So we won’t know the tag line for this one until August 21st it appears, but there’s lots of guessing as to what it may be, especially with Kane being figured so prominently. To me that’s not the important part. I’m more concerned about the game play and how it will be different form C&C3 and all the other deviations like Red Alert. Once again, this is another series that has had me hooked since the first version, back in the days when I worked at Acclaim (yes, the now defunct game publisher..) We used to sit in the office playing C&C till all hours of the morning, it was like a drug. The competition it sparked was phenomenal and the water cooler strategy talks were great. But somewhere around ‘Generals’ I started to lose interest. I felt like the game play wasn’t evolving the way I expected, but I also couldn’t pinpoint how I expected it to evolve.
I still play C&C3 with some frequency, but mostly online or the skirmishes, simulating online play. The single player missions have lost my interest, which is fine, I think these games show better as online games. So reading the previews for C&C4, I ‘m seeing some attempts at changing the game play and making it exciting again, but I have my reservations. Having worked in the industry in the past, there’s always some lofty goals for the end product, but many times R&D delivery cycles and marketing and PR commitments cause issue, and things inevitably are removed or dropped, simply for the sake of time. I think I just need to excuse my cynicism here and hope for the best!
