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By Contributing Writer Mike Bean Rating: Average Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is the proverbial sheep in wolf's clothing. It's fun and amusing, but it's not worth crying wolf over. Given that it took three years to develop, I couldn't help but expect more than what I got. To the game's credit, the path-finding AI is excellent. There won't be any units confused and fumbling around because there is an obstacle in their way, or they can't figure out how to climb a hill from the opposite side. Give a unit a destination, and you can be assured it will get there as soon as possible. Also, Tiberian Sun has some great terrain effects and a fairly comprehensive system of destructible terrain (blast craters, forest fires, etc). One of Tiberian Sun's biggest strengths is the fact that it's balanced very well. There are a wide variety of units, and some of them are extremely powerful and dangerous, but the game will never leave you without defensive options. There is an interesting tactical challenge to be found in Tiberian Sun, and it does a good job of creating the organized chaos that is the hallmark of real-time strategy games. Tiberian Sun has many awkward moments that bog you down while you're trying to control the action. For weeks, I was unable to get the guard command to work, but in researching this, I discovered that it's CTRL+ALT (the instruction book lists the command as just "G"). To set down a patrol, you use the way-point system, but if you would like them to actually defend themselves, you must press CTRL, ALT, and the left mouse button. One feature of the destructible terrain is that there are bridges that you can destroy to aid your cause, but apparently you have to hit the bridges at just the right spot. At one point, I pounded a bridge with tanks for five minutes without destroying it, and on another occasion, one shell (which I didn't even mean to fire) did the job. Multiple bases don't allow you to produce troops more quickly, they just give you increased income at the same output rate. Tiberian Sun is littered with these kinds of gaps in logic that detract from the overall experience. Although the units are nicely balanced, their designs aren't anywhere near as impressive. They range from ordinary to downright absurd (the NOD flame tanks look like cordless shavers). Also, while the movies that play between missions do an excellent job of lending a sense of continuity and story to the game (and the return of Kane is great), the story itself is easily forgotten thanks to mostly un-inspired characters. Tiberian Sun has the worst handling of the so-called "fog-of-war" phenomenon that I've seen yet. It's no surprise that the map is largely concealed at the beginning of the game. What is a surprise is that apparently every single unit in the game has the sight of a new-born bat, and elevation doesn't make much difference in how far a given unit can see. This makes scouting a tedious chore, especially since the maps are so big and detailed. In a particularly disturbing twist, there are rules governing what you can and cannot use to scout. Whose bright idea was it to decide that aircraft can't go into "un-revealed territory"? Due to the line-of-sight system and the resulting difficulty of scouting, ambushes take place frequently. You should expect to set off the enemy's defenses more than once because you couldn't see them until they were five feet away and firing at you. Tiberian Sun breaks the first commandment of real-time strategy games: Thou shall not force the player to micro-manage. Opposing units can (and often do) happily march past each other with no shots fired on their way to their destinations. Occasionally, you'll find that your units won't even defend themselves (or each other) from attack unless instructed to do so. The more sophisticated the unit, the more complex the problems. For example, I do not object to sending my orca helicopters back the heli-pad to re-load, but I do object to being forced to manually land each orca on the pad, wait for it to re-load (which takes roughly the same time as it takes to construct one from scratch), lift it off the pad, and land the next one. Every successful real-time strategy must carefully tread the line between giving the player options and forcing him to micro-manage (which he doesn't have time to do if he's busy managing resources and fighting battles). Despite its excellent path-finding AI, Tiberian Sun forces you to baby-sit your units in order to keep them from doing something stupid or doing nothing at all. If more care had been given to unit control and behavior, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun might have been something special. As it is, it's nothing more than a short-term fix for C&C fans who are looking for something new. Send your thoughts on this review to mike@mastergamer.com
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