Few games in the world are as full of contradictions as the new Command & Conquer. Legendary RTS! But! On a shareware basis, without chic videos, on the Frostbyte 2 action engine, and even entrusted to BioWare role-playing masters. However, at the recent Gamescom-2013 exhibition, it turned out that the most annoying contradiction has finally been eliminated. There will be a campaign, and it looks like there won't be one!

Geopolitics: from Albania to the Apocalypse

As you remember, the RTS epic Command & Conquer was stuck on the brink after the failure of the fourth part. Then it turned out that almost any changes in the original mechanics of C & C do not lead to good - after all, we have a strategic mastodon, a symbol of primitive RTS. Therefore, reviving the series, the creators returned to their roots: the construction and defense of bases, the extraction of resources and the leadership of large armies. Well, how - the guide: circled and sent ...

The GOA command center is already breathing its last, and the Chinese also rolled over the "Lords".

At first, the new C&C grew out of Generals, but plans to unite the universes forced them to remove the generals from the subtitle. However, they are taken as the basis of the mechanics - unlike the classic "dune" concept, when the buildings were built without anyone's participation, here the workers are responsible for the construction of the base.

% Note: sometime in this game, the war bears will gnaw on the armor of the mammoth tanks. But for now, we are facing a very possible war in the near future between three paramilitary blocs: the European Union, the Asia-Pacific Alliance and the Global Liberation Army. The question "Where did the peddlers of democracy go?" expected, but no longer relevant - Victory Games (the same division of BioWare responsible for the development of C&C) will return to the US after the release of the game.

Campaigns also grow from there: sets of missions of varying degrees of linearity and with all sorts of tasks for every taste - even derail a train, even disrupt a satellite launch, even take a mountain base by storm - but without videos with live actors in between (although we, to be Maybe they're just preparing a surprise. The example of StarСraft 2 turned out to be contagious: at first, only one campaign will be released, for the Asia-Pacific Alliance, and then all the others as they are ready. They also promised cooperative missions - we hope that they will turn out to be more fun than in red alert 3.

To all appearances, the role of the enraged masses of the people will still increase: look how many of them there are! “And some freak still sold them drugs ...”

General at the apparatus

From the same Generals, a proprietary variety of strategies came into the game, depending on the chosen nation and general. Asians use numbers and brute force, Europeans are adepts of high technology and prefer expensive quality, and terrorists (among which now far from all are Arabs!) hide and arrange vile sabotage.

The army of the European Union is seen as a transitional link between the US fighters and the GDI association from the C&C tiberium series ...	... but the futuristic "Orks" were still replaced by familiar helicopters.

But even within each union there are differences, as in addition to the Generals - Zero Hour. Remember, one there was a big fan of aviation, and his planes were perfect and cheap, but armored vehicles were only suitable for transporting the wounded, another respected lasers, and the third commanded superweapons and had to sit on the defensive for a long time, in order to later burn out with the rays of orbital guns bad word on the enemy base...

It is impossible not to recognize the base of the Asians - the sloping roofs, like those of Chinese pagodas, are even more eloquent than the nose of a nuclear missile sticking out of the shaft.

The same principle is planned here: all future actions, all tactics depend on the choice of the general - just like in MOBA. And there will be many of them. We already know about nineteen characters, but this is certainly not the limit, and each will have to save resources or fork out. Monetization calls to mind League of Legends, and EA employees assure that there will be no Pay2Win model at all. For money - only generals, various settings and twists and a premium account like the one we saw in World of Tanks(that is, battles will bring more profit).

Something About Generals

Dossiers on some of the future generals have already been leaked to the network, and you can appreciate how much they differ. I would like to believe that the balance will turn out to be better than in Zero Hour, when the “infantry” general could not do anything with the “toxic”, and the “tank” one looked with horror at the approaching fighters, not having the slightest chance of opposing them.

Scavenger (GOA)

Advantages:

Rebel squad (soldiers armed to the teeth, devoted to the ideals of GOA, are useful against infantry).

Bus (capacious transport, and after death - a bunker, useful for infantry).

A hole in the system (introduces errors into the operation of enemy vehicles, which slows down and weakens).

Doctor Trax (GOA)

Advantages:

Chemists on wheels (increase, ahem, the efficiency of soldiers).

Toxic tank (armored vehicles that spray poisons on the battlefield - useful against infantry and light vehicles).

Toxic bomb (poisons all life within a certain radius).

"The Beast" (ATS)

Advantages:

Urban stormtroopers (armored fighters adapted for street fighting; useful against infantry and garrisons).

Rapid-fire machine gun (double-barreled stationary machine gun, effective against infantry and aircraft).

Tear gas (hides friendly units, but reduces effectiveness in combat).

"Red Arrow" (ATS)

Advantages:

Rocketeers (specialists in launchers, a thunderstorm of light vehicles).

Rocket tank (anti-tank armored vehicles on caterpillar tracks).

Roll of Thunder (Launches a special missile that immobilizes enemies in a limited radius).

"Red Mercury" (EU)

Advantages:

strike force(fast soldiers with stun grenades, effective against infantry and garrisons).

Assault armored car (vehicle useful in infantry support).

"Bastion" (an ability that inspires allied fighters, so they can withstand more damage).

"Ghost" (EU)

Advantages:

Snipers (invisible and intimidating soldiers, useful against infantry).

Armored personnel carrier "Fox" (secret, but not very capacious reconnaissance vehicle - useful against infantry).

Reaper air module (drone armed with missiles).

* * *

Almost nothing is known about other generals, except for portraits and nicknames. We cannot but note that, unlike the generals from Generals: Zero Hour, not all the local commanders are not very similar to high-ranking warriors.

Severe "Inferno" can be both a seasoned tanker and a lover of napalm.	The romantic nickname "Thousand Suns" and the dosimeter on the chest mean only one thing - we have a new nuclear general in China!	"Brigadier" is too common a name, but based on the stereotypes about the Chinese army, one can assume that he is in command of the infantry.

"Blackjack" wears camouflage face paint - he's probably a covert ops specialist.	Like other European generals, "Bulldog" looks like a true Aryan - fair-haired and blue-eyed. The only clue - the nickname - refers us to the UK.	Surely a fighting blonde with a difficult-to-translate name is engaged in energy - judging by the emblem on her shoulder and outlandish weapons in her hands.

"Blade" seemed to be born on the cutting edge of progress. What do we bet that his specialization is a superweapon?	Without any doubts! "Dedalus" is an aviation general, the ideological heir to the American Granger.	The Italian "Wolf" is clearly one of those who prefer an assault to a siege, but you can’t say more now.

The "cracker" - we are sure - is distinguished by a passion for technology and its improvement.	"Nitro" comes from Ukraine, and she also replaces the demolition general - and the phone in her hand clearly sends a signal to the detonator.	Judging by the respectful nickname, "Tactician" is the only professional soldier in the terrorist fraternity.	In the image wild dog military equipment and pagan amulets are mixed. Maybe it's the general of disguise?

Command & Conquer: Generals- the first game of the famous strategy series, which was released on the basis of a three-dimensional graphics engine. The plot originates in 2010, when the global war on terrorism begins, engulfing the entire globe. In total, a person will have a choice of three main factions - the USA, China and the Global Liberation Army. The latter is a terrorist organization consisting of several countries in the Middle East, which constantly unleashes military skirmishes with the two main superpowers. The single campaign of each of the factions consists of seven missions, and the ending of the game may depend on the order in which you complete the companies. Each faction has its own unique characteristics. For example, the American armed forces actively use modern military developments, while the Chinese have become adherents of old, but proven types of military equipment, and terrorists use the effectiveness of mass attacks of "cannon fodder" and weapons of mass destruction, chemical or bacteriological.

Game features

• The most important innovation was the rejection of the classic plot and the transfer of action to the modern era, but this should rather be taken as an alternative offshoot, a step aside, which was and developed as a prehistory of the original part of the series.
• If we talk about purely game aspects, then first of all it is worth noting the abolition of the usual resources, which were replaced by supply bases. They will be installed at certain points on the map, like gold mines in .
• It is not difficult to guess that the main battles at the beginning of each mission will unfold exactly near these treasured points with resources. Each of the factions uses its own method of delivering cargo and valuable resources to the landing point.
• If the American troops use expensive helicopters that many types of ground forces cannot afford, and the Chinese prefer cheaper trucks, then the terrorists are used to doing everything themselves. In addition, each of their parties has small additional sources of income, which give much less saving money, but always work.
• For example, the Chinese side uses trained hackers who steal dollars using the global network, terrorists use the black market to the fullest, and the Americans are building special platforms where funds from the country's immense military budget fall.

Generals - Zero Hour and Contra 007

Shortly after the release of the original part, two add-ons saw the light, which offered the player several new missions, fixing game balance errors and several new types of troops. But the addition of a single player campaign, this is not all that the creators and independent enthusiasts have worked so diligently on, who began to focus on the multiplayer part. It became very popular among military strategists around the world for several years.

generals

It was not by chance that this military rank was introduced here, now when choosing a side, it will be necessary to calculate in advance which troops and what types of special strikes we will have to use most often, because within each faction the spheres of influence are divided and we will have to make a choice. This does not mean that a limited number of selected troops will fall under our command, while others will be closed. When choosing a specific general, his wards of the armed forces will show themselves much better than their colleagues under another general. The very idea of ​​​​a narrow specialization of military leaders is as follows - during each of the battles, we will receive a certain number of points corresponding to our technical and tactical actions, which can be spent on improving our wards or on inventing new ways to kill the enemy. If, according to the original plan, each type of general could develop in one strictly defined direction, then after some thought, the developers decided to give the player more freedom and develop improvements regardless of which general was chosen.

Look for strategy in the style of Command and Conquer? Today, there are a huge number of games in the style C&C for every taste.

Command and Conquer- a popular series of games in the genre of real-time strategy (RTS), first released in 1995. Becoming one of the most successful in the industry, she firmly holds a rating of over 80% on the largest review aggregator Metacritic.

Without a doubt, fans of the RTS genre will not be disappointed in the games below and will be able to find a project to their taste.

1. Anno series

Series free games Anno will give you the feeling of playing Command and Conquer with a bias towards economic development and the creation of your own empire.

Anno is a game that relies more on cooperation and trade. However, the need for strategic planning and the presence of opposing sides will definitely remind you of C&C. Starting the game with almost nothing, you will face many difficult obstacles in the way of building your empire.

The game has deep and dynamic gameplay, and the free online version increases its accessibility.

The unique combination of strategy, the ability to fight with other players, exploration of the world, management and development of your state on the path to power makes this a Command and Conquer-style game worthy of attention.

2. Men of War

The game Men of War, released in 2009, invites you to focus on tactical control, putting a limited number of units under your control during the mission. Commanding your troops, you will take part in the battles on the territory of Europe, the Soviet Union, North Africa and other theaters of military operations of the Second World War. The game's campaign consists of three parts and can offer big variety assignments in progress.

Based on scrupulous adherence to battle tactics, providing support and supplies, the game forces you to carefully monitor and properly use each of your soldiers and equipment. The limited supply of ammunition and its timely replenishment are the main hallmark Men of War, allowing you to feel the hardships of a real war.

Moreover, all armored vehicles in the game do not have abstract health points, but, on the contrary, it is possible to damage its individual parts. Also Men of War has destructible environments, realistic ballistics and other features.

3. Empire Earth Series

With three RTS games in its arsenal, the series Empire Earth immerses you in world history, focusing on building, developing and conquering other peoples and covering the period from the prehistoric era to the distant future.

Being close in style to Age of Empires, Empire Earth is much more historically accurate, with features such as troop morale and heroes that greatly expand tactical options. Using your strategic skills, you will go through thousands of years of civilization development, gaining access to ever more advanced troops.

If Command and Conquer and Age of Empires are your favorite games, Empire Earth is where you find the sweet spot.

4. Act of war

Action Act of War takes place in our time, where you, managing a small elite squad, fight your way through numerous enemies around the world. In the near future, the price of oil has triggered a global economic crisis and you have to confront various factions that want to seize control of the extraction of black gold.

The game stands out for its combination of staged cutscenes with live actors and addictive gameplay. Despite the fact that the release of Act of War took place in 2005, it is still able to compete with modern games.

With wound mechanics, hostage-taking, destructible environments, and the ability to use items to build shelters, the game is a perfect example of a military-oriented real-time strategy game.

5. Company of Heroes Series

This series, consisting of two games, has a gameplay made in the style Command and Conquer: Generals. The first game was released in 2006, followed by a sequel in 2013.

original Company of Heroes received some of the highest ratings in the history of the RTS from a number of gaming magazines. The game takes place during the Second World War and is replete with many varied and exciting missions throughout the campaign, which will definitely appeal to true connoisseurs of the strategy genre.

There is also a multiplayer for conducting battles against live opponents or joint passage campaigns. Unfortunately, since the first part of the game was released back in 2005, today it is possible to play its multiplayer mode only with friends due to the lack of active servers.

And although the Company of Heroes series did not bring anything new to the RTS genre, its excellently executed simple, but at the same time fun and addictive gameplay inevitably led to a great success of the game among gamers.

6. Starcraft 2

Starcraft 2 is the best strategy in real time in a futuristic setting. The campaign of the game is one of the best in the genre, and the multiplayer component speaks for itself, being the only representative of the RTS in modern esports at the international level. The original game also has a great story, but its outdated graphics (released in 1998) and the difficulty of finding opponents online may put some players off.

The game is set in a fictional (but possible) world of the distant future and offers three playable races: Terrans (humans), Protoss (an alien race with advanced technology) and Zerg (a race of all-devouring creatures).

In terms of plot, StarCraft 2 is a trilogy, in which a separate game is dedicated to each race, although any one is available for selection in multiplayer. As you progress through, you can improve your troops, changing them in accordance with your playstyle and tasks.

If you are a fan RTS in a futuristic setting, then StarCraft 2 (and its original) should definitely be at the top of your checkout list.

7. Supreme Commander Series

Supreme Commander is one of the few series of real-time strategy games available not only on PC but also on Xbox 360.

On the this moment The series consists of two games released in 2007 and 2010 respectively, both of which have been critically acclaimed. The series is also positioned as a spiritual successor Total Annihilation and Spring.

Supreme Commander takes place in the distant future and takes you to different corners of the galaxy, so that each new mission you will see an unfamiliar landscape.

At the beginning of each task, you are given Armored Command Center, or BCC, with which you build buildings and conduct research in order to destroy the enemy. The game offers a campaign with more than twenty missions and various other game modes.

8. Age of Empires series

Age of Empires is another notable series of games. It consists of many main games with several expansions and an online version. The vast majority of them were published only for PC and Mac, but there are also several spin-offs for mobile platforms.

Age of Empires series focuses on historical gameplay, in some cases reconstructing events with high fidelity. The game has story campaign, as well as the ability to play against AI or live opponents.

Without a doubt best representative series is Age of Empires II: Age of Kings holding a score of 92% on Metacritic.

Any true fan of the real-time strategy genre should definitely try this Command and Conquer style game.

Generals 2 and its analogues today - the generals are played mainly by the older generation, which remembers the times of 2003-2005, the peak of the popularity of military strategy at that time with good graphics and even Russian voice acting. This game is also noticed by those who failed to update the configuration of their laptop or computer to the current state. Although those who like old games like Warcraft III or CS 1.6 are unlikely to switch to newer and more modern games, they will be fine with the old and popular games, such as "The Generals: The Day of Reckoning".

The main analogue of the C&C: Generals series is the Act of Aggression Reboot Edition, which is less attractive according to numerous opinions, besides, it lacks Russian localization of the interface, and even more so voice acting. You can certainly look towards Act of War Direct Action, but it came out two years later, after the proven strategy of Generals ZH. It is up to you to decide whether to change the main game Generals to its analogues, there is a slightly different option, but more on that below.

Act of Aggression R.E. Year of release: 2015 | Size: 13.11GB | ENG

Act of War Direct Action Year of release: 2005 | Size: 5.37GB | ENG

Wargame Red Dragon Year of release: 2014 | Size: 10.27 GB | ENG

First of all, I would like to point out the fact that recent times, all sorts of mods began to come out that clone Zero Hour and install it on slightly more modern game engines, such is Red Alert 3. RD III already has two full-fledged mods that can transfer units and buildings to more modern game, thus, you play more comfortably and even over the network, without any lags and crashes, as well as delays.

Modification of Generals Evolution for installation on Red Alert III

The main reasons to switch to the Red Alert III engine is, of course, a stable game in online confrontations. Main version Zero games Hour is notable for its instability in online matches, this applies not only to the use of third-party network clients such as Hamachi and analogues, even during times official servers There were similar problems and they were not solved in any way. No matter how powerful your computer is, but the maximum number of bots or huge amount units for battles, you will not pull in such cases.

Generals on the stable Red Alert 3 engine will allow:

• Stable online play with friends;
• Forget about serious problems with lags and crashes;
• Support for FullHD resolutions and a much more attractive picture;
• Animation, units, buildings and much more are made as identical as possible;
• Only the interface for buying buildings and some other nuances cannot be changed.

Download mod Generals Evolution

A little about the game "Generals: Hour of Reckoning" or "C&C: Generals Zero Hour"

The professional computer real-time strategy, created from 2002 to 2003, was rightfully the leader of military strategies for personal computers. Today, this game is remembered only by those who played it hard and trained to increase their efficiency in less time. The most popular and official addition is, of course, Generals: The Day of Reckoning.

We would like to highlight the following advantages of C&C: Generals Zero Hour:

• Absolutely anywhere on the map you can build any building, there are absolutely no restrictions on the construction and binding to a specific building;
• There are no restrictions on the creation of units, ranging from tanks, infantry and ending with air forces;
• Network battles for up to 8 players on the map;
• A lot of mods created, some of them reached the same level of popularity as the main part of the RTS.
• There are many applications and fixes for this game, which allows you to reconfigure the game for yourself;
• Over the entire existence of the Generals game, more than 7,000 maps from third-party developers and mapmakers have appeared on the network;
• The advantages of this game are quite extensive, some of which will be shown below, and the rest you will notice yourself during the gameplay.

In early 2013, a re-release of Command and Conquer - Generals was planned, but development fell through due to a lot of criticism from the players involved in the "Alpha" version. For that year, a modern and technologically advanced engine called "Frostbite Engine 2.0" was used, which showed a very juicy picture and a large number of animations. Detailing paired with good optimization would have already pleased their old fans of the strategy.

As of today, 2018, there are the following fixes to the old version of Generals: Reckoning, which will allow you to slightly tweak the comfortable game on new operating systems, more high resolutions monitor screens, as well as the nuances you should know about:

1. The launch of Generals in new operating systems is affected by the "Options.ini" file in the game folder through "My Documents";
2. Also, you can set compatibility options with Windows Xp to launch a shortcut (right mouse button> properties> compatibility> specify compatibility with windows xp);
3. Using Camera Fix is ​​considered a mod, but in fact only; small camera fix for HD and FullHD monitors (makes the camera taller so that buildings and units are not flattened and the view on the map is larger);
4. With regards to Options.ini, it also affects not only the launch in the new Windows 10 and 7 (Seven) operating systems, but also through it you can adjust the screen resolution, those values ​​that are not in the game itself, for example 1920x1080.

There is some chance that soon the development new version Generals games will be restored, but these are just rumors that are not true without confirmation of the words of the company or developers. Let's hope that EA corporation will deal with this game after all, because the number of players today, together with mods, will total more than 50,000.

The new part of the game, or rather the re-release, should have been called Generals 2, but first of all in this game, the main mistake was that it was planned to be made Free 2 Play, that is, shareware. It was the free and subsequent monetization that influenced the assessment of the players, in addition to the main cartoon process and some other problems associated with the gameplay of the new Generals.

We really miss the new game, for these reasons:

1. Optimization, since in the current version of the game, it rarely happens to play without delays and lags with a large number of AI;
2. Problems in online matches, especially when you have to play with friends against bots;
3. There are obvious problems in the balance of the parties, especially with such factions and generals as "China: Nuclear Weapons", "USA: Super Weapon", "GLA: Toxic Weapons".
4. Problems were noticed when most often the crash of the game was due to such matches where there are "China: Infantry and China: Tanks" when there were too many units or they went into those places on the map where the error occurred;
5. USA: Lasers are a bug with infantry, or rather, missilemen shoot from a very long distance and at high speed, as well as from those places where the slope and from there theoretically would not be able to do this.

We will talk about new mods and analogues of the game "Generals Zero Hour 1.04" another time. To be continued...