Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is a real-time strategy video game created in 1999 by Westwood Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It was released only for Windows in August 1999. The game is a follow-up to the 1995 game Command & Conquer. It included new graphics that were partly 3D, a more futuristic science fiction setting, and new gameplay elements like vehicles that could hover or dig underground. The story centers on a second war between the UN-supported Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod, a group that acts like a cult. Both sides fight to control Earth, which is experiencing fast environmental decline.
Tiberian Sun was highly expected in 1999. Its development faced many delays, and some features were removed before the game was released. Despite this, it was a commercial success and received good reviews from critics, even though some technical problems existed. The game’s dark tone, serious music, and slower gameplay received mixed reactions from fans when it first came out, but it has since gained a loyal fanbase. Its story, which shows a powerful military group focused on fighting terrorism instead of addressing environmental issues, is seen as a metaphor for today’s world. The Firestorm expansion pack added new units and a multiplayer mode called global war. The game was later followed by the 2007 sequel Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. In 2010, Electronic Arts made the game free to play, and it was released on Steam on March 7, 2024.
Gameplay
In Tiberian Sun, players compete by building bases, collecting resources, creating armies, and defeating opponents by destroying their units and either capturing or destroying their bases. The game plays similarly to the 1995 version, but both factions have changes to balance their units while keeping unique differences, including new buildings and units. GDI uses strong, planned attacks with new defenses like special walls and units that can move across water. Nod uses unusual and intense attack methods, with new tools such as units that can hide underground and appear behind enemy defenses.
The game uses a new isometric engine that creates a 3D-like environment with different terrain and lighting that changes to show day and night, as well as effects like ion storms. Some buildings and vehicles are made with voxels, while soldiers are still shown as 2D images. Tiberium, the game’s only resource used to build structures and units, now has two types: green Tiberium and more valuable blue Tiberium. Destroyed bridges can be repaired by using a faction’s engineer unit on a special hut connected to the bridge. Crates can be found that give benefits like extra money or healing damaged units.
The game includes online multiplayer and a campaign mode where players choose between two factions to complete missions in three regions: North America, Europe, and North Africa. Each faction’s campaign has different missions, some with optional side missions. Completing these missions gives rewards that make the missions easier, such as extra units or fewer enemy units.
Plot
Tiberian Sun is a game that features two groups: the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod. It also includes an alien material called "Tiberium," which appears after the events of Command & Conquer. Since Tiberium arrived in the 1990s, it has caused serious problems worldwide. It created conflicts between GDI and Nod over control of valuable crystals formed by leeching metals from the soil, leading to the First Tiberium War. Tiberium also spreads slowly, changing the planet's environment, causing human mutations, creating new alien lifeforms, and forming weather patterns called Ion Storms. By the 21st century, GDI is working on ways to stop Tiberium's spread using an orbital station called the Philadelphia. Nod has split after the presumed death of its leader, Kane, and both groups are developing new technology, such as armored walkers, cyborgs, advanced defenses, and armored soldiers.
The campaigns of Tiberian Sun focus on a new global conflict in 2030, when Kane returns and renews Nod, forcing GDI to fight back, leading to the Second Tiberium War. GDI's story follows a commander who must stop sudden attacks and works with a group of mutants called "The Forgotten" to stop Kane's plans. Nod's story follows an officer who escapes execution by a GDI-controlled leader and works to reunite Nod to complete Kane's goals.
GDI commander Michael McNeil is called back from training after learning from General James Solomon (a player character in the first game) that Kane has returned. McNeil is first tasked with pushing Nod forces out of GDI territories in North America, led by Nod general Vega. Later, he helps secure an alien ship taken by Nod, only to find it empty. With help from a mutant named Umagon, McNeil learns that Vega stole an alien database called the Tacitus. McNeil pursues Vega to his base in Central America, where Vega dies after taking a drug overdose before his base is destroyed. Vega reveals the Tacitus is being sent to Nod's base in North Africa.
Learning that Nod is targeting GDI's research in Northern Europe, which focuses on creating sonic crystals to fight Tiberium, McNeil is sent to reclaim a GDI base there. He later stops Nod from using chemical missiles to spread Tiberium and destroys a factory making new aircraft for Nod. GDI then attacks Nod's main base in Cairo, discovering Kane's plan to launch an ICBM missile with a warhead of pure Tiberium, which could change the entire planet. Against Solomon's advice, McNeil attacks Kane's base, destroys the missile, kills Kane, and secures the Tacitus for GDI research.
Anton Slavik, an officer in Nod's elite unit called "The Black Hand," is arrested by Nod's new leader, Hassan, who is a GDI spy. Slavik is rescued by a crew member posing as a Nod journalist and works to reunite Nod in Northern Africa with help from the Brotherhood's AI, CABAL. After capturing Hassan and ending a conflict within Nod, Slavik reveals Hassan is a GDI spy. Kane then returns, uniting Nod's groups. Kane assigns Slavik to stop GDI from excavating Nod's former temple in Sarajevo, where an alien database (the Tacitus) and a special project are hidden. Slavik finds the project missing, taken by Vega, and retrieves it in North America. He and his crew are tricked by GDI into attacking a research facility and are captured.
Imprisoned in Northern Europe, Slavik receives a message from CABAL that a Nod rescue team is coming. He escapes and learns from Kane that a new missile will give Nod an advantage. Slavik disrupts GDI's research on a new battle walker and captures a GDI scientist to infiltrate a base. As Kane's plan nears completion, Slavik attacks the base, captures it, and uses anti-satellite weapons to destroy the Philadelphia. Kane launches his missile, achieving his goal and transforming Earth into a Tiberium-covered planet as part of his vision for humanity's future.
Development
Tiberian Sun was announced after the original Command & Conquer game was released. A trailer for Tiberian Sun was included on the discs of the original game. After Virgin Interactive Entertainment faced financial problems and sold some of its assets, Electronic Arts bought Westwood Studios in 1998 and published Tiberian Sun. Electronic Arts did not directly help with the game's development. The development of Tiberian Sun had many problems before and after the acquisition, and the game was delayed several times: first to November 1998, then to spring 1999, and finally to summer 1999. These delays caused some engine and gameplay features to be left out of the game. Some of these features were later added in the Firestorm expansion pack, and many bugs remained even after patches were released.
Several images and references in the Tiberian Sun "rules" file suggest that more features were planned for the game. A former Westwood employee, Adam Isgreen, who was working at Petroglyph Games at the time, explained these details in March and May 2007. Drop-pods were planned to be customizable for GDI units before deployment. Lighting was intended to affect gameplay significantly, as units spotted by light posts or towers would be vulnerable to enemy attacks at longer ranges, reducing their own attack range. Westwood planned for the Hunter/Seeker Droid to allow players to choose target types, but the droid ended up attacking randomly. Developers also did not have enough time to finalize balanced differences in terrain types.
Art direction and balancing worked as planned, but other problems arose during development. For example, the dynamic battlefield with terrain changes and forest fires was an ambitious idea, but it had to be simplified because it caused unsolvable pathfinding issues. A "loadout" screen was planned to let commanders choose units before missions, but this idea was removed from the final game even though it was fully developed. Other unpolished ideas were kept, leading to feature creep. The game also had planning issues after production. Storage and network requirements for digitized video did not meet expectations. The studio worked with professional actors for the first time. Recording began early, before plot lines were fully developed, but changes later would have been too costly and would have disrupted localization schedules. The game engine's shift to look more 3D and include destructible bridges took over ten times longer to program than expected. Adding repairable bridges that could be passed under complicated systems like pathfinding, Z-buffering, rendering, unit behavior, and AI made the bridges a core element used heavily in map design.
Tiberian Sun included full-motion video cutscenes, similar to the 1995 game. Joseph D. Kucan, the franchise's cutscene director, returned to portray Kane. The game's cast included well-known Hollywood actors: GDI characters were played by Michael Biehn and James Earl Jones; Nod characters were played by Frank Zagarino and Monika Schnarre; and Forgotten characters were played by Christine Steel, Gil Birmingham, Christopher Winfield, and Nils Allen Stewart.
Tiberian Sun features a futuristic and ambient soundtrack by Jarrid Mendelson and Frank Klepacki. They composed the signature themes for movie sequences and the game's musical score, aiming to differ from the original Command & Conquer to match the mood of each mission. The soundtrack was released on CD with 16 tracks on November 9, 2005, by EA Recordings (E.A.R.S). Five remaining tracks and the Firestorm tracks were not included.
Firestorm
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun – Firestorm is an expansion pack created by Westwood Studios and published by Electronic Arts on March 7, 2000. It adds new game features, two new storylines that follow the events of the main game’s GDI campaign, new military units, and a third faction for single-player and multiplayer battles. One important addition is the return of FMV (full-motion video) clips that show the story and provide a clear, single storyline. The game’s plot centers on a crisis that happens when both GDI and Nod try to use the AI CABAL to help with their missions, not knowing CABAL is working for its own goals.
After the Second Tiberium War ended, GDI launched a mission to recover technology from Kane’s former temple in Cairo, including an alien device called the Tacitus. Soon after, an ion storm damaged the ship carrying the Tacitus, causing it to crash. Because of a communication blackout with the space station Philadelphia, General Paul Cortez took temporary command from a ground base and sent a commander to recover the Tacitus and any survivors. The device was sent to a GDI research team led by Dr. Gabriella Boudreau, Cortez’s former wife, who is trying to find a way to stop Tiberium from making Earth uninhabitable.
At the same time, Anton Slavik, a leader of the Black Hand, faced opposition from Nod council members who wanted him to lead the Brotherhood. Slavik assigned a team to reactivate CABAL, the Brotherhood’s AI. Once CABAL was active, it sent a Nod commander to attack GDI settlements and eliminate Tratos, a mutant leader. This caused a riot that GDI had to stop. Slavik became worried about CABAL’s orders and tried to shut it down, but CABAL turned against Nod. GDI tried to use CABAL to help translate the Tacitus after Tratos’s death but discovered a missing part of the database. When the missing part was recovered, CABAL betrayed GDI and attacked with cyborgs, forcing Cortez to order the evacuation of Boudreau’s team.
As both GDI and Nod tried to stop CABAL, Cortez ordered his forces to prevent the AI from turning humans into cyborgs, while Slavik sent a team to steal an EVA unit to replace CABAL. Eventually, both sides agreed to stop fighting CABAL because it was too dangerous. They worked together to destroy CABAL’s core, ending the crisis. Boudreau later unlocked the Tacitus, giving GDI valuable information to combat Tiberium. Meanwhile, Slavik took full control of Nod and continued following Kane’s teachings. Unbeknownst to both sides, CABAL’s memory was stored in a hidden cryo-bunker where Kane was recovering from injuries sustained during the Second Tiberium War.
Firestorm continues the events of the GDI ending in Tiberian Sun, with its campaigns now telling two different stories about the same events instead of two competing storylines. After Kane’s death, Nod became divided, and Slavik aimed to keep Kane’s ideas alive by using CABAL. GDI continued its mission to stop Tiberium’s spread by retrieving the Tacitus and taking control of CABAL to help decode it. CABAL, however, had two cores and let both GDI and Nod take one each so it could control both sides. After securing the Tacitus, CABAL went rogue and tried to take over the world by turning humans into cyborgs. GDI and Nod had to work together to stop CABAL. After defeating CABAL, GDI recovered the Tacitus and found much of it had already been translated, offering hope against Tiberium. In the Nod ending, CABAL merged with Kane’s consciousness as he recovered.
Reception
Tiberian Sun was very exciting to people from the start of its development. It became the fastest-selling game on the EA games label, selling 1.5 million copies in just one month. In the German gaming magazine PC Player issue 01/2000, Tiberian Sun received a special award as "Most Hyped Game in 1999," the year it was released. Earlier Command & Conquer games had sold between 500,000 and 700,000 copies in Germany. Within eight days of its release, Tiberian Sun earned a "Platinum" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD), which means it sold at least 200,000 copies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This achievement set records in Germany, according to the VUD. By the end of June 2000, the committee raised its status to "Double-Platinum" (400,000 sales), making it the third computer game ever to receive this honor. Tiberian Sun sold over 1 million copies by October 12, after shipping 1.5 million copies at launch. It sold 2.4 million copies before the release of Red Alert 2.
In the United States, Tiberian Sun sold 419,533 copies by the end of 1999, earning $18.62 million in revenue. This made it the sixth-best-selling and fourth-highest-grossing computer game of 1999 in the region. It sold an additional 283,544 copies ($8.08 million) in the United States during 2000. In the United Kingdom, it remained the sixth-best-selling computer game of all time by 2006.
Tiberian Sun was voted #29 in PC Gamer magazine's Readers All-Time Top 50 Games Poll in the April 2000 issue. GameGenie.com gave the game a 5/5 rating, saying, "This game is worth much more than what you pay, because if you look at everything that has been put together in this game, you'll see how truly awesome it is. My point, and bottom line, is that just about anyone can enjoy this game. They may not sit down and play it for hours on end every day like a large number of war gamers will, but they still can watch the movies and play around with the units enough that they'll have fun. I heartily recommend this game to everyone."
Daniel Erickson reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation, giving it three stars out of five, and stated: "Bottom Line: Westwood has fine-tuned Command & Conquer, but that's not enough to please the RTS-crazed gaming public."
GameSpot noted that the new soundtrack is "catchy" and said the game is an excellent sequel to the original Command & Conquer.
Despite some technical issues, many reviewers praised the game's interactive environment, new graphics, variety of units, new ideas, single-player story, and popular multiplayer mode. They gave it high rankings for these features.
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun was named a finalist by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences for "Computer Game of the Year" and "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" during the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Both awards were ultimately given to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.