Review : Command and Conquer: Generals : Zero Hour - Shockwave

http://screenshots.filesnetwork.com/mods/562.jpg

Developer: EA
Platform: PC
Genre: Real-time Strategy
Multiplayer: Yes, up to 8 players
Single player: Yes

Command and Conquer: Generals is a bit different than the rest of the C&C series. It uses the Age of Empires style game mechanic, which in my opinion, was a turn for the better. By this I mean each faction has a build unit, and can make an unlimited number of build units, responsible for manufacturing buildings, which then have their own build queue, rather than being limited to constructing one building and a set number of units at a time. Unfortunately EA disagreed with me on his and have since gone back to the classic “unable to comply” method of creating structures and units.

Command and Conquer Generals was launched in February 2003, with its expansion, Zero Hour, being released in September of the same year. If I remember rightly it won several awards as “best expansion pack”. It included an array of new units, a variety of specialised factions to play, a new “challenge” style of single player, and an all new campaign, however it was the new specialised generals and units that really shine.

In this review I will also discuss “Shockwave”. This is a very popular mod that builds on the success of Zero Hour by doing exactly what it did best – giving more specialised units and generals. It also adds some new effects that make the game noticeably nicer to look at compared to zero Hour. Shockwave has been in beta for many years and still remains a work in progress today. A final release is planned to be produced, I’d estimate sometime late this year or early next year. Though it may be a beta it is completely stable - the only downside being the AI doesn’t play anywhere near as well as real players unless its set to hard when it enters nonstop ownage mode.

You can choose to play as USA, China, or GLA (Global Liberation Army) through the campaign in both Generals and in Zero Hour, however in Zero Hour you can play skirmish and multiplayer with these base armies, and 3 more specialised variations of each. Such specialisations include: USA Laser General, China Nuke General (my personal favourite) and GLA Stealth General. Shockwave builds on this making each general more specialised to their nature. It also helps to balance the game, making sure every unit can be countered if dealt with properly – with the exception of aurora bombers, which have had their damage reduced.

The single player campaign is definitely worth playing through, on both Generals and Zero Hour, and provides a rising difficulty curve for every faction. All single player games can be saved at any point which is an added bonus as some games of this type force you to conclude battles prior to saving. The game also can save and play back replays which can make for interesting watching, and help you to improve, as when you play online and get thrashed (which you will) you can see exactly what strategy your opponent used and how it was executed.

The multiplayer is where the real longevity comes in though. It works just like skirmish, the host selects a map, selects how many people can join, players select their colour, team (if they want one), faction and starting position on the map. The host can also set the starting money and has an option to limit each player to just one Super weapon. Often when playing online your opponent will request extra rules to play by. These cannot be enforced by the game which makes standard online play frustrating when players don’t keep to the rules.

Common rules include: No rush (time limit) where players agree not to attack each other until the time limit has been exceeded – this gives players a chance to build a strong army and setup their base defensively; no Super weapons, as these are often seen to be to directly linked to a players defeat.

Also many people will refuse to play against the USA Super weapon general, as her defensive systems are capable of rendering enemy vehicles (which are the backbone of your offence) temporarily paralyzed, also she can built a specialist aircraft, known as the “Alpha Aurora Bomber”. All US factions are given the standard Aurora bomber, which is often called not to be used by unofficial rules. This is frowned on as all Auroras are invincible on their attack run, meaning there is no defence against them. Standard auroras deal significant damage to a single target and return back to base vulnerable, usually resulting in them being shot down, however Alpha Auroras deal this damage, plus a delayed radius damage that is greater than the original, capable of taking out a large cluster of unite or several buildings in one strike.

Shockwave mod adds many extra units to the game, along with updated effects and sounds. It does not yet have navies built in; however it is planned for the final release. Other mods may have incorporated this, however all of them lacked a certain amount of realism – The ability to build a dock in the middle of the land and watch your destroyer sail gracefully across the land to reach the nearest water, or star next to the dock and work as a base defence. There is plenty of material on YouTube for anybody interested in this mod, the clip below isn’t exactly the best but it shows a couple of the new things.
Please click the video to watch in youtube - i cant not embed it thanks to chalex
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0SHOjC...eature=related

Good points – easy to pickup and start playing as the game eases you into both command strategy and difficulty in campaign mode.

Bad points – a little unbalanced without Shockwave, Too harsh copy prevention results in automatically being destroyed after starting a game occasionally. As with EA support is no more for this game, and they've left it with memory leaks that make long matches between 8 players unbearable after half and hour or so, though i believe this is eased by shockwave

Nice review, I'll definately borrow it from Si, and btw, the video has Embedding disabled..

add to the bad points, no support and horrific memory leak and AI issues that make long game play with 8 players impossible.

Such a shame as its a brilliant game.

yeah its dissapointing when you play no Rush 1 hour, no sw, no aur with 8 players, start fighting and EPIC FAIL occurs.... - though i believe the shockwave team patched up some of the memory problems.

haha love generals zh... remember when we played 4 player lan 1hr no rush had massive bases and then the game crashed coz we had sooo much shit... shockwave was a good mod... enjoyed generals most out of all the Command and Conquer series