What is Command & Conquer?

Command & Conquer, sometimes known as Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, is a 1995 real-time strategy video game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive. Set in an alternate history of modern day, the game tells the story of a world war between two globalized factions: the Global Defense Initiative of the United Nations and a cult-like militant organization called the Brotherhood of Nod, led by the mysterious Kane. The groups compete for control of Tiberium, a mysterious substance that slowly spreads across the world.

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As with all real-time strategy games, Command & Conquer provides an almost-real-world experience. Units can move only so quickly, but while you dink with a platoon here, you might be attacked over there. But when compared with other real-time strategy games, such as Microsoft’s Close Combat (Nov/96, p80) and Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft II (Dec/96, p86), C&C takes the field.

Even though C&C originated on the PC, Westwood replaced C&C’s original VGA graphics with super-clean, high-resolution screens. Although individual units are small (but easier to see than those in Close Combat), you can make out which weapon they’re carrying and even watch them drop for push-ups if left idle too long. These details give C&C a less cartoony feel than Warcraft II, with its lumbering Orcs.

In C&C, you choose which side to play, the United Nations-sanctioned Global Defense Initiative, or GDI, (the good guys) or the Brotherhood of Nod (the bad guys). From then on, you are assigned mission after mission, each expanding your objectives and available arsenal. Sometimes a failure will set you back, sometimes it means the end of all you hold dear — Game Over.

Gameplay makes C&C worthwhile. You control your units in real time, leading them to attack, patrol, or defend; you also manage resources, build bases, and, once you’ve knocked out the enemy’s surface-to-air missile sites, call in airstrikes. Even tactical nukes are at your disposal. Missions range from inserting a commando into an enemy base to rescuing a captured scientist to wiping the enemy off the face of the earth. All require strategic and tactical planning. You can’t win without building a strong base and creating a hefty attack force, but simply having these assets doesn’t guarantee a win. The enemy, via artificial intelligence, harasses you with incursive raids and diversionary tactics, and it won’t always fall for your traps. Maneuvering the terrain and knowing enemy troop position and strength, and the enemy base layout, are crucial for success, as is a smart use of specific troops and vehicles. Strategy game fans will be happy with the level of planning required. Twitch-game fans will love the responsive control and the screams of troops falling to flamethrowers.

Resource management is a direct holdover from C&C’s progenitor, Dune 2 — you must continually harvest tiberium. It’s one of those things that doesn’t really fit, much like the barracks’ amazing ability to chum out soldiers so far from any population source. Missions range across Africa and Eastern Europe, but the game uses only a few terrains, and some maps are unnecessarily maze-like. Also, the interface has a few oddities, such as the Options menu being accessible only via the Escape key, and (Warcraft players, note) once you’ve selected a unit and moved it, it remains selected. Make sure you remember to deselect it.

C&C is networkable over the Internet. Local-area network action is as smooth as silk, and the chat function adds greatly to gameplay. For Internet games, you must register (free) via a Westwood chat server, and then gather or join a game. However, we tried many times to join or set up a game but were unsuccessfull due to busy servers.

These quibbles aside, C&C is one immersive game. Close Combat has a higher fector of realism, but micromanagement is a bonus in Command & Conquer, not a constant worry. Each mission takes one to four hours, not counting mission replays. When you’ve won as the GDI, you can play all-new missions as Nod, or vice versa. Your greatest challenge will be the return to civilian life.

Turner, D. D. (April 1997). Command & Conquer. MacAddict. (pg. 71).

Download Command & Conquer for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.5 up to Mac OS 9.2

Compatibility notes

Architecture: PPC

At least 7.9MB of free RAM

Mac OS 7.5.x - Mac OS 9.2.2

Note:

1) You may have to use the DrawSprocket extension version found on the CD-ROM. You'll be notified if it's needed.

2) If it's not sufficient with mounting the image in toast, then burn the image and load the CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive.

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver