Sides Compared

As an avid IT enthusiast it's natural for me to have a penchant in computer games as well. So today I decided to write about my relatively-useless hobby of playing computer games. My favourite genre is RTS (real time strategy) which is actually something I discovered from my mother's cousin. The first RTS game I play is of course the venerable Command & Conquer. Then I've played almost all of Command & Conquer releases until Generals.

The latest game in C&C heritage is quite controvesial actually in terms of the factions playable in the game. As you know China has banned it and the GLA side present in the game strongly associate Islam with terrorism. But then this two sides remains my favourite. China have lots of firepower, solid defense and efficient power usage. Reflecting the real world China units is powerful en-masse with it's horde bonus.

GLA meanwhile requires no power at all although they have weaker armour for all units. Anyway it's compensated by it's low prices which allow you to a build massive force to overwhelm your opponent. This side is wicked also, in the sense that it give you various way to play with explosives & biological weapons. You can have booby traps, demolition truck and shells coated with toxin. Not to mention the toxic truck that can reduce a squad of rangers to goo in seconds. Really love to use GLA against USA. Ahh~, intoxicating. ;)

How about USA? I'm amused by it's nifty ideas such as drones to assist vehicles but it's too expensive and fragile on top of the already expensive vehicles. Power? Real inefficient, base defense system drains too much power while the power plant is costly to build. Base defense system is rather weak and largely incapable of handling rush attacks early in the game. But the variety of air units is appealing but it's easily countered by GLA stingers & China's gattling weapons. Their supply line is supply is fragile as well as they totally rely on air units for it. Maybe I'm just incompetent in using this faction but overall the three factions is quite balanced. (At least more balanced from past C&C Games)

But then, this game also departs from the original C&C tradition. There's no more cinematic experience in their story telling. In the previous series they incorporate real motion video in the campaign giving immersive experience in the game universe and not to mention it's quite fun actually. And it also reduce the dependancy on the Command Center which is a great relief for a lousy player like me. All and all it's a good game to let off some steam of tension. Off to the battlefield!