Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight

by Christopher Park
previewed on PC
Overkill?
Command & Conquer has come back in a big way over the past 3 years; Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and its expansion. And of course the spin-off series, Red Alert, which also received its second sequel and its own expansion. That means there has been a new Command & Conquer for every year and so the release of another entry, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, seems entirely unnecessary and frankly, kind of exhausting. There has been a lot of commanding and a lot of conquering since Tiberium Wars, but upon closer inspection, Tiberian Twilight is looking to change a lot of the familiar gameplay, adopting a more streamlined and faster-paced.
Story
As the final entry into the Tiberium saga, Tiberian Twilight will finally end the Tiberian storyline that was established way back in 1995, when the very first and very influential Command & Conquer was released. Taking place in 2062, 15 years after Tiberium Wars, the much-valued Tiberium has now grown and spread at a rapid rate on Earth’s surface. So much so that it has been estimated that the planet will be uninhabitable by 2068. Harsh times. Stuff like possible human extinction sounds pretty bad. Because of this, the always enigmatic Kane forms an alliance with the Global Defense Initiative. That obviously does not gel with some people on both sides, which sparks the Fourth Tiberium War. The alliance breaks down and it is back to the good old fight.
With Tiberian Twilight promising to be the final chapter in the Tiberium saga, that alone justifies the existence of this fourth installment. Kane has always been a shady character and now his motives and secrets will finally be revealed. Just how all of this ends is something that has to be seen, especially if you have followed the winding and crazy train saga that the Tiberian branch of the Command & Conquer series has been.
Gameplay
Besides the story, the gameplay is receiving a huge overhaul. You can almost call it a complete reinvention, because it is tossing away old standbys, like the complete removal of naval warfare. Instead, the game is taking cues from Relic’s Dawn of War II, emphasizing spending resources more on an upgrade rather than build-a-base-and-army basis. It also will have a greater focus on the fight, instead of the lead-up to it, which is where all the base-building and army-building found a place in previous Command & Conquers.