Review: The Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection has aged like a fine wine

Note: This review was first published on 11 June 2020.

With a whizz, a bang and a press of the spacebar, the original Command & Conquer game from 1995 fizzles on the PC screen...and is promptly upgraded into a glorious modern-day reiteration of itself, complete with 4K graphics support and an amazingly remastered soundtrack. Indeed, that's literally how the Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection booted up for me. 

Yes, it's been a solid 25 years since people started clicking on GDI and Brotherhood of Nod units, and what better way to celebrate this milestone than with a remaster of the OG titles? From the good old Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert to DLCs like Covert Ops, Counterstrike and The Aftermath, the Remastered Collection definitely packs enough nostalgia to tempt even the most steadfast RTS veteran.

Naturally, it'd only make sense to want to get a glimpse before you hand over your hard-earned cash (it's available on both Steam and Origin for US$19.99 (~S$28), by the way), which is why we're here. So, on behalf of the folks at Electronic Arts and the Westwood Studios veterans over at Petroglyph Games, we'd like to begin in typical C&C fashion.

"Welcome back, Commander."

Heading into Tiberian Dawn, let's just say I didn't expect much of it at first considering the game is older than I am. Sure, I definitely enjoyed Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars a lot when I was younger, but then again, I'm no longer judging from the eyes of that twelve year old kid. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that same, somehow long-forgotten bubbly sense of curiosity welling up as the opening animations played and I began to order my units around.  

I don't know - there was just something about the graphics and audio that really hit me. If I might add, it was an awfully nice and fuzzy feeling too, so I can imagine the effects would probably be tenfold for those who played the original game. 

At that point, I had thrown away whatever notions I had prior - the game was just "enjoyable", maybe even charming, especially with all the face-to-face-style briefing videos that we've come to adore from C&C playing in high definition. Additionally, the units no longer look like little Tetris pieces running around either - the developers have enhanced the silhouettes such that they're cohesive and well-defined enough to pass for a late 2000s RTS, while still retaining some elements from the original game for nostalgia. 

Tying the aesthetics package up was of course the soundtrack, which has been completely remastered by the legendary Frank Klepacki, including over 20 tracks re-recorded with The Tiberian Sons. From full-on loud and adrenaline-pumping rock riffs to techno tunes sprinkled with a few robotic military commands, let's just say the Jukebox quickly became one of my most visited tabs during my playthrough.

The art of RTS rock-paper-scissors

Moving on to gameplay, players once again have a choice between the GDI and Brotherhood of Nod factions, or the Allies and Soviet Union in Red Alert. Of course, I chose the latter...because playing the bad guy, a quasi-terrorist organisation in this case, seemed much more fun. On top of that, although the game recommends players to browse through the readme file to familiarise themselves with the remastered features, time and tide wait for no C&C review, so I just went in blind. After all, a surprise party isn't as fun if you see it coming. 

Anyway, campaign gameplay is in classic C&C format...not that you'd expect otherwise. Players select various missions from a world map interface, then head into the associated levels to complete various objectives. From there, you build your structures, harvest resources and produce soldiers to fight for you - it's as basic as RTS gameplay gets, which means it's also rather refreshing to revisit the simple rock-paper-scissors-style interactions between various unit types.

For instance, vehicles tend to fare worse against anti-vehicle infantry, but do well against regular infantry, so on and so forth. I actually find the simple approach goes a long way in this genre - a lot of RTS titles nowadays tend to complicate the "triangle" a little too much for the sake of novelty, to the point that they're actually more confusing than entertaining. 

But for all of its good scores in nostalgia, aesthetics and general gameplay feel, there's a lot to be said about some of its flaws too.

Punching holes in the defense 

However, the Remastered Collection is far from the ideal game, although I admit I'm assuming the perspective of a modern gamer here. I think most of us are kind of used to having dedicated squads in our RTS games, with only certain, special units like builders or "heroes" being produced singularly. This also means that the entire group moves and operates as a single block, rather than a discrete bunch of individual soldiers. But not here. 

The remastered Tiberian Dawn only ever produces single soldiers, and while being able to command each soldier individually opens up certain strategic pathways, there was a small culture shock of sorts, especially for someone like me who grew up primarily on Dawn of War, where most units spawn in groups.

That's not including the "weird behaviour", either. Case in point, sometimes I'd order a group of soldiers to a certain point, and then there'd be that one smart fellow who would just head off on his own somewhere, often far south of the main group. Perhaps it's a glitch, or maybe it's just me setting my bar where it shouldn't be - I'm all ears. 

Adjustment issues aside, as I completed more missions, I couldn't help but feel the gameplay get somewhat repetitive as well. Granted, this is an issue that most RTS games face, even modern ones, but it's especially obvious here. Most of the campaign, for both Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert uses the same "kill your opponent, or a certain unit to win" requirement, and I'd wager you can win about 90% of them just by setting up a sturdy defense, building your own private army then sending the lot to blast your opponent to kingdom come. Essentially, it's just a matter of how long it takes for you to do that.

To be fair, I didn't come in expecting every mission to be completely different, but when you can rely on a single strategy to win the majority of your engagements, it says a lot about the variety, or lack of it in this case. To be fair, the included DLCs do help to add some measure of additional content in, but like the base games, most of them can still be won with the same "mobbing" strategy. 

Which brings us to the PvP aspect: the reimagined Multiplayer (complete with Elo-based matchmaking), the all-new modding options and the Map Editor feature, the first and last of which are unique to the Remastered Collection. 

Picking on someone your own size

Frankly, RTS games should never be judged based on their campaign alone. Their Multiplayer scene also counts for a great deal, although we can't say much about the Remastered Collection yet considering it has only just come out. However, given that there are still many people dedicated to other old-school titles like Portal or the original Super Mario 64, it's no stretch to assume that there's a similarly-dedicated community for classic C&C games too. Most of the Remastered Collection's playerbase will presumably come from there, although I'd definitely encourage any RTS fan to have a go at least once. Oh, and for the competitive crowd, there's Elo-based matchmaking too - players who want to prove their undisputable strategic genius should definitely take it for a spin and see how high they can climb!

Admittedly, I'm far from being such a RTS prodigy, so I opted to mess around with the A.I. for a bit using some of the user-created maps and modes. Given my preference for defensive playstyles in RTS, I quite liked this particular mode called the "Money Map", which is basically the RTS equivalent of Domination. By capturing and defending certain points, players accumulate resources until someone reaches the given benchmark and wins.

Of course, there are tons of other quirky variations available for download as well - I came across one where the map was just a single bridge, with you and the opponent in a no-holds-barred fight for survival. Brutal, yes - but it's also a lot of fun.

As for the Map Editor, it's actually a simple-to-use, but rather archaic application where users can place various structures and landscapes to create their own unique playground. After saving their created map, they can presumably upload it for use in their own skirmish games, or online for others to try out. It's nifty, but I'll admit I don't really have the patience for such endeavours!

Mission Accomplished

So, at the end of the day, do I like the Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection or not? Well, it depends on how you look at it. On one hand, while I personally played more of Tiberian Dawn than Red Alert here, the whole package is a definite green light if you were (and probably still are) a C&C fan and want to revisit the OG games in a new coat of paint. After all, I really think the enhanced graphics, impressively redone soundtrack and nostalgia factor more than justify buying it. But if you're a newcomer to the series, I have to admit that the repetitivity can seem a touch unattractive and even daunting, especially within the Campaigns.

Regardless, it's important to keep in mind that this is fundamentally a game from over two decades ago, and that the C&C series in general is still recognised as one of the genre's pioneers. Furthermore, given there aren't many new, top-shelf RTS games on the market lately, I'd offer that now is actually a pretty good time to get introduced to it if you've been meaning to. As such, what better way than to start from ground zero? Who knows, you might end up liking it more than you expected to!