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*''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2]]''
*''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2]]''
**''Yuri's Revenge'' (expansion)
**''Yuri's Revenge'' (expansion)
*''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]] (as of now, unannounced officially by EA games, however, they have not denyed it either)
*''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]] (as of now, unannounced officially by EA games, however, they have not denied it either)


==''Generals'' series==
==''Generals'' series==

Revision as of 04:18, 25 April 2006

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|February 2006|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.

For the original 1995 RTS game Command & Conquer, please see Command & Conquer.

The Command & Conquer series is a set of real-time strategy computer games released by the game developer Westwood Studios (19852003), which was purchased by Electronic Arts in 1998. In 2003, EA closed Westwood and absorbed it into EA Los Angeles, where Command & Conquer titles are currently being made. Some of the original Westwood Command & Conquer team remain at EA, but most left to form the new games company Petroglyph. Command & Conquer games were originally all in one series, however, EA has expanded the Command & Conquer franchise with the addition of a new series and several spin-offs of C&C's existing titles. These series of games are officially the best selling real time strategy games, selling in excess of 35 million units.

Tiberian series

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Command & Conquer

The Tiberian series features two warring factions called the United Nations Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the quasi-state terrorist group, the Brotherhood of Nod.

The original Command & Conquer (also referred to as Tiberian Dawn) was made by Westwood Studios in 1995, and distributed exclusively by Virgin. The opening sequence shows animation of the bombing of the fictitious Great Trade Center in Vienna. This act is blamed on NOD terrorists and their leader, Kane. It serves as the beginning of the Tiberian series storyline. The conflict centers on control of a new resource called Tiberium, an exotic substance that extracts minerals from the land it sits upon and deposits them in above-ground crystals that are simple to process into useful materials. It was speculated that Tiberium was named after the Tiber River where it was first discovered, yet the Brotherhood of Nod's leader, Kane, claims to have named it after Tiberius Caesar, having discovered it himself. However, Tiberium is also extremely toxic and mutagenic. Almost certainly extraterrestrial in origin, it is thought to have come to Earth in a meteor impact. There is speculation that it may be an alien terraforming agent.

While the GDI focuses on research on making Tiberium into useful materials and mitigating the damage to Earth's people and ecosystem, Nod's position is to embrace Tiberium as the herald of a new age. Nod has done heavy research into Tiberium-based technology and weaponry, and its leader, Kane, has designs to convert the entire planet to a Tiberium-based ecosystem. The GDI was created by status quo nations to counter Kane's plans for a new world order. The Brotherhood of Nod excels at manipulating the media to turn world opinion against the GDI.

The Tiberium series has always utilized heavy biblical undertones. Kane, the leader of Nod, is clearly a variation on the spelling of Cain, the first murderer. Indeed, Cain was banished for his crime to the land of Nod. It is unknown if this is an assumed name of a madman or truly Cain. Kane's murder of Seth, the officer who instructs the player at the beginning of the series and Kane's "right hand", is a further biblical reference, although in the bible Cain murders Abel and Seth is given to Adam and Eve in place of the murdered Abel.

C&C was one of the first to utilise real-time gameplay, and cinematic animation sequences. To fund your campaign, you are required to harvest and sell Tiberium which oozes from the ground like petroleum, or oil, although Tiberium is a green (with a rarer, and more valuable, blue variation) crystal-like substance. Because of its high toxicity, troops must not be marched through Tiberium fields or they will weaken and die.

Games in the series

Red Alert series

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert

The Red Alert series is set in an alternate timeline, created when Albert Einstein travels back in time and makes contact with Adolf Hitler in an attempt to prevent World War II. This backfires and results in an unchecked Soviet invasion of Europe by Joseph Stalin. This Stalin-led invasion of Europe serves as the backdrop for the first Red Alert game. Two expansion packs for the original Red Alert were released: Counterstrike and The Aftermath. New units, missions, multiplayer maps, and music were included in the expansions.

The Red Alert series was originally an exploration of the alternate history leading to the Tiberian series, and even Kane made some appearances. With the release of Red Alert 2, the connection became somewhat unclear, with fans of the series split as to whether or not the time travel excursions of the series were forming a separate continuity or just another side adventure on the way to the Tiberian era. Some state that the timeline depends on which faction wins the battle in Red Alert: if the Soviets succeed in conquering Europe, this triggers the events in Command & Conquer; if the Allies defeat the Soviets, the Red Alert 2 timeline follows. This particular line of thought is incorrect because Command & Conquer-related material exists in the Allied campaign whereas the Soviet victory leads to facts that prevent the Command & Conquer timeline. During a cutscene early in the Allied Campaign, a newsreel playing on a television screen does hint at the "formation of a Global Defense Initiative" which does link Red Alert to Tiberian dawn. However - this is a passive bit of dialogue and is not realized in Red Alert, or its expansions or sequels.

Red Alert 2 is the sequel to Red Alert and has an expansion pack, Yuri's Revenge. In Red Alert 2, the Soviet Union invades the United States, using mind control technology to capture US forces and deactivate America's nuclear arsenal. In Yuri's Revenge, Soviet Premier Romanov's advisor Yuri attempts to overtake the world using his psychic dominator technology. A last-second attempt to stop Yuri's plans sends the player back in time to the conflict occurring in Red Alert 2, but instead of fighting the Soviets/Allies, the player fights against Yuri. Unlike Red Alert, the Red Alert 2 games do not make any explicit or passive references to the Tiberian series, leading some to believe the Red Alert series is diverging from the Tiberian series.

The Red Alert games typically are released following the release of a game in the Tiberian timeline. The next game in the Tiberian timeline, Tiberian Wars, has been announced, with no announcement of a third Red Alert game that can be taken with credibility and certainty, as the people whom announced it have all left EA over the passed few years.

Westwood also released a music disc with the music from the Red Alert series. This disc was bundled with some later versions of the game.

Games in the series

Generals series

File:C&c generals box.jpg
Command & Conquer: Generals

Command & Conquer: Generals is the most recent game bearing the Command & Conquer brand, though its plotline is completely unrelated to the other games of the series. Also unlike previous C&C games, Generals and the Zero Hour expansion were developed by EA Los Angeles, where some members of Westwood Studios were transferred to when EA shut down Westwood's Las Vegas studios.

It uses an engine dubbed "SAGE" and is the first fully three-dimensional Command & Conquer RTS game. Fans of the C&C universe were quick to note that it was the first ever C&C RTS game that did not include full-motion video cutscenes to tell the story, and also departed from the unique interface and gameplay mechanics that had characterised all the previous C&C RTS titles. [1] Because of this, some fans of the series state that Generals does not deserve the C&C label, and that EA has turned Command & Conquer into a brand name for generic real-time strategy games.

In Generals, there are three different factions, which maintain a balance of power: the USA which adopts emergent technologies and support units; China, which swamps defences, and the Global Liberation Army, a terrorist network which uses low-tech ingenuity and guerrilla tactics. The Chinese and the USA are targets of the GLA.

This story is followed by the game's expansion pack: Command & Conquer: Generals: Zero Hour.

Generals: Zero Hour adds many new additions to the original, for example each team now gets three generals to choose from, while the basic faction still remains available. Each of these Generals has a "speciality", which means they focus on certain aspects and their available units are themed to reflect this. For example, one USA general prefers laser weapons, and hence only has laser tanks and laser turrets, replacing some of the standard USA tanks. There are no new factions added to the game, it is still China, USA and the GLA. It also includes full-motion video cutscenes in the form of news reports before every single player mission.Even though this game is an improvement over the last one, fans still argue that this game still does not deserve to be called a C&C game due to its new RTS-style game play that differs from the older C&C games.

Games in the series

Although the game was a best seller among PC games, EA has yet to make any announcements for a second installment as of March 2006.

Other Games

On April 19, 2006, PlanetC&C released an image of the front cover of the June edition of the US PC Gamer Magazine, with "Command & Conquer 3" announced as a new title to the series. The magazine claims to have a first look on the new game, and has confirmed that the game will be set in the highly anticipated Tiberium Universe. The next day, Electronic Arts officially confirmed the new Command & Conquer game to be named Command & Conquer 3: The Tiberium Wars. The announcement was made on a new website dedicated to the new game.

Evolution of a trademark

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Command & Conquer through the years.

Over the years, some C&C Games had more specific Command & Conquer logos. The initial C&C DOS Logo was Gray.

A golden version of the same logo was used on C&C'95, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and their expansions.

The Command & Conquer: Renegade logo uses the same gold logo, but embeds it in a background with metal texture.

The Command & Conquer long logo was developed for Generals with a completely different design and the words being placed horizontally, instead of the vertical alignment of the previous version. The same logo was also used for Zero Hour, the expansion to Generals.

The C&C3 Logo seems to be combining aspects of all previous logos. The font is in the Generals long-logo style, while the words are placed vertically like in the classic variant.

Official websites

Other

For a list of fansites, see the Command & Conquer entry at the Open Directory Project.