Command & Conquer: The First Decade
Score: 96% ESRB: Teen Publisher: EA Games Developer: Westwood Studios Media: DVD/2 Players: 1 - 8 Genre: Real-Time Strategy/ First Person Shooter
Graphics & Sound: Command & Conquer: The First Decade faithfully replicates the look and feel of every single game that Westwood put out with the C&C logo on it. The twelve titles in this package, from humble 2D beginnings to the elaborate 3D Zero Hour, are all exact copies of their original form. And, having been re-mastered to run on current operating systems, you can now play the older games at the highest resolutions they were capable of attaining without having to worry about your processor clock speeds being too fast. Music is just as much a hallmark of the C&C series as the graphics are. Every track, including the infamous Hell March from Red Alert, makes its way into this compilation in all its original glory. The sounds are equally faithful. Tinny explosions from the earlier games blend smoothly into rocking, bass-filled effects in the latter titles.
Gameplay: C&C is easily the most easily recognized and highest acclaimed RTS series of all time. The bundling of the first couple of games has long been over due, but EA has gone a step further and compiled the entire series of strategy titles (and one FPS) into a single package. The beginnings of C&C were humble. Controls were limited and graphics were meager. But it had one thing that most other games didn’t have, which was the mechanic of having to make decisions in real time. The simple idea of knowing that your enemy was constantly changing their position and stance made for some very exciting games, and Westwood capitalized on that with the original C&C. What is offered here is the entire compilation of all things Command & Conquer that appeared on the computer, including the FPS Renegade. Every game has been optimized to run on the latest PC Operating System, but don’t expect any extra efforts to have been made. These games are basically in their original form. For instance, Red Alert still has its very intricate Modem setup menu (and yes, it all still works). Included in First Decade, you will find: Command & Conquer™ (Aug. 1995) Command & Conquer The Covert Operations™ (April 1996) Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ (Oct. 1996) Command & Conquer Red Alert Counterstrike™ (Mar. 1997) Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ The Aftermath™ (Sept. 1997) Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ (Aug. 1999) Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ Firestorm (Feb. 2000) Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 2 (Oct. 2000) Command & Conquer™ Yuri’s Revenge™ (Oct. 2001) Command & Conquer Renegade™ (Feb. 2002) Command & Conquer™ Generals (Feb. 2003) Command & Conquer™ Generals Zero Hour (Sept. 2003)
Difficulty: Given the number of games in Command & Conquer: The First Decade, it is needless to say that the difficulty ranges from absurdly hard to relatively easy. Older games are usually less forgiving than the ones we know today, and the old ones in this package are no exception. But they match all this trouble with a great challenge, and learning one game will prepare you well for your encounter with the next.
Game Mechanics: Thankfully, everything runs perfectly in Command & Conquer: The First Decade. And by perfect, I mean how it was originally intended to run. This means that all the good and all the bad are retained in every single one of these games. By playing through them you will get a first hand account of how the RTS genre evolved. The original games were thought to be revolutionary because you could group units. Veterans (including so-called veterans) of the genre will either find it nostalgic or appalling that all the hotkeys, shortcuts, and controls of standard RTS games have not been added to the older Command & Conquer titles. It makes me both sad and happy to see this wonderful compilation of classic games. It is good to see that companies (especially EA) are not forgetting their roots or what makes this industry great. But it is sad to see that some of the best titles coming out right now are in fact these classic compilations. How many reminders do we need to realize that most games coming out these days are crap? How can it get more obvious that outdated technology still drives home a more entertaining experience than the fanciest mo-cap or CG tools out there? Whether you’re new or old to Command & Conquer, or even the RTS genre for that matter, you owe it to yourself as a gamer (if you call yourself that) to pick up this package. Never has there been a more defining, all-encompassing effort to preserve the great history of our industry than in Command & Conquer: The First Decade.
-Snow Chainz, GameVortex Communications AKA Andrew Horwitz
Minimum System Requirements: 800MHz Processor, 128MB RAM, 32MB Video Card, 1800MB Hard Disk Space   Test System: Windows XP, 2.4 GHz Processor, 1GB RAM, 256 MB GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 160 GB Hard Drive, Cable Modem Internet Connection
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