Command & Conquer (C&C) is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game series created and first made by Westwood Studios. The company no longer exists, as it was bought by Electronic Arts in 1998 and shut down in 2003. The first game in the series was among the earliest RTS games and was inspired by Westwood Studios' earlier strategy game, Dune II. It introduced features that became common in later games, such as using videos with real people acting out story scenes, rather than computer-generated images. After Westwood Studios closed, some of its employees and projects became part of EA Los Angeles, which continued making games in the Command & Conquer series.

History

After Westwood Studios created the highly praised game Dune II, Computer Gaming World reported in 1993 that the company would not use the Dune license for its next strategy game. This was mainly because the programmers were tired of working with desert environments. The magazine mentioned that the new game would have "new terrain and enemies" and that the design team planned to create a multiplayer version.

Command & Conquer was released worldwide by Westwood in 1995. The game is set in a near-future world where Earth becomes polluted by a mysterious substance called Tiberium. A global war breaks out between the UN-formed Global Defense Initiative, which tries to control Tiberium, and the Brotherhood of Nod, a cult-like group led by Kane, who wants to use Tiberium for power. The game was very successful and was followed by Command & Conquer: Red Alert in 1996. This game takes place in an alternate universe where the Soviet Union fights the Allies. Red Alert was developed as a prequel but later became a separate, more humorous series. The original Command & Conquer and its sequels are known as the "Tiberium" series, which keeps a serious science fiction tone. The first game is sometimes called Tiberian Dawn.

After the original game, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and its expansion pack Firestorm were released in 1999. In 2002, Westwood launched Command & Conquer: Renegade, a first-person shooter game that was praised for its online features. A spin-off game, Command & Conquer: Generals, was released in 2003. This game is set in a realistic near-future and includes the United States, China, and the Global Liberation Army. It was followed by an expansion pack, Zero Hour. In 2007, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars was released, along with its expansion pack Kane's Wrath. In 2010, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight was released as the final game in the Tiberium series. It received mixed reviews because of changes to the game's traditional style and story. The Red Alert series continued with Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 in 2000, its expansion Yuri's Revenge, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 in 2008. This last game added a new faction, the Empire of the Rising Sun, which resembles Japan with futuristic technology.

The Command & Conquer series was mainly made for personal computers running Microsoft Windows, though some games were also released for video game consoles and Apple Mac computers. Other versions were developed for platforms like iOS and web-based systems. As of July 2010, the series included 11 games and 8 expansion packs. The first three games were released as free downloads to promote later titles. A free-to-play game called Command & Conquer was being developed by Victory Games and was expected to be released in 2013. However, after a short testing phase, the game was canceled, and Victory Games was shut down by EA. By 2009, over 30 million Command & Conquer games had been sold worldwide.

Gameplay

The Command & Conquer games are real-time strategy games, except for Command & Conquer: Renegade, which is a first-person shooter. A common feature of the series is that different groups, or factions, have their own stories that connect to a central plot. Players can also play against each other in multiplayer games using a local area network (LAN) or through a modem connection. All games in the series allow online play and "skirmish" matches, where players fight against computer-controlled enemies.

Most Command & Conquer real-time strategy games, except for Command & Conquer: Generals and its expansions, use a "side bar" for navigation and control. Many other similar games place the control bar at the bottom of the screen.

In Command & Conquer, players typically build a base and gather resources to fund the creation of military units to attack opponents. Structures are built at a special location called a "construction yard," which is usually created by a large vehicle known as an MCV (Mobile Construction Vehicle). Once a construction yard is built, players can place new structures near existing ones, and the buildings will quickly unfold from their prefabricated forms.

In all games except Command & Conquer: Generals and its expansion, Zero Hour, players earn money by using special "harvester" units to collect resources like Tiberium (from the Tiberian series) or ore and gems (from the Red Alert series). These resources are then taken to a "refinery" to be converted into usable funds called credits. Before Red Alert 2 and Command & Conquer 3, extra resources needed to be stored in refineries or "storage silo" structures. In Generals and Zero Hour, money is collected either by gathering supplies with specialized units and converting them at "supply centers" or by having units, buildings, or tech buildings produce money at regular intervals.

All factions in the series have structures and units with similar functions, but these are tailored to match each faction's theme and have slightly different abilities. Units are divided into infantry, vehicles, and aircraft, with some subcategories. In the Red Alert series, naval units are also available. Units are effective against certain opponents based on a "rock-paper-scissors" principle, where each unit has strengths and weaknesses against others.

Most structures in the series act as steps in a "tech tree," unlocking new units, buildings, or abilities as players build more structures. If a required structure is destroyed or not properly powered by a "power plant," advanced units or abilities may become unavailable.

Every Command & Conquer game includes multiplayer options. Each game box included two CDs, allowing players to play with a friend after buying one copy. Westwood Studios promoted this with the slogan, "A second copy, so you and your friend can destroy each other." This feature helped Command & Conquer become the first real-time strategy game to support competitive online play, a key factor in its success. Games up to Red Alert 2 used two CDs for multiplayer, while later games did not.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 was the first real-time strategy game to allow players to complete campaigns together online, unlike previous games that only supported single-player stories. However, online play could only be done through EA's servers, not through LAN connections.

Westwood Studios used its own system called Westwood Online for multiplayer games over the Internet. Renegade also supported GameSpy. Later games developed by EA used GameSpy but stopped supporting Westwood Online, switching to EA's servers. GameSpy's main servers closed in 2013, but some games can still be played through Gameranger.

Games

Command & Conquer was released on September 26, 1995. It is the first game in the series and takes place between 2017 and 2020, according to the Command & Conquer: Renegade manual. This game helped create and popularize the real-time strategy genre. It introduced two warring groups: the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod. Critics praised the game highly. GameSpot reviewer Chris Hudak said, "Command & Conquer is one of the finest, most brilliantly-designed computer games I have ever seen." The game has an aggregate score of 94% from Metacritic. Its expansion pack, Covert Operations, received a lower score of 72% after being released in 1996.

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun was released on August 27, 1999. It takes place in the year 2030. Unlike the original Command & Conquer, which focused on world politics, Tiberian Sun uses a science fiction setting. It shows Earth being taken over by a substance called Tiberium. Westwood Studios, the developers of Tiberian Sun, was bought by Electronic Arts in 1998. However, EA did not help create the game. Tiberian Sun uses science fiction technology and a new game engine that makes the environment look more like 3D.

The full-motion videos in Tiberian Sun were made differently than in earlier games. While Command & Conquer and Red Alert used first-person perspectives for cutscenes, Tiberian Sun used traditional movie-style shots. Actors like James Earl Jones and Michael Biehn appeared in these scenes.

Command & Conquer: Renegade was released on February 26, 2002. It takes place near the end of the events in Command & Conquer. It was the last game made by Westwood Studios before the company closed in 2003. Unlike other games in the series, Renegade is a first-person shooter. It received average reviews, with a score of 75% from GameRankings and Metacritic. However, it was praised for its online features. GameSpy gave it a 2002 "Wish it had been better" award, saying its multiplayer mode was innovative and fun.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars was released on March 29, 2007. It returned to the real-time strategy style of earlier games. It is a direct sequel to Tiberian Sun and takes place in 2047. A new group, the Scrin, was introduced. The game received a score of 85% from GameRankings and Metacritic. PC Gamer U.S. called it "one of the greatest RTS franchises of all time returning to glory," while PC Gamer UK gave it a more cautious rating of 82%.

After Tiberium Wars was released, an expansion pack called Kane's Wrath was announced. It came out on March 24, 2008. Kane's Wrath only lets players control the Brotherhood of Nod in the main story. However, it includes the original factions and six new sub-factions for other game modes. It takes place in 2052. The expansion received mostly positive reviews, with a score of 77%.

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight was released on March 16, 2010. It changed gameplay by removing resource gathering and base building, which were in earlier games. It also removed the Scrin faction. It is a direct sequel to Kane's Wrath but does not follow its story. It takes place in 2062, when Tiberium has evolved and is spreading rapidly across Earth.

Renegade X is a free, fan-made remake of Command & Conquer: Renegade. Electronic Arts approved its release, and it entered open beta on February 26, 2014. Renegade X includes a short single-player story called Black Dawn.

The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection was announced by Electronic Arts in November 2018. It was developed by Petroglyph Games and released on June 5, 2020. The collection received a score of 82/100 on Metacritic, with mostly positive reviews. EA also released the source code for the remastered versions of the base game and Red Alert, allowing players to create improved mods.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert was released on November 22, 1996. It is set in an alternate 1950s and was meant to be a prequel to the series. It introduced the Allies and the Soviets as rival groups, similar to NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. Red Alert received high scores, with an average of over 90% from GameRankings and Metacritic. However, its two expansion packs, Counterstrike and The Aftermath, received lower scores of 63% and 70%, respectively. A PlayStation version called Retaliation included all the content from the expansions and added new cutscenes. Before being released as freeware in 2008, Red Alert sold over three million copies.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 was released on October 23, 2000. It featured a Soviet invasion of North America using tanks, conscripts, airships, and giant squid controlled by psychic powers. Unlike earlier games, it did not reference the Tiberium series. However, the creators of the series, now working at Petroglyph Games, said Red Alert 2 takes place in a parallel universe created by time travel experiments in the Tiberium series. Red Alert 2 received a score of 86% from GameRankings.

An expansion pack called Yuri's Revenge was released on October 10, 2001. It follows a former Soviet leader named Yuri, who tries to take over the world using psychic technology and his private army. The expansion received mostly positive reviews, with an average score of 85% from GameRankings.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 was released on October 28, 2008. It continued the story from Red Alert 2 and kept the series' more humorous style. It introduced new funny units and a new faction, the Empire of the Rising Sun, inspired by Japan. The game's producer said the factions would be more different from each other and that their designs would highlight their unique traits.

Chronology

• 1995 – Command & Conquer
• 1996 – Command & Conquer – The Covert Operations
• 1996 – Command & Conquer: Red Alert
• 1997 – Command & Conquer: Red Alert – Counterstrike
• 1997 – Command & Conquer: Red Alert – The Aftermath
• 1998 – Command & Conquer: Red Alert – Retaliation
• 1997 – Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor
• 1999 – Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
• 2000 – Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun – Firestorm
• 2000 – Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
• 2001 – Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
• 2002 – Command & Conquer: Renegade
• 2003 – Command & Conquer: Generals
• 2003 – Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour
• 2007 – Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
• 2008 – Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
• 2008 – Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
• 2009 – Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising
• 2010 – Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight
• 2012 – Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances
• 2018 – Command & Conquer: Rivals
• 2020 – Command & Conquer Remastered Collection

Music

The music for the series was created by Frank Klepacki, a former sound director and video game composer from Westwood Studios, for the early games. After Westwood Studios closed in 2003, other composers took over the music for later games. Klepacki returned in 2008 to help create the soundtrack for Red Alert 3.

Critics have praised the music, with earlier games receiving more positive reviews.

The original music for Command & Conquer: Red Alert was composed by Klepacki. It was named the best video game soundtrack of 1996 by PC Gamer and Gameslice magazines. One of Klepacki’s most famous songs from the series is the Red Alert theme called "Hell March." This song uses exciting electric guitar sounds, the noise of marching feet, and synthesizers to create a dramatic chant. The track was first planned to be the theme for the Brotherhood of Nod faction in the Covert Operations expansion of the original 1995 Command & Conquer game. Instead, it became a key part of the Red Alert series. A second version of "Hell March" was later created specifically for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.

— Frank Klepacki, Senior Composer

Reception

The Command & Conquer series has been successful in selling many games. As of 2009, over 30 million Command & Conquer games had been sold. In 1997, Screen Digest stated that the series was "probably the world's biggest PC CD-ROM entertainment franchise to date." By 1999, the series had sold more than 10 million copies.

Games in the series have often received high scores on review websites like GameRankings and Metacritic, which gather ratings from many sources. According to the table below, the highest-rated game is Command & Conquer, with a score of 94% from Metacritic. The game with the highest average score across both sites is Command & Conquer: Red Alert, which has an average of just over 90%. As a series, Command & Conquer games have averaged about 80% when including expansion packs and about 84% when excluding them.

The long history of the Command & Conquer series led Guinness World Records to award it six world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These records include "Biggest Selling RTS Series," "Most Number of Platforms for an RTS," and "Longest Running Actor in Video Game Role" for Joe Kucan, who played the character Kane, the villain of the series, for 15 years.