera is zoomable, and rotatable.
One problem I noticed was a tendency of vehicles to drive through some of the smaller, unoccupiable buildings. It was rather disconcerting to watch my gatling trucks drive through storage containers on the docks.
Large scale explosions such as the nuke come off very well, and the glowing green goo is quite nice. The game has numerous environment sets, and all the buildings look quite nice. Buildings go through several different levels of damage, and tower like buildings will tip over and crash into the ground. Destroyed vehicles stick around as wrecks for a ten seconds or so, and scorched earth seems to stick around for good. Infantry are thrown around like rag dolls if they're caught in an explosions; caught in a fire and they'll run around screaming flailing their arms. And of course, the napalm explosions are simply delightful.
Performance 9/10
I had some odd issues with this. My system is an AMD XP 2000, with 512 mb of pc2100 ram and a geforce 3 ti200 running XP. I initially attempted to play with max settings at a resolution of 1020x640. The game speed was insanely slow. Troops appeared to be moving in slow motion, and although scrolling speed was fine, it took forever to do anything. I then fiddled with the settings, eventually reducing my resolution to 800x600, with max settings. The game runs great this way, but I’d still like to know why I can’t run it at higher resolutions. The game didn’t seem to have any issues with large numbers of units, as I had hordes of Chinese infantry marching across the field, with my overlords escorting and 18 migs flying overhead.
Balance
Since I was unable to play multiplayer with this, I won’t make any comments it and the accompanying about balance issues. Except, I have never liked super weapons, and I do not enjoy the presence of those in Generals either. There’s something about being bombarded by artillery that you cannot reach, attack, or prevent, that truly irritates me.
Final Decisions 8.5/10
Command & Conquer Generals is a great looking game, with better than decent game play. The campaign is fun to play, if not very inspiring. Each side have significantly different unit trees, special weapons, and basic strategies. I feel that Generals incorporates just about all of the best parts of the C&C design, as well as the Starcraft / Warcraft design. All in all, I give it an 8.5/10 and I will be picking up a copy.
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4
Even after you say the campaign has no redeeming qualities and, in fact, doesn't even have a story? 
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