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Welcome back to Westwood's classic RTS series in this week's new Remastered Collection.
EA / petroglyph
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Let's start this article with an insight into the video selection of the game. Some of the original shots are pretty grainy despite AI upscaling techniques.
EA / petroglyph
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Mission meetings before each mission. C & C wasn't playing around then.
EA / petroglyph
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Do you remember the strange opening cinema sequence with unnecessary channel change? Ah, the 90s.
EA / petroglyph
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I am still intimidated by this wrong children's channel.
EA / petroglyph
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CGI fight, get involved.
EA / petroglyph
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After completing each in-game mission, clips from the original video team are unlocked behind the scenes. (This screen hides most of the extras you can expect.)
EA / petroglyph
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In fantastic news, you'll be greeted with a familiar video sequence the first time you launch one of the two games in this new pack.
EA / petroglyph
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Check your graphics.
EA / petroglyph
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Check your sound card.
EA / petroglyph
The strategy, the explosions, the FMV sequences, the tearing guitars and the Kane-powered cheese – they're all back. The original game Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn from 1995 and its 1996 Prequel Red Alert have returned at today's launch of the C&C: Remastered Collection on Windows 8/10 (Amazon, Steam, Origin). In good news, the package is right for the price: With $ 20, you get both original games, all expansion packs (one for C&C: TD, two for Red Alert) and the console-exclusive content of each game. The entire package has been aesthetically revised in order to be able to work on modern PCs.
I spent the last week tinkering with Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection to describe exactly what to expect and how to mitigate your real-time strategy expectations. Despite some improvements in the quality of life, the package is otherwise faithful to the originals – almost error-free – while the compatibility with modern PCs is largely good enough.
From 400p to 2160p, but not without problems
The biggest selling point of the packaging is a new coat of high-resolution color. Every single asset and map element was redrawn. As with other current remaster projects for classic games, this also contains a practical button for changing the graphics. By default, in single player mode, you can tap the spacebar at any time to switch from the original 400p assets to a new, 2160p optimized suite of units, buildings, and terrain. Enjoy a before-before gallery with enlarged units and full battlefield scenes.
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The reduced standard perspective of the game with updated graphics. (Most of the other images are super zoom units.)
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The same scene with original, lower resolution graphics.
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A closer zoom on these buildings, new graphics.
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The same scene with original, lower resolution graphics.
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A look at Red Alert's first alliance mission. Thanks to the higher resolution, you can see the historical figure that we save there.
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The same scene with original, lower resolution graphics. We swear that a one-fuzzy sprite is Albert Einstein.
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A closer zoom on some Soviet vehicles from Red Alert. This includes a submerged submarine on the right.
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The same scene with original, lower resolution graphics. Now the submarine looks like someone has thrown a padded microphone into the sea.
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Some C & C: TD Nod vehicles with updated graphics.
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The same scene with original, lower resolution graphics.
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Some node buildings, remastered.
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The same scene with original, lower resolution graphics.
If you want to admire the higher-resolution 2D art in this new package, especially if you work with resolutions less than 3140 × 2160, the combined development forces at Petroglyph Games (mainly Westwood veterans) and Lemon Sky Studios have added a mouse wheel- Zoom option. This also allows you to adjust the view closer to the game's original, cramped perspective, as opposed to the much wider standard view (apparently the same as the "C&C Gold" version of 1997).
Returning to source material with a resolution jump appears to be an obvious step for an RTS remaster, especially for those looking for better unit visibility in eight-player manic battles. As sophisticated as this new package looks, the visual revision brings with it three problems ranging from nitpicks to legitimate concerns.
The first is an obvious reduction in color-specific visibility. Both variants of the C&C: TD campaign (GDI, NOD) begin with your enemies having largely similar unit colors to your own, and worse, their health bars are not different colors for each faction. Instead, they are all colored depending on how healthy each unit is (green for healthy, red for wounded), and the color of the health bars is very loud and obvious snow backgrounds compared to the "coarse" color of the desert, forest, and campaign .
As it turns out, the more blurry, lower-resolution units of the original games are better in terms of their specific coloring. It's easier to see which squad each slurry of old-school pixel belongs to, even if it's zoomed out, since it averages the color of the squad while you have to zoom in to get a clear view of the newer, finer one Lacquer to maintain units of loyalty. Your opinion may vary, but if you see things the same way I do, you won't get much recourse at launch. C & C: RC does not contain any switches that can be used to adjust the colors of these health bars to the squads, which would be very helpful. In addition, the online multiplayer does not support the low-res graphics of the old school series. You can only play online in high resolution mode.
Sidebar handles and a matter of taste
My second problem concerns the redesigned sidebar. Just like in the original games, it's right on the right side of the screen, but this new user interface divides all building options into tabs: Buildings, Troops, Vehicles, and Super Weapons. In the past, they were all divided into two columns so that you could hover over the menu and switch between triggering new buildings and waiting for new soldiers or vehicles.
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In good news, you no longer have to tap a "scroll" button to see all of these options at once. In bad news, you have to tap a brand new button to switch between those buildings and your troop options.
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Original interface for comparison. Note that this side-by-side scroll makes it easier to queue troop and building creation at the same time.
Now players are faced with a new compromise: you don't need to click the "Scroll Down" button to see more units, which is good, but you need to tap a button to switch between tabs, which is bad . With today's modern higher resolutions, the original user interface could have been expanded very well to display more units at once, which would have been the best of both worlds. But Petroglyph and Lemon Sky removed the old sidebar as an option, as if it had been destroyed by a GDI ion cannon. The only consolation at startup is a series of brand new keyboard shortcuts that let you switch between these tabs. The community's response to this announced change has been largely positive, so you can appreciate it – especially since it resembles the user interface of later C&C games – but I personally don't think this is an improvement.
And my last fool about the new graphics is tasty: the units of the original games could never be used for a remarkable articulation or expansion. StarCraft Remastered 2017's before-and-after results are more enticing because their original designs were already full of science fiction and fantasy flourishes, including bold unit designs, ridiculous sizes, and colorful landscapes. The C&C series mainly sticks to boilerplate jets, tanks, motorcycles and humvees, all of which are drawn against "realistic" backgrounds. Staying true to this aesthetic was certainly the best call, but it didn't leave the C & C remastering team much room to kill non-fans with this update. Red Alert 2 remains a prettier 2D option despite its maximum resolution of 768p and serious problems on Windows 10.
Despite these nitpicks, I prefer to play with the tasteful new graphics from C & C: RC than with the original pixel art – especially when everyone chooses bolder primary colors for their units in an online battle, which is very helpful. And the C&C: RC package takes care to update the animation frames of its new units in a suitable way. They all contain more animation images, but not much more, and interpolation is used with care to ensure that the little soldiers and vehicles are animated in a way that looks like evil GI Joe characters waging war and not stupid little puppets.
Ladders, private matches and cross-platform tires
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Let's sing and dance the options and menus. First select which of the two EXE files you want to load (or jump to the map editor).
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Select one, all, or none of these control QoL switches.
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The tooltip mentions a welcome return for a classic serial actor. If you want, you can also reset all audio to the same thinner sound effects as the original.
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You can map the Dickens from the shortcuts of this game.
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Hopping from mission to mission is child's play thanks to a new menu. You need to unlock progress in the primary campaigns, but all other cards will be unlocked from the jump.
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Note the plethora of options for private skirmishes.
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In Red Alert, the choice of faction plays a role because it offers certain advantages in addition to the distinction between the Soviet and the Alliance.
Back to the sales pitch, "Believers, Even To A Mistake": If either Petroglyph or Lemon Sky have applied a significant unit-level update to this classic RTS, it doesn't mean that, and my tests to date have shown no reason to assume this debate about GDI against Nod or Allies against Soviets will soon be settled. For clarification, the C & C: TD and Red Alert collections are divided into separate EXE silos so that you cannot compete against the predecessor in the first game.
You will likely want to focus your online fight on the Red Alert side of the equation, as this game was developed with superior unit balancing than its predecessor and contains more integrated battle maps designed by Westwood, ranging from 1 vs 1 to 8 players free skirmishes. Both games involve the similar but asymmetrical balance of two opposing factions, and each contains its own Elo-rated 1-on-1 leader for matchmaking against strangers. (We were unable to test this sufficiently before the start.)
Placing skirmishes with friends was a hit or miss offer before the start. Inviting friends via Steam or Origin worked most of the time, although about a third of the friend-only matches I loaded resulted in an error ranging from the cursor disappearing to a match that didn't even happen wild graphic crash started at both ends. In most of my private matches that were loaded, they worked flawlessly – although in each of these cases C & C: RC drops the ball on two crucial quality of life characteristics: holding lobbies together after the end of a game and letting players surrender properly. Your only option is to end the rage, to which C & C: RC responds by occupying empty spaces with AI players – which is admittedly welcome for games of up to eight players.
If you own the Origin collection and want to play against Steam friends, or vice versa, you cannot send them direct invitations to meetings. You can only host a publicly visible game and then instruct your cross-platform friend to update the public "join" list as soon as possible to fill one of the open slots in your session. C & C: RC does not currently support closed, password-protected lobbies, which is a shit. I'm glad there is a workaround available to get started, at least for cross-platform friends who are ready to jump through tires, but it feels a little silly for 2020.
To round off the usual online questions: No, LAN support is not available at the start. According to Petroglyph, it is a victim of quarantine issues that change the development team's priorities, and the company has committed to addressing this issue at some point (but has not yet made an estimate). Yes, the single player content works offline as long as your customer does an online review via Steam or Origin every 30 days. No, the game does not contain DRM that goes beyond the functionality built into both storefronts.
Custom content and mods work on at least both platforms, and each comes with a nifty built-in map editor. Sharing such mod content is easier via Steam Workshop since Origin has no equivalent. As a result, EA storefront users must browse the game's Steam interface to access and download this content.
Beautifully updated audio, acceptable FMVs
Enlarge /. With this handy jukebox interface, you can adjust the audio in the game at any time.
EA / petroglyph
The name of the original music and sound producer Frank Klepacki was broadcast frequently before the launch, and for good reason: he went to the trouble of restoring the original audio assets of the games, which were downgraded because there wasn't enough CD-ROM -Room. If you want to play these new versions with the original 22 kHz mono music and sound effects, you can still switch them. However, the higher fidelity that applies to all sounds across the board is appreciated.
In great news, Klepacki seems to have paid particular attention to how the games sounded at the time, and has set itself the goal of maintaining the intense frequency tuning of the original games for both music and the flood of newly recorded games. Everything here sounds punchy and old-fashioned, in contrast to a pleasant mix that can be expected from modern game productions. (If you don't agree, the volume of each audio element can be adjusted individually.) As a fun bonus, a handful of classic songs by Klepacki and an accompanying live band have been re-recorded, including original samples and arrangements in the style of the 90s, absolutely tearing them apart . You can go to an in-game jukebox and select exactly the songs you want to hear. This is a great thing for picky music lovers.
C & C: RC also includes every FMV sequence attached to both original games, as well as video sequences that were previously only available for the series console ports. Unfortunately, EA and Petroglyph were unable to restore higher resolution video beyond what was supplied on the original game discs, although I appreciate that every video has been reworked using AI reconstruction techniques. Some of the segments look like garbage with this filter, but many look dramatically smoother. If you pass each mission, a lot of behind-the-scenes footage and green screen video tests will unlock, ranging from boring to remarkable. If you can't get enough of Westwood's original film director Joe Kucan as Kane, this part of the package is probably worth the price alone.
The mainstream-friendly focus of the campaigns of the C&C games remains, especially for missions that are not about rush-think-just-rush sequences. Each campaign begins with players simply pointing to a large number of units and clicking on them to achieve a few goals where all things are killed. Subsequent missions slowly reveal the RTS heart of the series in resource management and multi-level attacks. The series' classic FMV sequences go well with this approach, especially when famous people like Kane and Tanya appear to serve your 100% USRDA cheese.
Let's face it: we like this side of EA
In terms of quality of life, C & C: RC offers a number of new controls changes, including the assignment of mouse buttons and the option to queue vehicle and troop production. (Most of them are completely optional, unlike the updated production sidebar.) Private online battles include their own QoL switches, including customizable team assignments (yes, you can host a 1v7 match if you want), game speed, and an option to spawn find-filled boxes filled with boost and choose whether or not the fog of war will return to the zones once the troops leave them. And now C & C: TD contains the same unit number indicators that Red Alert added to indicate which keyboard shortcut group they belong to (which you can set by holding down the Ctrl key and tapping a number).
But developers' teasing about under-the-hood fixes isn't necessarily clear and leaves some outdated problems intact, especially device pathing. If you order your units to walk from a barracks to a bridge, you should carefully direct their steps, or these dummies will walk through dangerous, Tiberium-soaked fields and show up with a lot of poor health.
If you're a fan of the outdated core game of C & C: TD or Red Alert, the QoL content distributed through C & C: RC is just the thing for you: 25 years later, the vowel contingent of Westwood's RTS roots, that is the military prefer styling and the 90s rock bombshell of the series The first two games about the crazy balance and the action-per-minute madness of StarCraft or WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne. (Speaking of which, credit where it is due: EA has undoubtedly improved these two games with this new collection. Blizzard can't say the same about W3, whose botched "reforged" version is still missing key features that its community has asked for .)
However, if you're not sure if you still have the stomach for the roots of the series, I wouldn't blame you for dipping your toes in a freeware version of Red Alert, which is currently either a full install of the Originals is available as a game or a multiplayer-only fork before you choose one. However, this is one of the situations where EA did the right thing and offered the community a full open source path to the original code of the games in case the principles, unlike your RTS settings, force you to pay for the package . Really, so much of this package contradicts Ars' guesswork about EA as a modern game maker: a return to a popular franchise, built in part by its original staff, that prioritizes fan feedback and hardcore fans at all costs Has. This makes spending the start of the collection a little easier to swallow.
To quote Kane incorrectly: Today the sun rises on something old, not something new. But hey, it's a welcome sight.
Listing image from EA / Petroglyph
