Command & Conquer: Generals
Encyclopedia
Command & Conquer: Generals is a real-time strategy
game in the Command & Conquer series
. Generals utilizes SAGE (Strategy Action Game Engine). This proprietary engine is an extended version of the Command & Conquer: Renegade
3D engine.
Generals was released onto the Microsoft Windows
platform in 2003, and a Mac OS
version was released in 2004, marking the return of the Command & Conquer series to that platform. An expansion pack
, entitled Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour, was additionally released for PC in 2003, and for Mac OS in 2005.
and China
are the world's two superpowers, and are the targets of the Global Liberation Army or also known as the GLA, a large, well-organized terrorist
organization, fighting as a fanatical
irregular
force. The United States and China are depicted as allies in the series, and frequently co-operate with each other throughout the storyline against the Global Liberation Army, which is depicted as an omnipresent, borderless organization with unclear goals beyond opposition to and expulsion of both China and the United States. The three factions are thus engaged in a war similar to that of the real-life War on Terror
.
The player can play any of the three sides in any order, with each side's campaign consisting of seven missions. The storyline follows the order of China first, then the GLA, then the USA. In this order, China retaliates after a devastating GLA nuclear attack on Beijing
, destroys the Three Gorges Dam
, uses China's nuclear arsenal and eventually completely crushes the GLA cell masterminding all Pacific rim
operations. The GLA campaign then begins, with the organization trying to recover from its recent setback at the hands of the Chinese by raising funds and instigating attacks against their American and Chinese antagonists, eventually culminating in the overtaking of the Baikonur Cosmodrome
and the firing of a Soyuz rocket bearing a biological
MIRV
at an unnamed city. At this point the American campaign begins in which the USA engages the GLA across several locales, including Baghdad and the Caspian Sea, before defeating a rogue Chinese general supporting the terrorists and tracking them back to their base of operations in Astana
, Kazakhstan
.
The Generals story is continued in the expansion pack Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour
which leads to the US retaking Baikonur, the GLA attacking the US West Coast, causing a retreat of US forces from Europe, followed by the GLA invasion of Europe, and finally China defeating the GLA and seizing the opportunity to rise as a superpower.
.
The game's interface is similar to that of real-time strategy games such as Age of Empires or StarCraft
. The player selects buildings to bring up build orders and purchase upgrades, and can select individual units to activate their special abilities. Structures are built by selecting dedicated builder units and placing the structure anywhere on the map.
As with other real-time strategy games, the various units have advantages and disadvantages against other units, and the player is encouraged to mix unit types in order to succeed and fight tactically with various unit abilities in order to win.
For example, rifle infantry are capable of quickly killing other infantry types, but are vulnerable to light vehicles and dedicated anti-infantry/anti-air units such as tankettes and APCs
, which in turn are vulnerable to main battle tanks, which themselves are vulnerable to missile-equipped infantry and aircraft.
As the game progresses and the player defeats enemy units in battle, the player will gain "experience" points, which are used to purchase "Generals Abilities," unique abilities that range from enhancing units and unlocking new unit types to powerful air strikes, one-shot enhancements to units, or targetable "spawn points" to drop or create groups of units anywhere on the map.
As individual units attack and defeat enemy units or capture buildings, they gain "veterancy" and become more powerful, much like the General commanding them. Higher-ranking units attack faster, have more health, and can self-repair.
technology to guide weapons and defend against attack. American infantry have a number of special abilities, and include stealthy long-ranged sniper
s and a powerful commando
named Colonel Burton with a number of abilities revolving around demolition and stealth. The USA also fields the largest air fleet in the game, including attack
and transport
helicopters, F-22 Raptor
s, high speed bombers and stealth fighters
. American Generals' abilities revolve around air power, including air strikes by A-10 Thunderbolt II
s and fuel air bomb
s. USA forces work best in a combined arms
approach, with air power supporting tanks and artillery, which in turn support infantry, which in turn protect armor and aircraft, enabling them to defeat a much larger but less diverse enemy force.
The USA has a major disadvantage, however, in that it has the slowest resource gathering in the game in comparison to troop costs, it has a less stable supply of power than China, and its high-tech units are expensive. This can be remedied by building a large number of Supply Drop Zones. This forces a USA player to construct a smaller, more specialized army than a Chinese or GLA player, and work to minimize losses. Chinese and GLA opponents can swarm a comparatively small American army and overwhelm it.
The United States' superweapon is the Particle Uplink Cannon, which fires off a giant laser beam into space and is reflected off a satellite to the desired target. When the cannon is ready, the player can select a starting point of the blast and then click on another target to create the beam's path; thus being able to destroy specific targets with deadly precision. When the laser hits a target it leaves a small, powerful fire behind it which does great damage to anything that touches it. This superweapon recharges itself faster than the Nuclear missile or the SCUD storm and leaves no radioactive/chemical residue in the targeted area.
(passive healing) to support their troops. China has a wide range of vehicle types, and the largest tank arsenal in the game, including several specialized tanks like the anti-infantry "Dragon" flamethrower tank, "Overlord" super-heavy tank
, the "Inferno" napalm cannon and the Nuke Cannon
. Chinese forces also make heavy use of gatling gun
s, nuclear, and napalm
weaponry to destroy the enemy. China also utilizes advanced electronic warfare
technology, including elite hackers, a spy called Black Lotus, and electromagnetic pulse
weapons. The Chinese Nuke cannon and Inferno cannon are the only artillery units whose ammunition cannot be intercepted by any defenses.
China has a major disadvantage in that its ground forces are generally slower than those of the other two factions. Due to having virtually no fast attack units, except for their MiGs
, China is forced to make large, ponderous assaults with heavy units, a tactic that can be countered by the GLA's speed or the USA's air power. However, the Chinese forces are well-suited to winning drawn-out battles of attrition.
China's unique superweapon is the Nuclear Missile, in which a missile is launched and creates a "mushroom cloud
" upon detonation at the desired target. Aside from inflicting massive damage to enemy structures, the explosion leaves the affected area temporarily irradiated; the radiation is enough to slowly kill infantry and destroy vehicles standing on the contaminated ground.
Being technologically disadvantaged, the GLA has comparatively weak (though highly mobile) ground vehicles and virtually no air force, prompting the use of guerrilla tactics
such as mining, suicide bombing, hijacking, and ambushing.
The GLA has a larger array of infantry types and vehicles (including Technicals
) to make up for this disadvantage, and has the widest range of stealth options. The GLA also has a very powerful economy, with various resource-gathering techniques such as salvaging vehicle wreckage, gaining cash bounties on destroyed enemy units, and building multiple "black market" structures to bring in large amounts of money over time. The GLA are unique in that they have no energy requirement for any of their structures or units, and any power input available to a GLA player due to captured power plants will boost productivity even further. The GLA's upgrades make it more powerful when fully equipped, transforming a relatively weak group of units into a more respectable threat. The GLA is also unique in that its structures, particularly base defenses, rebuild themselves over time unless completely destroyed; this makes it difficult to permanently damage the GLA with many single-shot weapons or units.
The GLA's toxic weapons, suicide units, and stealth and surprise abilities enable them to hit enemies from unexpected directions, and its powerful economy, combined with cheap, fast units, enables it to flood opponents with sheer numbers. The GLA's primary disadvantage is that, in terms of firepower, range, and durability, its units are outmatched by Chinese and American units, and it has a complete lack of air power. This forces a GLA player to outmaneuver or outnumber opponents, as in an even, direct confrontation the GLA will lose to superior Chinese firepower and American technology.
The GLA's unique superweapon is the SCUD
Storm, which fires multiple biochemical Scud rockets to a target. This attack destroys most structures in the target area and contaminates the land with anthrax. Enemy infantry and units stepping on the anthrax-laden ground die faster compared to the radiation generated by China's nuclear missile.
and Mikael Sandgren. China's musical themes feature apocalyptic, orchestral scores combined with East Asian instrumentation. The GLA faction's theme soundtrack can be described as a combination of Middle Eastern and few South Asian sounds coupled with heavy metal music
, similar to the music in the Somalian sequences in Black Hawk Down.
gives it a score of 84/100 which includes a score of 9.3/10 from IGN. Generals has also received the E3 2002 Game Critics Awards
Best Strategy Game award. One review noted that Generals was the first ever "C&C" RTS game that did not include full-motion video cutscenes to tell the story and that it departed from the unique interface and base-building mechanics that had characterized all of the previous C&C RTS titles.
after it becomes a GLA base and destroying the Three Gorges Dam
to release a flood on GLA forces. Chinese forces also liberally use nuclear weaponry in-game, albeit restricted to the lower tactical nuclear weapon
yield range. Furthermore, in the introduction of the game, Tiananmen Square
and its surrounding areas in Beijing
is decimated by terrorist nuclear weapons.
Due to the upcoming Iraq war, the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien
(Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) put the game on index two months after the initial release, stating that the game would give underage people the ability to play the upcoming war in Iraq, before the real war had even begun. Additionally the player is able to kill civilians. Based on these two points the BPjM put the game on the index, because they thought it glorified war.
The sale to minors and marketing of the game were prohibited throughout the Federal Republic of Germany. Later, in the same year, EA released a new version called "Command & Conquer: Generäle", which did not incorporate real world factions or any relation to terrorism. For example, the suicide bomber unit was transformed into a rolling bomb and all other infantry were changed into "cyborgs" in order of appearance and unit responses similar to earlier releases of the Command & Conquer franchise.
to Generals, dubbed Zero Hour, the USA campaign involves the continued deployment of United States' forces in areas such as Kazakhstan
to combat the forces of the GLA. At the end of the USA campaign, the GLA is all but defeated and a majority of its forces either captured or fled. The GLA campaign picks up at the end of the USA campaign where the player must command the badly damaged GLA. Throughout this campaign, the GLA slowly begin to rebuild their forces to rise up again at the USA, and steal a next-generation weapons-grade strain of anthrax
. Eventually, the GLA grows powerful enough for the player to command an assault on the West Coast of the United States
. This damages the USA's reputation and results in the USA recalling forces from Europe
to strengthen Homeland Security.
In the final campaign of the game, the player commands forces of the People's Republic of China which has agreed to help Europe repel any GLA attack. Utilizing tactics such as Tank warfare
, Tactical Nuclear Missiles
and more, the player is able to successfully repel the GLA's assaults on European soil. As a result, China is thrust on to the world stage and the player is hailed as a hero by the Chinese people.
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....
game in the Command & Conquer series
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...
. Generals utilizes SAGE (Strategy Action Game Engine). This proprietary engine is an extended version of the Command & Conquer: Renegade
Command & Conquer: Renegade
Command & Conquer: Renegade is a first and third person shooter video game developed by Westwood Studios and is part of the Command & Conquer series. It is the only C&C game that uses the first person view...
3D engine.
Generals was released onto the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
platform in 2003, and a Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
version was released in 2004, marking the return of the Command & Conquer series to that platform. An 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...
, entitled Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour, was additionally released for PC in 2003, and for Mac OS in 2005.
Plot
Generals takes place in the near future, with players given a choice of three factions to play. In Generals, the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
are the world's two superpowers, and are the targets of the Global Liberation Army or also known as the GLA, a large, well-organized terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
organization, fighting as a fanatical
Fanaticism
Fanaticism is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause or in some cases sports, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby...
irregular
Irregular military
Irregular military refers to any non-standard military. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used....
force. The United States and China are depicted as allies in the series, and frequently co-operate with each other throughout the storyline against the Global Liberation Army, which is depicted as an omnipresent, borderless organization with unclear goals beyond opposition to and expulsion of both China and the United States. The three factions are thus engaged in a war similar to that of the real-life War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
.
The player can play any of the three sides in any order, with each side's campaign consisting of seven missions. The storyline follows the order of China first, then the GLA, then the USA. In this order, China retaliates after a devastating GLA nuclear attack on Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, destroys the Three Gorges Dam
Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in the Yiling District of Yichang, in Hubei province, China...
, uses China's nuclear arsenal and eventually completely crushes the GLA cell masterminding all Pacific rim
Pacific Rim
The Pacific Rim refers to places around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The term "Pacific Basin" includes the Pacific Rim and islands in the Pacific Ocean...
operations. The GLA campaign then begins, with the organization trying to recover from its recent setback at the hands of the Chinese by raising funds and instigating attacks against their American and Chinese antagonists, eventually culminating in the overtaking of the Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...
and the firing of a Soyuz rocket bearing a biological
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
MIRV
Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle
A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle warhead is a collection of nuclear weapons carried on a single intercontinental ballistic missile or a submarine-launched ballistic missile . Using a MIRV warhead, a single launched missile can strike several targets, or fewer targets redundantly...
at an unnamed city. At this point the American campaign begins in which the USA engages the GLA across several locales, including Baghdad and the Caspian Sea, before defeating a rogue Chinese general supporting the terrorists and tracking them back to their base of operations in Astana
Astana
Astana , formerly known as Akmola , Tselinograd and Akmolinsk , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
.
The Generals story is continued in the expansion pack Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour
Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour
Command and Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour is the expansion pack for the computer game Command & Conquer: Generals. Zero Hour added several new abilities and units to each side, and a new mode of play called Generals' Challenge.- Campaigns :...
which leads to the US retaking Baikonur, the GLA attacking the US West Coast, causing a retreat of US forces from Europe, followed by the GLA invasion of Europe, and finally China defeating the GLA and seizing the opportunity to rise as a superpower.
Gameplay
Command and Conquer Generals operates like most other real-time strategy games, in that the player must construct a base, acquire resources, build various combat and support units, and defeat their opponent(s). Various unit types can be constructed, ranging from infantry to vehicles and air units. The player may control the United States of America, the People's Republic of China, or the Global Liberation Army, and each side has its unique characteristics and abilities. All sides share some similarities, such as training infantry at a barracks, building armored vehicles at a factory, possessing "high tech" buildings needed for more advanced units, possessing a means to acquire additional resources and possessing a unique superweaponSuperweapon
A superweapon is an extremely powerful weapon by the standards of its time and its scale. Examples include the Tsar Bomba , various superguns and other various weapons employed to give a decisive advantage over opposing countries or forces. The given advantage is usually based on intimidation and...
.
The game's interface is similar to that of real-time strategy games such as Age of Empires or StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
. The player selects buildings to bring up build orders and purchase upgrades, and can select individual units to activate their special abilities. Structures are built by selecting dedicated builder units and placing the structure anywhere on the map.
As with other real-time strategy games, the various units have advantages and disadvantages against other units, and the player is encouraged to mix unit types in order to succeed and fight tactically with various unit abilities in order to win.
For example, rifle infantry are capable of quickly killing other infantry types, but are vulnerable to light vehicles and dedicated anti-infantry/anti-air units such as tankettes and APCs
Armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...
, which in turn are vulnerable to main battle tanks, which themselves are vulnerable to missile-equipped infantry and aircraft.
As the game progresses and the player defeats enemy units in battle, the player will gain "experience" points, which are used to purchase "Generals Abilities," unique abilities that range from enhancing units and unlocking new unit types to powerful air strikes, one-shot enhancements to units, or targetable "spawn points" to drop or create groups of units anywhere on the map.
As individual units attack and defeat enemy units or capture buildings, they gain "veterancy" and become more powerful, much like the General commanding them. Higher-ranking units attack faster, have more health, and can self-repair.
Factions
Each of the three factions has a play style in accordance with their real-world counterparts. Every faction has advantages and disadvantages. Each one also has upgrades to improve your army. All of the factions, when put in correct order, create a storyline of events.USA
The United States is the most technologically-advanced faction, and fights with a combination of powerful ground units and a large, versatile fleet of aircraft. USA forces rely on skill, mobility, and high technology to defeat the raw firepower of China and the guerilla tactics of the GLA. USA ground vehicles can construct unmanned drones to support and repair them in combat, and some American troops and vehicles make extensive use of laserLaser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
technology to guide weapons and defend against attack. American infantry have a number of special abilities, and include stealthy long-ranged sniper
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
s and a powerful commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
named Colonel Burton with a number of abilities revolving around demolition and stealth. The USA also fields the largest air fleet in the game, including attack
RAH-66 Comanche
The Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche was an advanced five-blade armed reconnaissance and attack helicopter designed for the United States Army. The RAH-66 program was canceled in 2004, before mass production began, after nearly $7 billion was spent on the program.During the early 1980s, the U.S...
and transport
CH-47 Chinook
The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is an American twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. Its top speed of 170 knots is faster than contemporary utility and attack helicopters of the 1960s...
helicopters, F-22 Raptor
F-22 Raptor
The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals...
s, high speed bombers and stealth fighters
F-117 Nighthawk
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was a single-seat, twin-engine stealth ground-attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force . The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983...
. American Generals' abilities revolve around air power, including air strikes by A-10 Thunderbolt II
A-10 Thunderbolt II
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s. The A-10 was designed for a United States Air Force requirement to provide close air support for ground forces by attacking tanks,...
s and fuel air bomb
Thermobaric weapon
A thermobaric weapon, which includes the type known as a "fuel-air bomb", is an explosive weapon that produces a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than those produced by condensed explosives. This is useful in military applications where its longer duration increases the numbers of...
s. USA forces work best in a combined arms
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
approach, with air power supporting tanks and artillery, which in turn support infantry, which in turn protect armor and aircraft, enabling them to defeat a much larger but less diverse enemy force.
The USA has a major disadvantage, however, in that it has the slowest resource gathering in the game in comparison to troop costs, it has a less stable supply of power than China, and its high-tech units are expensive. This can be remedied by building a large number of Supply Drop Zones. This forces a USA player to construct a smaller, more specialized army than a Chinese or GLA player, and work to minimize losses. Chinese and GLA opponents can swarm a comparatively small American army and overwhelm it.
The United States' superweapon is the Particle Uplink Cannon, which fires off a giant laser beam into space and is reflected off a satellite to the desired target. When the cannon is ready, the player can select a starting point of the blast and then click on another target to create the beam's path; thus being able to destroy specific targets with deadly precision. When the laser hits a target it leaves a small, powerful fire behind it which does great damage to anything that touches it. This superweapon recharges itself faster than the Nuclear missile or the SCUD storm and leaves no radioactive/chemical residue in the targeted area.
China
The People's Liberation Army relies largely on raw power and massive numbers, culminating in a variety of powerful and heavily armored tanks, and has limited air power based on MiG Multirole Fighters. China's heavy-handed playstyle emphasizes direct assaults and sheer power to defeat American technology and GLA stealth. Chinese troops and tanks gain special bonuses when in groups, and make extensive use of propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
(passive healing) to support their troops. China has a wide range of vehicle types, and the largest tank arsenal in the game, including several specialized tanks like the anti-infantry "Dragon" flamethrower tank, "Overlord" super-heavy tank
Super-heavy tank
Super-heavy tanks are armored vehicles of very large size, generally over 75 tonnes. Programs have been initiated on several occasions with the aim of creating an invincible vehicle for penetrating enemy formations without fear of being destroyed in combat; however, only a few examples have ever...
, the "Inferno" napalm cannon and the Nuke Cannon
Nuclear artillery
Nuclear artillery is a subset of limited-yield tactical nuclear weapons, in particular those weapons that are launched from the ground at battlefield targets...
. Chinese forces also make heavy use of gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
s, nuclear, and napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
weaponry to destroy the enemy. China also utilizes advanced electronic warfare
Electronic warfare
Electronic warfare refers to any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly...
technology, including elite hackers, a spy called Black Lotus, and electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
weapons. The Chinese Nuke cannon and Inferno cannon are the only artillery units whose ammunition cannot be intercepted by any defenses.
China has a major disadvantage in that its ground forces are generally slower than those of the other two factions. Due to having virtually no fast attack units, except for their MiGs
Mikoyan Project 1.44
The Mikoyan Project 1.44/1.42 was a technology demonstrator developed by Mikoyan. It was the Soviet Union's answer to the Advanced Tactical Fighter of the US, incorporating numerous fifth-generation fighter aspects such as advanced avionics, stealth, supermaneuoverability and supercruise...
, China is forced to make large, ponderous assaults with heavy units, a tactic that can be countered by the GLA's speed or the USA's air power. However, the Chinese forces are well-suited to winning drawn-out battles of attrition.
China's unique superweapon is the Nuclear Missile, in which a missile is launched and creates a "mushroom cloud
Mushroom cloud
A mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by...
" upon detonation at the desired target. Aside from inflicting massive damage to enemy structures, the explosion leaves the affected area temporarily irradiated; the radiation is enough to slowly kill infantry and destroy vehicles standing on the contaminated ground.
Global Liberation Army
A terrorist organization of Middle Eastern and former Soviet origins, GLA initially wages war against China for control of central Asian economic areas.Being technologically disadvantaged, the GLA has comparatively weak (though highly mobile) ground vehicles and virtually no air force, prompting the use of guerrilla tactics
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...
such as mining, suicide bombing, hijacking, and ambushing.
The GLA has a larger array of infantry types and vehicles (including Technicals
Technical (fighting vehicle)
A technical is a type of improvised fighting vehicle, typically a civilian or military non-combat vehicle, modified to provide an offensive capability similar to a military gun truck...
) to make up for this disadvantage, and has the widest range of stealth options. The GLA also has a very powerful economy, with various resource-gathering techniques such as salvaging vehicle wreckage, gaining cash bounties on destroyed enemy units, and building multiple "black market" structures to bring in large amounts of money over time. The GLA are unique in that they have no energy requirement for any of their structures or units, and any power input available to a GLA player due to captured power plants will boost productivity even further. The GLA's upgrades make it more powerful when fully equipped, transforming a relatively weak group of units into a more respectable threat. The GLA is also unique in that its structures, particularly base defenses, rebuild themselves over time unless completely destroyed; this makes it difficult to permanently damage the GLA with many single-shot weapons or units.
The GLA's toxic weapons, suicide units, and stealth and surprise abilities enable them to hit enemies from unexpected directions, and its powerful economy, combined with cheap, fast units, enables it to flood opponents with sheer numbers. The GLA's primary disadvantage is that, in terms of firepower, range, and durability, its units are outmatched by Chinese and American units, and it has a complete lack of air power. This forces a GLA player to outmaneuver or outnumber opponents, as in an even, direct confrontation the GLA will lose to superior Chinese firepower and American technology.
The GLA's unique superweapon is the SCUD
Scud
Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and exported widely to other countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name SS-1 Scud which was attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies...
Storm, which fires multiple biochemical Scud rockets to a target. This attack destroys most structures in the target area and contaminates the land with anthrax. Enemy infantry and units stepping on the anthrax-laden ground die faster compared to the radiation generated by China's nuclear missile.
World builder
Generals also includes a map editor named World Builder for the PC edition only. The World Builder includes features such as:- A terraformingTerraformingTerraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
tool. - An intelligent road system, able to detect when the player wants an intersection.
- A tool to scatter floraFloraFlora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
around the map. - WaypointWaypointA waypoint is a reference point in physical space used for purposes of navigation.-Concept:Waypoints are sets of coordinates that identify a point in physical space. Coordinates used can vary depending on the application. For terrestrial navigation these coordinates can include longitude and...
s and area triggers that the AI can use. Waypoints also determine starting points for the players on a skirmish map. - A scripting system that was meant for the missions in the single-player campaign. This scripting system is very basic but sufficient for basic, static campaign mission scripting. However, it is criticised for its lack of capabilities regarding alternative map programming and dynamic scripting. An example of a RTSReal-time strategyReal-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....
game editor with a more advanced scripting editor is Warcraft IIIs World Editor.
Soundtrack
Generals presents players with a separate musical score for each faction. The United States' theme music consists of epic, militaristic scores composed by Bill BrownBill Brown (composer)
Bill Brown IV is an American composer.-Video games:*Jurassic Park: Trespasser *Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six *Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear *Michael Crichton's Timeline...
and Mikael Sandgren. China's musical themes feature apocalyptic, orchestral scores combined with East Asian instrumentation. The GLA faction's theme soundtrack can be described as a combination of Middle Eastern and few South Asian sounds coupled with heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, similar to the music in the Somalian sequences in Black Hawk Down.
Reception
After its release, Generals received mostly positive reviews. Based on 34 reviews, MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gives it a score of 84/100 which includes a score of 9.3/10 from IGN. Generals has also received the E3 2002 Game Critics Awards
Game Critics Awards
The Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards are given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category. The nominees and winners of the awards are chosen by individual judges representing 35 major North...
Best Strategy Game award. One review noted that Generals was the first ever "C&C" RTS game that did not include full-motion video cutscenes to tell the story and that it departed from the unique interface and base-building mechanics that had characterized all of the previous C&C RTS titles.
Ban in China
Despite the generally positive depiction of China in the series, and even the positive twist for China sequel Zero Hour, the Generals series is banned in mainland China. Throughout the Chinese campaign, the player is occasionally made to utilize heavy-handed tactics such as leveling the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition CentreHong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre is one of the two major convention and exhibition venues in Hong Kong, along with AsiaWorld-Expo. It is located in Wan Chai North, Hong Kong Island. Built along the Victoria Harbour, it is linked by covered walkways to nearby hotels and commercial...
after it becomes a GLA base and destroying the Three Gorges Dam
Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in the Yiling District of Yichang, in Hubei province, China...
to release a flood on GLA forces. Chinese forces also liberally use nuclear weaponry in-game, albeit restricted to the lower tactical nuclear weapon
Tactical nuclear weapon
A tactical nuclear weapon refers to a nuclear weapon which is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations. This is as opposed to strategic nuclear weapons which are designed to menace large populations, to damage the enemy's ability to wage war, or for general deterrence...
yield range. Furthermore, in the introduction of the game, Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
and its surrounding areas in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
is decimated by terrorist nuclear weapons.
German localization
In the beginning of 2003, a regular localized German version was released in Germany.Due to the upcoming Iraq war, the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien
Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien
The Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons is an upper-level German federal agency subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It is responsible for examining media works allegedly harmful to young people and entering these onto an...
(Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) put the game on index two months after the initial release, stating that the game would give underage people the ability to play the upcoming war in Iraq, before the real war had even begun. Additionally the player is able to kill civilians. Based on these two points the BPjM put the game on the index, because they thought it glorified war.
The sale to minors and marketing of the game were prohibited throughout the Federal Republic of Germany. Later, in the same year, EA released a new version called "Command & Conquer: Generäle", which did not incorporate real world factions or any relation to terrorism. For example, the suicide bomber unit was transformed into a rolling bomb and all other infantry were changed into "cyborgs" in order of appearance and unit responses similar to earlier releases of the Command & Conquer franchise.
Multiplayer
Games can be played both over the internet and in LAN games. It adopts a similar format to skirmish mode whereby your goal is to eliminate members of the other team. Games over the internet can be completely random, in the form of a Quick Match. Players can also play in Custom Matches where the number of players, the map and rules are decided upon by the host. One of these rules limits players to one superweapon per player (Zero Hour only).Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour
In the expansion packExpansion 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...
to Generals, dubbed Zero Hour, the USA campaign involves the continued deployment of United States' forces in areas such as Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
to combat the forces of the GLA. At the end of the USA campaign, the GLA is all but defeated and a majority of its forces either captured or fled. The GLA campaign picks up at the end of the USA campaign where the player must command the badly damaged GLA. Throughout this campaign, the GLA slowly begin to rebuild their forces to rise up again at the USA, and steal a next-generation weapons-grade strain of anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
. Eventually, the GLA grows powerful enough for the player to command an assault on the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
. This damages the USA's reputation and results in the USA recalling forces from 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...
to strengthen Homeland Security.
Armoured warfare
Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war....
, Tactical Nuclear Missiles
Tactical nuclear weapon
A tactical nuclear weapon refers to a nuclear weapon which is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations. This is as opposed to strategic nuclear weapons which are designed to menace large populations, to damage the enemy's ability to wage war, or for general deterrence...
and more, the player is able to successfully repel the GLA's assaults on European soil. As a result, China is thrust on to the world stage and the player is hailed as a hero by the Chinese people.