Command & Conquer
Encyclopedia
Command & Conquer, abbreviated to C&C and also known as Tiberian Dawn, is a 1995 real-time strategy
computer game developed by Westwood Studios
for MS-DOS
and published by Virgin Interactive
. It was the first of twelve games to date to be released under the Command & Conquer label, including a prequel
and five sequels. On August 31, 2007, current publisher and owner of the C&C franchise Electronic Arts
made Command & Conquer (Windows95/Gold version) freely available for download from their official website, to mark the franchise's 12th anniversary.
Set in an alternate history 1995, Command & Conquer tells the story of two globalized factions: the Global Defense Initiative of the United Nations
, and the ancient quasi-cult
, quasi-state
organization, the Brotherhood of Nod. The factions become locked in a mortal struggle for control over a mysterious resource known as Tiberium
that is slowly spreading and infecting the world.
Met with acclaim by consumers and critics, Command & Conquer was released for seven separate platforms
along with becoming the initiator of the Command & Conquer franchise
, and today generally is considered as the title which originally defined and popularized the modern real-time strategy genre.
, Command & Conquers gameplay mechanics will typically require the player to construct a base and then acquire a flow of resources, in order to fund the ongoing production of various forces to assault and conquer the opponent's base. Command & Conquer features around 50 different units and structures. Virtually every type of structure in the game acts as a tech tree
node, and additional units, structures and special abilities become available to the player as new structures are built and placed. Access to advanced units and abilities can be temporarily blocked if the required structures are destroyed, or if they are not being provided with adequate power by the supporting "power plant" structures.
All structures available to the player are built on-site at a "construction yard" building, which can either be already deployed on the battlefield as the mission starts or begin as a large-sized mobile construction vehicle ("MCV"), which is capable of deploying itself into an aforementioned construction yard at a suitable location of the player's choice. As a structure is being constructed, resources will steadily be deducted from the player's credits counter until construction is finished. When the construction yard has finished building the new structure, the player can select a spot next to a pre-existing structure in order to place it, where the prefabricated building will rapidly begin unfolding in a distinctive manner. Base defense is provided by specialized defensive structures, as well as fortification in the form of sandbag
s, wire fences and concrete walls. Later on in the game, the player can build lethal defensive structures like guard towers with machine gun
s or rocket
s, gun turrets, or the iconic "Obelisk of Light" of the Brotherhood of Nod.
While the two sides largely mirror each other in regards to tech tree
s and unit types, each has a distinct strategic preference. GDI units are intended to be sturdy and are often more powerful than their Nod counterparts, at the cost of being more expensive and having slower movement. GDI forces also have access to air and naval support. Stationary defenses include the guard tower and missile armed advanced guard tower which can engage ground and air targets. Conversely, Nod's units are cheap and fast, at the cost of withstanding less punishment. Nod forces are made to avoid direct engagement as much as possible, relying on hit-and-run tactics
, active camouflage
and guerrilla warfare
to gain the advantage. Nod also has access to limited air support and naval support. Stationary defenses include the anti-tank gun turret, the Obelisk of Light laser guard towers and the surface to air missile (SAM
) site.
Tiberium
, the game's sole resource (except for the occasional money crate), is acquired by specialized "harvester" units which bring their cargo to a "refinery" structure and which in turn will convert the crystals into usable resources, expressed as credits. The Tiberium itself requires storage space in the form of "refineries" and, in the case of excess, "storage silo
" facilities. Deposits of Tiberium are able to slowly regenerate and proliferate on the battlefield if not depleted beforehand, and can also cause nearby plant life to mutate itself into so-called "Blossom Trees". Blossom Trees seed Tiberium spores to their surroundings, and once one or several are present on the battlefield Tiberium deposits will regenerate themselves on the map indefinitely.
sites on the map, though if the computer is GDI, airstrikes would be available to it from the beginning of the mission, regardless of any anti-air missiles the player possesses.
In almost every mission in the single player campaigns(except the first three of each one), the computer is given a huge resource advantage over the player, and always starts out with fully operational bases with all structures already built, and armies ready to attack from the beginning of a mission. The player however, usually starts out with nothing but an MCV and a handful of troops, and has to build everything from scratch, thus making the first ten minutes of a mission the most difficult. The computer also has an advantage in unit and building costs. It costs the computer 10 times less than the human player to construct or train any unit or building, meaning the computer has almost unlimited resources. For example, the computer can sell a barracks, and from the money brought in by that alone, it can build another barracks, an Obelisk, and a Tiberium refinery. The computer also has the ability to construct buildings anywhere on the map except near the player's own initial base, whereas the player cannot construct any buildings except in very close proximity to his/her other buildings. And of course the computer has the known advantage of speed and Micromanagement
, it can give a hundred orders in a second to all units on the map at the same time, whereas the player can only handle one selection at a time. All this, and many other computer advantages, serve to make the campaigns more challenging and give more playing time. The computer does have a disadvantage though, it attacks in small groups instead of committing all of its forces at the same time like the player.
There are multiple ways to finish off an enemy in the Single-player missions. The most costly is an all out assault relying on superior numbers, which often results in huge unit loss for the player, and if the attempt is failed the computer could easily fully recover with its cost and resource advantages, while it would be very difficult for the player to build another sizable force to replace the original. Another method, which is often very effective, is to stay away from the enemy base, while constantly attacking and destroying the enemy's harvesters(which the computer would continually construct in large numbers) until it is completely bled out of resources and is unable to build anymore, resulting at that point in giving the player time to take out the computer's base defenses and units slowly and with care until the computer is finally defeated. The fastest and often silliest method to win is to pack an APC(only available in the GDI campaign) with engineers, and steer it past enemy defenses; with its fast speed it is only vulnerable to obelisks; then unload it inside the enemy base and instantly capture all buildings in sight(with first priority being to capture the construction yard so that the computer can't rebuild any of the buildings it loses), thus completing a mission in a few minutes. But this method requires lots of saving and loading until it finally works.
Five "secret" missions are included on the Command & Conquer CDs, and can be accessed by providing the word funpark as a command line parameter. In the original DOS
release, The Covert Operations expansion pack
(which updated the game version to 1.20) was required to access these missions. The DOS C&C 1.22 patch also unlocks the funpark parameter and the 'Untamed Land' track. According to the release notes of patch 1.02 of the Command & Conquer: The First Decade
compilation pack:
Note that the -cd. parameter is added to activate the game's inbuilt No-CD system, which is used by the First Decade compilation pack.
release features multiplayer with up to four players, which was a rarity at the time, and supports play over network
, null modem
and modem
. Multiplayer over an internet
connection was added in the Gold Edition/Windows 95 Edition release of Command & Conquer, which sports several other improvements over the original DOS version.
As a result of changes to the IPX
protocol libraries for the Windows XP
and Windows 2000
environments, however, network play through this method has been rendered unavailable, except for matches that are played over parallel or serial link
. Westwood Studios
released a patch that disabled the game's LAN
function to prevent the malfunctioning protocol from crashing the game on startup. This problem was later solved when an alternative version of the patch was released by a community member.
in Italy
. The impact introduces an alien substance to the world dubbed Tiberium
, which becomes of unprecedented value due to its unique property of leeching precious metals from the surrounding soil and crystallizing them. However, the process also causes emission of extremely toxic gases.
An ancient and quasi-religious secret society
, known as the Brotherhood of Nod, proves to somehow have foreseen the potentials of this new substance, and reveals itself to have been investing in the development of technology to harvest the Tiberium crystals ahead of the established scientific communities. They soon control almost half of the known supply of what has become the most valuable commodity on the global trade market
s, and use these assets to sustain a rapidly growing army of followers worldwide under the leadership of a charisma
tic and self-proclaimed messianic
figure, who is known only as Kane
.
Following a series of relentless international bombings which culminate in the destruction of the fictional Grain Trade Center in Vienna
, a wave of mass panic and fear begins to sweep the globe. These acts are ultimately attributed to Brotherhood of Nod terrorists and their leader, Kane. The United Nations Security Council
realizes Nod has systematically begun with the unfolding of a centuries-old plan for world domination, and sanctions the G7-based Global Defense Initiative task force
to intervene on its behalf, inadvertently setting a conflict in motion that will escalate into a modern world war
.
The main overbearing plot during the game itself revolves around Nod's media manipulation
trying to discredit GDI, to persuade the U.N. into cutting GDI's funding.
an forces. Under the command of General Mark Jamison Sheppard, the player completes a range of missions ranging from securing a beach to rescuing civilians and scientists to defending GDI bases from Nod assaults. The player will be taken to battlefields in various countries of Europe such as Germany
, Poland
, Austria
, the Czech Republic
, and more. Finally, the player besieges the Temple of Nod in Sarajevo
, Bosnia
, which Kane
uses as his main base of operations.
As a new recruit to the Brotherhood of Nod, the player initially performs tasks for the Brotherhood's second-in-command, a man known as Seth. After Seth attempts to deploy the player in an operation against the United States' military
without Kane
's approval, Kane kills him and thereafter issues commands to the player directly. The player is entrusted with the mission of driving GDI forces out of Africa
through the use of both conventional
and unconventional warfare
. In order to give Nod a decisive advantage in the conflict, the player is ultimately assigned to gain control of GDI's space-based ion cannon
, and establish Nod's Temple on South Africa
n soil. The campaign ends with the entire African continent coming directly under Nod influence and the Brotherhood being ready to commit themselves to achieving the same with Europe
. The conclusion of the campaign allows the player to choose a historical landmark to destroy with GDI's successfully hijacked ion cannon to shatter GDI's public image. Potential targets include the White House
, the British Houses of Parliament
, the Eiffel Tower
and the Brandenburg Gate
.
which had been in progress for several years, with development on C&C having begun in earnest in early 1993. According to former executive producer
and Westwood co-founder Brett W. Sperry
: "Command & Conquer was the net result of the Dune II
wish list." With Dune II becoming the blueprint for the real-time strategy
genre, it would subsequently lay the foundations for C&C itself as well. Also according to Sperry, "With Dune II, a commercial and critical success, it was time to build the ultimate RTS without the "leg up" from a license like Dune
, and thus Command & Conquer was born. I was fanatical about calling the game "Command & Conquer" -exactly like that- because to me, it perfectly expressed what you did in the game."
The original concept of the Command & Conquer
fiction was created by Brett Sperry
, Eydie Laramore and Joseph Bostic. Unlike its predecessor Dune II
, Command & Conquer was originally intended to be a high fantasy
game featuring wizards and warrior
s. However, due to the political climate of the early 1990s, and the events of the Gulf War
in particular, the developers felt that a contemporary war environment would be more accessible. According to Westwood co-founder Louis Castle
: "War was in the news and the threat of terrorism was on everyone's mind. That definitely had an effect on the fictional world of C&C, though a parallel universe
was created to avoid dealing with the sobering issues of a real war." "We wanted to make it a contemporary war for a contemporary world, with contemporary politics. At the time, Brett [Sperry] had said that it seemed to him that the next wars won't be fought nation-to-nation, but fought between Western society and a kind of anarchistic terror organization that doesn't have a centralized government. It turned out to be very prophetic". In an interview, Kane
actor Joseph D. Kucan
mentioned that the Brotherhood of Nod faction was an invention of Eydie Laramore in particular, with the two of them having extensively discussed biblical metaphor and imaged backstory.
The Tiberium substance was introduced to replace the spice from Dune II as the mined resource for building and expanding, with Louis Castle stating: "It solved one of the fundamental problems we had with making an RTS
, which was that we wanted to have a central resource that everybody was fighting over. Dune has spice, which made perfect sense—and it was also used when we came to the idea of Tiberium. It became the anchor of the C&C universe because people were arguing over a limited resource that represented wealth and power." The original concept of Tiberium was inspired by the 1957 B-movie
"The Monolith Monsters
".
The music of Command & Conquer was composed and produced by Westwood Studios' former sound director and video game music composer Frank Klepacki
. The original soundtrack can be listened to on his web site, along with various cues that were cut from the game, most of which are also present on the discs of the DOS version and the expansion pack.
over time.
Command & Conquer: Gold (a.k.a. Command & Conquer: Windows 95 Edition) is a re-release of the original game for Windows 95
and above. It features an improved interface similar to that of its prequel, Command & Conquer: Red Alert
, but the core engine was left completely untouched. The new game engine runs at a resolution
of 640×400, twice that of the original's 320×200 MCGA resolution. A resolution of 640×480 is also available, but it should be noted that in this mode the graphics are centered rather than scaled, distorting the game's aspect ratio
. The Covert Operations can also be installed with C&C Gold. A Macintosh
version of the game shared most elements with the Windows 95/Gold version, making it share its 640×480 screen resolution and better GUI graphics compared to the various console ports. The PC version of "The Covert Operations" add-on can be installed on the Mac as well, by copying the two files from The Covert Operations disk starting with "sc" to the C&C folder, and then increasing the game memory. The method of manually copying these "sc" files works on the Windows 95 version as well.
The game's Sega Saturn
port appears exactly like the original MS-DOS
release. This version can be played with either English, German, French or Japanese in-game voices by changing the system's language setting accordingly, although the FMV
s remain in the language that the release was targeted for (English being the most widely spread one, as the others were exclusively distributed in their respective countries). The PlayStation port is near identical to the Sega Saturn version, but it featured five missions exclusive to this port. The game is incompatible with the PlayStation's link cable however, precluding the possibility of multiplayer modes. The Covert Operations is included. This version has also been released on the Playstation Network in Europe
.
The Nintendo 64
version updated certain graphical elements to 3D
, though the terrain texture remained the same. The game offered an optional high-resolution 640×480 mode and a MIDI
rendition of the PC version's soundtrack. The videos were removed due to cartridge storage constraints, and replaced with either static images accompanied by the cutscenes' audio tracks, or with cutscenes converted to real-time 3D scenes. This release did not include The Covert Operations, but did have four new missions which were called Special Ops.
, but the game currently can't be downloaded from EA's website for free.
An expansion pack
titled The Covert Operations was released by Westwood Studios
in 1996. It includes fifteen new single-player missions, ten new multiplayer maps and seven new high quality CD audio
tracks (as well as lower quality in-game versions). Unlike the original games, the expansions missions can be played at any time and in any order and are not accompanied by briefing cutscenes. The expansion packs files contain unused music tracks that are present in the DOS
version of Command & Conquer, but not in the Windows 95
(Gold) version.
Special Operations
The Nintendo 64 and PlayStation versions each have a set of additional extra missions called 'Special Operations'. These were unique to their console, and were not available in the PC version until they were extracted by fans.
Sole Survivor
Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor was a multiplayer spin-off
of Command & Conquer. It featured a deathmatch
-style game in which each player controls a unit of the original C&C game and travels around the game arena collecting crates to increase the unit's firepower, armor, speed, attack range and reloading speed. Sole Survivor was often compared to a first-person shooter
, however played with a bird's eye view
of the arena. It featured no single-player mode and the multiplayer had no hints of a storyline, and the game was omitted from inclusion in the Command & Conquer: The First Decade
compilation pack released in 2006.
as well as having played a significant role in popularizing the RTS genre with the wider gaming audience. The resulting C&C franchise
has been described as being "nearly synonymous with RTS gaming" and "legendary" by professional reviewers, and continues to this day with a series of 12 games, having sold 21 million copies worldwide prior to the launch of Command & Conquer: Generals
in 2003. Command & Conquer was later released as a free download by Electronic Arts.
One of the defining features of the franchise would remain the use of live action
full-motion video cutscene
s. These scene, which play between missions and which serve to both further a typically epic storyline as well as provide players with their objectives for the next level through mission briefings, featured the talents of Joseph D. Kucan
and Tanya Brassie who would both be featured in further installments and additional titles.
The game's content easily fits on a single CD-ROM
. However, each box of Command & Conquer contained two CD copies of the game, immediately making multiplayer gaming
possible with only a single purchase of the game (although each disc featured different single-player campaigns). Westwood Studios advertised this on the packaging with the slogan "A second copy, so you and your friend can destroy each other". This resulted in Command & Conquer becoming the first RTS game title to feature competitive online play, and this is considered the most pertinent outside factor in the success of Command & Conquer.
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
computer game developed by Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios was a computer and video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in as Westwood Associates, and renamed to Westwood Studios when it merged with Virgin Interactive in...
for MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
and published by Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing the budget label, Mastertronic in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group...
. It was the first of twelve games to date to be released under the Command & Conquer label, including a prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
and five sequels. On August 31, 2007, current publisher and owner of the C&C franchise Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
made Command & Conquer (Windows95/Gold version) freely available for download from their official website, to mark the franchise's 12th anniversary.
Set in an alternate history 1995, Command & Conquer tells the story of two globalized factions: the Global Defense Initiative of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, and the ancient quasi-cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
, quasi-state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
organization, the Brotherhood of Nod. The factions become locked in a mortal struggle for control over a mysterious resource known as Tiberium
Tiberium
Tiberium or Ichor is a fictional substance that is central to the plot of much of the Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy video games...
that is slowly spreading and infecting the world.
Met with acclaim by consumers and critics, Command & Conquer was released for seven separate platforms
Platform (computing)
A computing platform includes some sort of hardware architecture and a software framework , where the combination allows software, particularly application software, to run...
along with becoming the initiator of the Command & Conquer franchise
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer, abbreviated to C&C and also known as Tiberian Dawn, is a 1995 real-time strategy computer game developed by Westwood Studios for MS-DOS and published by Virgin Interactive. It was the first of twelve games to date to be released under the Command & Conquer label, including a...
, and today generally is considered as the title which originally defined and popularized the modern real-time strategy genre.
Gameplay
One of the quintessential titles of the modern real time strategy genreGenre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
, Command & Conquers gameplay mechanics will typically require the player to construct a base and then acquire a flow of resources, in order to fund the ongoing production of various forces to assault and conquer the opponent's base. Command & Conquer features around 50 different units and structures. Virtually every type of structure in the game acts as a tech tree
Tech tree
In strategy computer games, the technology tree or tech tree is a hierarchical visual representation of the possible sequences of upgrades a player can take, by means of research. The diagram is tree-shaped in the sense that it branches at certain intervals, allowing the player to choose one...
node, and additional units, structures and special abilities become available to the player as new structures are built and placed. Access to advanced units and abilities can be temporarily blocked if the required structures are destroyed, or if they are not being provided with adequate power by the supporting "power plant" structures.
All structures available to the player are built on-site at a "construction yard" building, which can either be already deployed on the battlefield as the mission starts or begin as a large-sized mobile construction vehicle ("MCV"), which is capable of deploying itself into an aforementioned construction yard at a suitable location of the player's choice. As a structure is being constructed, resources will steadily be deducted from the player's credits counter until construction is finished. When the construction yard has finished building the new structure, the player can select a spot next to a pre-existing structure in order to place it, where the prefabricated building will rapidly begin unfolding in a distinctive manner. Base defense is provided by specialized defensive structures, as well as fortification in the form of sandbag
Sandbag
A sandbag is a sack made of hessian/burlap, polypropylene or other materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification, shielding glass windows in war zones and ballast....
s, wire fences and concrete walls. Later on in the game, the player can build lethal defensive structures like guard towers with machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s or rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
s, gun turrets, or the iconic "Obelisk of Light" of the Brotherhood of Nod.
While the two sides largely mirror each other in regards to tech tree
Tech tree
In strategy computer games, the technology tree or tech tree is a hierarchical visual representation of the possible sequences of upgrades a player can take, by means of research. The diagram is tree-shaped in the sense that it branches at certain intervals, allowing the player to choose one...
s and unit types, each has a distinct strategic preference. GDI units are intended to be sturdy and are often more powerful than their Nod counterparts, at the cost of being more expensive and having slower movement. GDI forces also have access to air and naval support. Stationary defenses include the guard tower and missile armed advanced guard tower which can engage ground and air targets. Conversely, Nod's units are cheap and fast, at the cost of withstanding less punishment. Nod forces are made to avoid direct engagement as much as possible, relying on hit-and-run tactics
Hit-and-run tactics
Hit-and-run tactics is a tactical doctrine where the purpose of the combat involved is not to seize control of territory, but to inflict damage on a target and immediately exit the area to avoid the enemy's defense and/or retaliation.-History:...
, active camouflage
Active camouflage
Active camouflage or adaptive camouflage, is a group of camouflage technologies which allow an object to blend into its surroundings by use of panels or coatings capable of altering their appearance, color, luminance and reflective properties...
and guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
to gain the advantage. Nod also has access to limited air support and naval support. Stationary defenses include the anti-tank gun turret, the Obelisk of Light laser guard towers and the surface to air missile (SAM
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
) site.
Tiberium
Tiberium
Tiberium or Ichor is a fictional substance that is central to the plot of much of the Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy video games...
, the game's sole resource (except for the occasional money crate), is acquired by specialized "harvester" units which bring their cargo to a "refinery" structure and which in turn will convert the crystals into usable resources, expressed as credits. The Tiberium itself requires storage space in the form of "refineries" and, in the case of excess, "storage silo
Storage silo
A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store grain or fermented feed known as silage. Silos are more commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use...
" facilities. Deposits of Tiberium are able to slowly regenerate and proliferate on the battlefield if not depleted beforehand, and can also cause nearby plant life to mutate itself into so-called "Blossom Trees". Blossom Trees seed Tiberium spores to their surroundings, and once one or several are present on the battlefield Tiberium deposits will regenerate themselves on the map indefinitely.
Single-player
Command & Conquer features two story-driven single-player campaigns which together consist of a total of 50 missions. The player is required to complete about 15 missions as either GDI or Nod to end a single-player campaign successfully, however the missions can differ depending on the route of conquest the player takes throughout the campaign, which allows for a higher replay value with each playthrough. Most of the mission briefings in the single-player campaigns are presented in the form of a full-motion video which features live actors, with the two campaigns together having over 60 minutes worth of FMV material. Campaign mission objectives range from complete destruction of enemy forces to selective destruction, special operations or objective defense. Some of the missions of C&C first innovated various twists to the standard RTS single-player formula such as limited or no base building, and mission-specific rewards for goal completion. A common bonus reward for the GDI faction for example is the availability of the "Airstrike" power after the destruction of all SAMSurface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
sites on the map, though if the computer is GDI, airstrikes would be available to it from the beginning of the mission, regardless of any anti-air missiles the player possesses.
In almost every mission in the single player campaigns(except the first three of each one), the computer is given a huge resource advantage over the player, and always starts out with fully operational bases with all structures already built, and armies ready to attack from the beginning of a mission. The player however, usually starts out with nothing but an MCV and a handful of troops, and has to build everything from scratch, thus making the first ten minutes of a mission the most difficult. The computer also has an advantage in unit and building costs. It costs the computer 10 times less than the human player to construct or train any unit or building, meaning the computer has almost unlimited resources. For example, the computer can sell a barracks, and from the money brought in by that alone, it can build another barracks, an Obelisk, and a Tiberium refinery. The computer also has the ability to construct buildings anywhere on the map except near the player's own initial base, whereas the player cannot construct any buildings except in very close proximity to his/her other buildings. And of course the computer has the known advantage of speed and Micromanagement
Micromanagement
In business management, micromanagement is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of her or his subordinates or employees...
, it can give a hundred orders in a second to all units on the map at the same time, whereas the player can only handle one selection at a time. All this, and many other computer advantages, serve to make the campaigns more challenging and give more playing time. The computer does have a disadvantage though, it attacks in small groups instead of committing all of its forces at the same time like the player.
There are multiple ways to finish off an enemy in the Single-player missions. The most costly is an all out assault relying on superior numbers, which often results in huge unit loss for the player, and if the attempt is failed the computer could easily fully recover with its cost and resource advantages, while it would be very difficult for the player to build another sizable force to replace the original. Another method, which is often very effective, is to stay away from the enemy base, while constantly attacking and destroying the enemy's harvesters(which the computer would continually construct in large numbers) until it is completely bled out of resources and is unable to build anymore, resulting at that point in giving the player time to take out the computer's base defenses and units slowly and with care until the computer is finally defeated. The fastest and often silliest method to win is to pack an APC(only available in the GDI campaign) with engineers, and steer it past enemy defenses; with its fast speed it is only vulnerable to obelisks; then unload it inside the enemy base and instantly capture all buildings in sight(with first priority being to capture the construction yard so that the computer can't rebuild any of the buildings it loses), thus completing a mission in a few minutes. But this method requires lots of saving and loading until it finally works.
Five "secret" missions are included on the Command & Conquer CDs, and can be accessed by providing the word funpark as a command line parameter. In the original DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
release, The Covert Operations expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
(which updated the game version to 1.20) was required to access these missions. The DOS C&C 1.22 patch also unlocks the funpark parameter and the 'Untamed Land' track. According to the release notes of patch 1.02 of the Command & Conquer: The First Decade
Command & Conquer: The First Decade
Command & Conquer: The First Decade is a compilation of the Command & Conquer series' games published from 1995 to 2003, all bundled into one DVD and updated to run optimally on Windows XP. It was released on February 7, 2006 and sold for the price of one retail game...
compilation pack:
Note that the -cd. parameter is added to activate the game's inbuilt No-CD system, which is used by the First Decade compilation pack.
Multiplayer
The original MS-DOSMS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
release features multiplayer with up to four players, which was a rarity at the time, and supports play over network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
, null modem
Null modem
Null modem is a communication method to connect two DTEs directly using an RS-232 serial cable. The name stems from the historical use of the RS-232 cable to connect two teleprinter devices to modems in order to communicate with one another; null modem communication was possible by instead using...
and modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
. Multiplayer over an internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
connection was added in the Gold Edition/Windows 95 Edition release of Command & Conquer, which sports several other improvements over the original DOS version.
As a result of changes to the IPX
IPX
Internetwork Packet Exchange is the OSI-model Network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol stack.The IPX/SPXM protocol stack is supported by Novell's NetWare network operating system. Because of Netware's popularity through the late 1980s into the mid 1990s, IPX became a popular internetworking...
protocol libraries for the Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
and Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
environments, however, network play through this method has been rendered unavailable, except for matches that are played over parallel or serial link
Serial communication
In telecommunication and computer science, serial communication is the process of sending data one bit at a time, sequentially, over a communication channel or computer bus. This is in contrast to parallel communication, where several bits are sent as a whole, on a link with several parallel channels...
. Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios was a computer and video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in as Westwood Associates, and renamed to Westwood Studios when it merged with Virgin Interactive in...
released a patch that disabled the game's LAN
Län
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
function to prevent the malfunctioning protocol from crashing the game on startup. This problem was later solved when an alternative version of the patch was released by a community member.
Setting
Command & Conquer is set in the latter half of the 1990s after a meteorite crash lands near the river TiberTiber
The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The impact introduces an alien substance to the world dubbed Tiberium
Tiberium
Tiberium or Ichor is a fictional substance that is central to the plot of much of the Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy video games...
, which becomes of unprecedented value due to its unique property of leeching precious metals from the surrounding soil and crystallizing them. However, the process also causes emission of extremely toxic gases.
An ancient and quasi-religious secret society
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
, known as the Brotherhood of Nod, proves to somehow have foreseen the potentials of this new substance, and reveals itself to have been investing in the development of technology to harvest the Tiberium crystals ahead of the established scientific communities. They soon control almost half of the known supply of what has become the most valuable commodity on the global trade market
Financial market
In economics, a financial market is a mechanism that allows people and entities to buy and sell financial securities , commodities , and other fungible items of value at low transaction costs and at prices that reflect supply and demand.Both general markets and...
s, and use these assets to sustain a rapidly growing army of followers worldwide under the leadership of a charisma
Charisma
The term charisma has two senses: 1) compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, 2) a divinely conferred power or talent. For some theological usages the term is rendered charism, with a meaning the same as sense 2...
tic and self-proclaimed messianic
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
figure, who is known only as Kane
Kane (Command & Conquer)
Kane is a fictional character in the alternate history universe of Westwood Studios' and Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer real-time strategy video games in which he is a seemingly immortal mastermind behind the ancient and secretive Brotherhood of Nod society...
.
Following a series of relentless international bombings which culminate in the destruction of the fictional Grain Trade Center in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, a wave of mass panic and fear begins to sweep the globe. These acts are ultimately attributed to Brotherhood of Nod terrorists and their leader, Kane. The United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
realizes Nod has systematically begun with the unfolding of a centuries-old plan for world domination, and sanctions the G7-based Global Defense Initiative task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
to intervene on its behalf, inadvertently setting a conflict in motion that will escalate into a modern world war
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
.
The main overbearing plot during the game itself revolves around Nod's media manipulation
Media manipulation
Media manipulation is an aspect of public relations in which partisans create an image or argument that favours their particular interests. Such tactics may include the use of logical fallacies and propaganda techniques, and often involve the suppression of information or points of view by crowding...
trying to discredit GDI, to persuade the U.N. into cutting GDI's funding.
Sub-Plots
Command & Conquer features two sub-plots based on the two playable factions of the game, to make one overarching plot. Commanding the Global Defense Initiative's troops, the player becomes instrumental in eliminating Nod's EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an forces. Under the command of General Mark Jamison Sheppard, the player completes a range of missions ranging from securing a beach to rescuing civilians and scientists to defending GDI bases from Nod assaults. The player will be taken to battlefields in various countries of Europe such as Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, and more. Finally, the player besieges the Temple of Nod in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, which Kane
Kane (Command & Conquer)
Kane is a fictional character in the alternate history universe of Westwood Studios' and Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer real-time strategy video games in which he is a seemingly immortal mastermind behind the ancient and secretive Brotherhood of Nod society...
uses as his main base of operations.
As a new recruit to the Brotherhood of Nod, the player initially performs tasks for the Brotherhood's second-in-command, a man known as Seth. After Seth attempts to deploy the player in an operation against the United States' military
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
without Kane
Kane (Command & Conquer)
Kane is a fictional character in the alternate history universe of Westwood Studios' and Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer real-time strategy video games in which he is a seemingly immortal mastermind behind the ancient and secretive Brotherhood of Nod society...
's approval, Kane kills him and thereafter issues commands to the player directly. The player is entrusted with the mission of driving GDI forces out of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
through the use of both conventional
Conventional warfare
Conventional warfare is a form of warfare conducted byusing conventional military weapons and battlefield tactics between two or more states in open confrontation. The forces on each side are well-defined, and fight using weapons that primarily target the opposing army...
and unconventional warfare
Unconventional warfare
Unconventional warfare is the opposite of conventional warfare. Where conventional warfare is used to reduce an opponent's military capability, unconventional warfare is an attempt to achieve military victory through acquiescence, capitulation, or clandestine support for one side of an existing...
. In order to give Nod a decisive advantage in the conflict, the player is ultimately assigned to gain control of GDI's space-based ion cannon
Ion cannon
In science fiction, an ion cannon is a beam weapon that fires beams of ions . Due to its power, it is usually classified as a superweapon. An ion cannon is a type of particle cannon; only the particles used are ionized...
, and establish Nod's Temple on South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n soil. The campaign ends with the entire African continent coming directly under Nod influence and the Brotherhood being ready to commit themselves to achieving the same with Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The conclusion of the campaign allows the player to choose a historical landmark to destroy with GDI's successfully hijacked ion cannon to shatter GDI's public image. Potential targets include the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, the British Houses of Parliament
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
, the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
and the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
.
Development
The creation of Command & Conquer has been characterized by its developers as being a culmination of work at Westwood StudiosWestwood Studios
Westwood Studios was a computer and video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in as Westwood Associates, and renamed to Westwood Studios when it merged with Virgin Interactive in...
which had been in progress for several years, with development on C&C having begun in earnest in early 1993. According to former executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
and Westwood co-founder Brett W. Sperry
Brett Sperry
-Career:Sperry co-founded Westwood Studios with Louis Castle in 1985, when both were in their early 20s.Sperry has been credited with the roles of design, production, support and box and content...
: "Command & Conquer was the net result of the Dune II
Dune II
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty is a Dune computer game released in 1992 by Westwood Studios...
wish list." With Dune II becoming the blueprint for the real-time strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
genre, it would subsequently lay the foundations for C&C itself as well. Also according to Sperry, "With Dune II, a commercial and critical success, it was time to build the ultimate RTS without the "leg up" from a license like Dune
Dune universe
Dune is a science fiction franchise which originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert. Considered by many to be the greatest science fiction novel of all time, Dune is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history...
, and thus Command & Conquer was born. I was fanatical about calling the game "Command & Conquer" -exactly like that- because to me, it perfectly expressed what you did in the game."
The original concept of the Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer, abbreviated to C&C and also known as Tiberian Dawn, is a 1995 real-time strategy computer game developed by Westwood Studios for MS-DOS and published by Virgin Interactive. It was the first of twelve games to date to be released under the Command & Conquer label, including a...
fiction was created by Brett Sperry
Brett Sperry
-Career:Sperry co-founded Westwood Studios with Louis Castle in 1985, when both were in their early 20s.Sperry has been credited with the roles of design, production, support and box and content...
, Eydie Laramore and Joseph Bostic. Unlike its predecessor Dune II
Dune II
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty is a Dune computer game released in 1992 by Westwood Studios...
, Command & Conquer was originally intended to be a high fantasy
High fantasy
High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...
game featuring wizards and warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
s. However, due to the political climate of the early 1990s, and the events of the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
in particular, the developers felt that a contemporary war environment would be more accessible. According to Westwood co-founder Louis Castle
Louis Castle
-Career:Castle co-founded Westwood Studios with Brett Sperry in 1985. Castle remained with Westwood when it was bought by Electronic Arts in 1998 and he was a vice president and General Manager of EA's Blueprint Studio...
: "War was in the news and the threat of terrorism was on everyone's mind. That definitely had an effect on the fictional world of C&C, though a parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
was created to avoid dealing with the sobering issues of a real war." "We wanted to make it a contemporary war for a contemporary world, with contemporary politics. At the time, Brett [Sperry] had said that it seemed to him that the next wars won't be fought nation-to-nation, but fought between Western society and a kind of anarchistic terror organization that doesn't have a centralized government. It turned out to be very prophetic". In an interview, Kane
Kane (Command & Conquer)
Kane is a fictional character in the alternate history universe of Westwood Studios' and Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer real-time strategy video games in which he is a seemingly immortal mastermind behind the ancient and secretive Brotherhood of Nod society...
actor Joseph D. Kucan
Joseph D. Kucan
Joseph David Kucan is a Video game developer, director, actor, screenwriter, and casting director for various gaming companies and movies. He is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada. He is well known for his role as Kane from the Command & Conquer series.-Early life:Kucan was born in Las Vegas, Nevada....
mentioned that the Brotherhood of Nod faction was an invention of Eydie Laramore in particular, with the two of them having extensively discussed biblical metaphor and imaged backstory.
The Tiberium substance was introduced to replace the spice from Dune II as the mined resource for building and expanding, with Louis Castle stating: "It solved one of the fundamental problems we had with making an RTS
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
, which was that we wanted to have a central resource that everybody was fighting over. Dune has spice, which made perfect sense—and it was also used when we came to the idea of Tiberium. It became the anchor of the C&C universe because people were arguing over a limited resource that represented wealth and power." The original concept of Tiberium was inspired by the 1957 B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
"The Monolith Monsters
The Monolith Monsters
The Monolith Monsters is a science fiction film directed by John Sherwood and starring Grant Williams and Lola Albright. It is based on a story by Jack Arnold and Robert M...
".
The music of Command & Conquer was composed and produced by Westwood Studios' former sound director and video game music composer Frank Klepacki
Frank Klepacki
Frank Klepacki is an American musician, video game music composer and sound director best known for his work on the Command & Conquer series. Having learned to play drums as a child, he joined Westwood Studios as a composer when he was only 17 years old...
. The original soundtrack can be listened to on his web site, along with various cues that were cut from the game, most of which are also present on the discs of the DOS version and the expansion pack.
Releases
Since Command & Conquers initial success in 1995, versions of the game have been released for many different platformsPlatform (computing)
A computing platform includes some sort of hardware architecture and a software framework , where the combination allows software, particularly application software, to run...
over time.
Command & Conquer: Gold (a.k.a. Command & Conquer: Windows 95 Edition) is a re-release of the original game for Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
and above. It features an improved interface similar to that of its prequel, Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy computer game of the Command & Conquer franchise, produced by Westwood Studios and released by Virgin Interactive in...
, but the core engine was left completely untouched. The new game engine runs at a resolution
Display resolution
The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...
of 640×400, twice that of the original's 320×200 MCGA resolution. A resolution of 640×480 is also available, but it should be noted that in this mode the graphics are centered rather than scaled, distorting the game's aspect ratio
Aspect ratio (image)
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...
. The Covert Operations can also be installed with C&C Gold. A Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
version of the game shared most elements with the Windows 95/Gold version, making it share its 640×480 screen resolution and better GUI graphics compared to the various console ports. The PC version of "The Covert Operations" add-on can be installed on the Mac as well, by copying the two files from The Covert Operations disk starting with "sc" to the C&C folder, and then increasing the game memory. The method of manually copying these "sc" files works on the Windows 95 version as well.
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
port appears exactly like the original MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
release. This version can be played with either English, German, French or Japanese in-game voices by changing the system's language setting accordingly, although the FMV
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
s remain in the language that the release was targeted for (English being the most widely spread one, as the others were exclusively distributed in their respective countries). The PlayStation port is near identical to the Sega Saturn version, but it featured five missions exclusive to this port. The game is incompatible with the PlayStation's link cable however, precluding the possibility of multiplayer modes. The Covert Operations is included. This version has also been released on the Playstation Network in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
The Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
version updated certain graphical elements to 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
, though the terrain texture remained the same. The game offered an optional high-resolution 640×480 mode and a MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
rendition of the PC version's soundtrack. The videos were removed due to cartridge storage constraints, and replaced with either static images accompanied by the cutscenes' audio tracks, or with cutscenes converted to real-time 3D scenes. This release did not include The Covert Operations, but did have four new missions which were called Special Ops.
Released as freeware
To mark the 12th anniversary of Command and Conquer, EA has released Command and Conquer: Tiberian Dawn for Windows as freewareFreeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
, but the game currently can't be downloaded from EA's website for free.
Expansion packs
The Covert OperationsAn expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
titled The Covert Operations was released by Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios was a computer and video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in as Westwood Associates, and renamed to Westwood Studios when it merged with Virgin Interactive in...
in 1996. It includes fifteen new single-player missions, ten new multiplayer maps and seven new high quality CD audio
Red Book (audio CD standard)
Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...
tracks (as well as lower quality in-game versions). Unlike the original games, the expansions missions can be played at any time and in any order and are not accompanied by briefing cutscenes. The expansion packs files contain unused music tracks that are present in the DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
version of Command & Conquer, but not in the Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
(Gold) version.
Special Operations
The Nintendo 64 and PlayStation versions each have a set of additional extra missions called 'Special Operations'. These were unique to their console, and were not available in the PC version until they were extracted by fans.
Sole Survivor
Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor was a multiplayer spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of Command & Conquer. It featured a deathmatch
Deathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
-style game in which each player controls a unit of the original C&C game and travels around the game arena collecting crates to increase the unit's firepower, armor, speed, attack range and reloading speed. Sole Survivor was often compared to a first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
, however played with a bird's eye view
Bird's Eye View
"Bird's Eye View" is a single by Oakland Hip Hop group Zion I, released in 2005 on Live Up Records. The single was the first released from their third album True & Livin. The song, like Common's classic "I Used to Love H.E.R.", addresses the state of Hip Hop by comparing the culture to a woman. The...
of the arena. It featured no single-player mode and the multiplayer had no hints of a storyline, and the game was omitted from inclusion in the Command & Conquer: The First Decade
Command & Conquer: The First Decade
Command & Conquer: The First Decade is a compilation of the Command & Conquer series' games published from 1995 to 2003, all bundled into one DVD and updated to run optimally on Windows XP. It was released on February 7, 2006 and sold for the price of one retail game...
compilation pack released in 2006.
Reception and legacy
Command & Conquer was released to universal acclaim in 1995, and the game's runaway success during the mid-1990s has often been credited with originally having defined modern real-time strategyReal-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
as well as having played a significant role in popularizing the RTS genre with the wider gaming audience. The resulting C&C franchise
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer, abbreviated to C&C and also known as Tiberian Dawn, is a 1995 real-time strategy computer game developed by Westwood Studios for MS-DOS and published by Virgin Interactive. It was the first of twelve games to date to be released under the Command & Conquer label, including a...
has been described as being "nearly synonymous with RTS gaming" and "legendary" by professional reviewers, and continues to this day with a series of 12 games, having sold 21 million copies worldwide prior to the launch of Command & Conquer: Generals
Command & Conquer: Generals
Command & Conquer: Generals is a real-time strategy game in the Command & Conquer series. Generals utilizes SAGE...
in 2003. Command & Conquer was later released as a free download by Electronic Arts.
One of the defining features of the franchise would remain the use of live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
full-motion video cutscene
Cutscene
A cutscene is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no or only limited control, breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, strengthen the main character's development, introduces enemy characters, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue, and clues...
s. These scene, which play between missions and which serve to both further a typically epic storyline as well as provide players with their objectives for the next level through mission briefings, featured the talents of Joseph D. Kucan
Joseph D. Kucan
Joseph David Kucan is a Video game developer, director, actor, screenwriter, and casting director for various gaming companies and movies. He is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada. He is well known for his role as Kane from the Command & Conquer series.-Early life:Kucan was born in Las Vegas, Nevada....
and Tanya Brassie who would both be featured in further installments and additional titles.
The game's content easily fits on a single CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
. However, each box of Command & Conquer contained two CD copies of the game, immediately making multiplayer gaming
Multiplayer game
A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that put the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often...
possible with only a single purchase of the game (although each disc featured different single-player campaigns). Westwood Studios advertised this on the packaging with the slogan "A second copy, so you and your friend can destroy each other". This resulted in Command & Conquer becoming the first RTS game title to feature competitive online play, and this is considered the most pertinent outside factor in the success of Command & Conquer.
Official
- deleted official site
- Download Command & Conquer 95 from the official Electronic Arts website
- Westwood Remembered (Reconstruction of the official Westwood Studios website from around 1997.)
- [ftp://ftp.westwood.com/pub/ Westwood FTP server]
- Command and Conquer Wiki - A Guide To The Command & Conquer Universe