If you have a chance to remaster a classic, do it right? That’s what the original creators of Command & Conquer and Red Alert must have thought, bringing us one of the most comprehensive editions we’ve seen lately.
How easy it is to please the player. Sometimes you just need to get to know your audience, and I think Command and Conquer understands that perfectly. So when your EVA interface is gradually updating to HD graphics; when you see how the options of choosing a sound card mention the classic Adlib, Roland or Sound Blaster 16 cards to automatically opt for high definition sound and we are only with the presentation video; It is when you realize that Command and Conquer Remastered Collection is taken care of in detail. With the same care and respect with which you have treasured your memories during all these years. Until you see the Westwood logo in high resolution and Electronic Arts as it was in the nineties is a statement of intent.
But of course the best C&C card is that moment when you hit the space bar. Those pixels that formed the terrain and your units with some funny animations take here a sharp and well-recreated definition. You may even miss the classic graphic section, because that is how powerful nostalgia is; but you only need to give a button, to that space bar, to get back to the old visual style at any time. As you continue to advance in this pack, you complete missions and you delve into the options, you realize that this is one of those remasters that mark the way forward, unlike others that come to us without homework done or with homework half done.
Of course, the work carried out by Petroglyph, the former members of the original Westwood, radically changes the way of approaching this project. Because it would have been very easy to abandon options such as online play or not make changes to the interface. What’s more, it would have been very easy for us to have been sold Command & Conquer and Red Alert in separate editions, and yet they form a single compilation here at a very attractive price of 20 euros. One that also includes all the expansions of each of the games, with the Covert Operations for C&C that also includes the missions that came out exclusively on the console; and Counterstrike and The Aftermath for Red Alert. Total, more than 100 missions that form a considerable duration.
The best, without a doubt, happens on the field of play. Aside from the graphics, the new remixes from the Frank Klepacki soundtrack sound like never before. Listening to my beloved Mechanical Man, Act on Instinct, Demolition or Warfare as well as the new bonus tunes, and even having the classic versions available on the jukebox, is the right choice. Even the classic voice that gave life to EVA, the artificial intelligence that spoke to us, has been counted again.
But, as I say, it is on the battlefield where the new functions take on importance and are, at the same time, those that stand out the least at first glance. The improvements in the control bar make building units and buildings more accessible, while the zoom is probably one of the crucial added, allowing a better tactical view of the ground is going to notice much in the games , but especially online. Yes, you can get very close to the field of play and appreciate all the detail put into each unit to support 4K resolutions, but it is by opening the camera to the maximum when you dominate the field. Of course, all these improvements are also included in the version with the original graphics, just a key away.
I cannot dedicate all the analysis to telling all the news, what better proof of how careful the edition is. Replay and observer mode for online matches, bonus galleries, mission selector, customizable shortcuts, classic and modern control schemes, map editor and even Steam Workshop support that promises a long life for the gaming community . The classic FMV videos maybe they take the worst part, since this type of sequences cannot be improved so easily, and they have a somewhat blurred appearance typical of the new filters. As much as they are scenes that today contribute little to the story, have an outdated 3D and a questionable acting quality, I find it hard to criticize them. They are what they were and I have engraved on the retina each of their eccentric moments. They have been preserved for the classic fan, while the new one can skip them at any time. Of course, seen from the standards of the present, I do understand that they provide a rather scant plot beyond explaining how the tiberium works, for example, or the classic moment of Einstein traveling to the past “for one thing”.
Two worlds to conquer
The two games blend together very well. The first, Command & Conquer, surprised us all. Coming from Dune II, the father of the genre, C&C brought a lot of new mechanics and, although I have Battle for Arrakis at the heart, I understand that a desert planet did not give as much game as the terrestrial environments. The basis was the same, harvesting the coveted Tiberium, a material highly toxic to humans, but which is an unprecedented energy resource. While the GDI are the “good guys,” Westwood was right to include a challenging NOD Brotherhood and its leader, Kane, who quickly became the most recognized figure in the series.
Reviewing this classic now, which I really wanted to play again, I realize that its structure may be too unambitious under the standard of today’s RTS. I say this because of 15 missions for each side, it is not until mission 8 or 9 when things start to get a little tougher and the game opens up the full tools to develop your base at pleasure and face the enemy creating your own tactics. Being the strategy of accumulating and sending an abysmal number of tanks and troops the most classic, of course.
However, thanks to the expansion of Covert Operations and the console missions, the game becomes somewhat more complex and recovers the charm of yesteryear, when we were not so skilled in the genre. I cannot emphasize enough what it means to go through these maps again, with their particular orography, while we are learning the dynamics of weaknesses and strengths that each unit has in relation to the others, which is very balanced and works as well as the first day. . By the time the command first appears in the GDI mission and its classic phrases it was already completely hooked.
Red Alert is a very different animal. He is ruthless from the first missions and while I would recommend that the speed of the game be accelerated to C&C, with this war between the Allies and the Soviets it is necessary to walk with feet of lead. Enemy AI is much more aggressive, perhaps assuming you already know the bases of the game, and will attack your bases more frequently, even creating ambushes. Sea fighting gained a superlative force, with the all-powerful Soviet submarines against the dynamic allied ships that allowed them to attack beyond the water. But it is also that Red Alert is a hilarious game. His FMV videos, starting with Einstein’s, It already marks the madness of its history, while the fact of starting with the accelerated revolutions allows a very varied campaign with well-planned, long missions and a balanced resource limitation. Developing the entire technological tree of units and buildings to reach the most powerful weapons in the form of missiles and satellites is a real joy.
Of course, we have also found the odd bug in the collection that has not allowed us to enjoy it one hundred percent. They are easily solvable problems, but they have created a somewhat uncomfortable experience. Sometimes, when starting the game, the first minute of a new mission or after loading a game is slowed down. It is as if the game gets stuck and then runs as smoothly as expected. Not only that, but I have also suffered some mistakes that have ruined a mission. A bug caused the interface to malfunction, the harvesters to be unable to carry out their routines, and the mission to even fail to complete correctly. So seriously it only happened to me once, but I have noticed some deficiencies in artificial intelligence here and there that could have been improved.
A remastering is a very difficult thing to focus on. Too many factors come into play: the work’s own nostalgia, the work to improve the original mechanics and the quality it is capable of offering at present for all types of players. In the case of the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection, even keeping memories at bay, I think it performs to a great level in all cases. His approach to strategy is still very fun today; he has not lost an iota of charisma. Betting on maintaining the online mode is a success and the new options, such as the map editor and the Steam Workshop modes, make us dream of an eternal game. The studio has not only managed to create a more accessible experience for new and classic players, but these functions will give it a long life. You can say, Petroglyph has gone beyond duty.
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is a great example of how I would like all remasters to be. Complete, with plenty of content, without abandoning modes and options along the way, such as skirmishes and multiplayer, including all expansions, updating everything possible (voices, graphics, soundtrack) and creating a more accessible experience thanks to the new options zoom and interface. With more than 100 missions offered by its main campaigns and expansions, the pack is highly recommended for those who were born with one of the pioneers of the RTS and also for those who want to discover it for the first time, since a long life is expected thanks to your map editor, online game and mods with Steam Workshop. I wish all remasters were like this.
- A full-blown remastering, with all the options, improvements and additions.
- The original fun remains, with a variety of units and buildings to build.
- More than 100 missions between the two games and their expansions.
- Online and skirmish options retained and mods and map editor added for the community.
- Some bugs that affect the AI, interface and mission development.
- Although the video sequences are a classic, today the story he tells us is poor and out of date.
- Duration:50-60 hours (minimum)
- Players:1-8 (Competitive: Online / Cooperative: Online)
The requirements of the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection in its PC version have finally been revealed. Here we leave the minimum and recommended requirements of the EA video game to play it on PC:
Minimum requirements:
- Operating system:Windows 8.1 / 10 (64-bit)
- Processor:Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 @ 2.4ghz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400 @ 2.4ghz
- Memory:4 GB of RAM
- Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce GT 420 or ATI Radeon HD 5570
- DirectX:Version 11
- Network:Broadband Internet connection
- Storage:32 GB of available space
Recommended requirements:
- Operating system:Windows 8.1 / 10 (64-bit)
- Processor:Intel Core i5 4690K or AMD Ryzen 7 1700
- Memory:4 GB of RAM
- Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or ATI Radeon HD 7850
- DirectX:Version 11
- Network:Broadband Internet connection
- Storage:32 GB of available space
- Additional Notes:Hard Drive Space: 32GB on SSD
