One of the game's most important innovations is the Generals point system. This system allows both the player and his units to gain experience points for each enemy kill. Experienced units will become hardier and more dangerous, and the player will gain points to spend on new technologies or special attacks. Each force has its own selection of bonuses you can purchase in this manner, and more experienced generals have access to increasingly powerful items.

Generals is the first title in the Command & Conquer franchise to go fully 3-D, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. All of the models and environments in the game look really good, and it's both cool and useful to rotate the camera around to get different perspectives on the battlefield. The tradeoff here is that Generals has extremely high system requirements, and you're going to have to go even higher than the posted minimum if you want consistently smooth gaming performance. In fact, you're probably going to have noticeable slowdowns if you're not running approximately the equivalent of a 1.5GHZ processor and a GeForce 3 or better.

Ever since the release of the first Command & Conquer game in 1995, the C&C franchise has practically defined real-time strategy gaming. With a half dozen original titles and a handful of expansion packs released on a multitude of gaming platforms, any new C&C game has some seriously large boots to fill. Fortunately for gamers, Command & Conquer: Generals has not only met those previous expectations, but raised the bar once again.--Jon "Safety Monkey" Grover

Pros:

• Great looking, fully 3-D graphics
• All 3 races are fun, yet fully distinct from each other
• Innovative Generals point system
• Fun single-player campaigns; exciting multiplayer over Internet or LAN

• Very high system requirements

First, the good. The graphics are quite impressive, definitely a step up from previous games. The various terrains - from snow to sand to grass to concrete - are well done. The trees sway in the wind. The units leave little tracks as they move, the construction of buildings makes you really feel like you're watching an army base get built.

The sound and music is well matched and makes the game feel realistic. Controls all work just the way you'd hope they would - after so many games they really have that down to a science.

On the down side, the usual problems in strategy gaming exist here. pathfinding isn't always perfect, units get stuck against buildings or in chasms. The campaign missions help you learn your skills but aren't extremely challenging.

Still, as with just about every game that comes out today, the built in gameplay is merely a training ground for the real challenge of multiplay. There's no way a computer could compete with the challenge posed by a real human being with experience and knowledge at the other end of the map. This game really shines in multiplayer. The three sets of units are well balanced, and if you get yourself onto a large map with teammates and opponents, you'll be hooked for months.

Skirmish mode is quite fun too, earning medals for different accomplishments.

Definitely a great game for any strategy gaming fan!


A whole new experience   January 24, 2003
35 out of 39 found this review helpful

Command and Conquer enters a whole new war as the Chinese and terrorists enter the Command and Conquer series. Generals sports a new 3d engine which is starting to pop up in a lot of games which allows you to zoom in to see the action. The action is also a lot cooler and feels more realistic (even though the weaponry seems kinda comical at times). Generals also impliments new weaponry and spying technology like UAV's and satellites. Another new feature is the ability to customize vehicles by adding turrets or upgrading weaponry (machien gun turrets on tanks, laser guided bombs for stealths, missile barages for apache helicopters). Command and Conquer enthusiasts might be surprised though as a few things are different in Generals. The Veteran system is a new design to the game plus you no longer have resource fields. Instead, you have big stacks of supplies sort of like Warcraft goldmines. Also, you no longer have Primary buildings, it is more like starcraft where you build stuff per building. So now you can build 6 barracks and get 6 troops at once. Also, arrow keys function as unit changers instead of moving the map so this may seem to be a minor problem. Also, there seems to be a limited amount of buildings but i do not believe this to be a problem since in other C&C games, a lot of buildings were just needed to activate special items (special items of the sort are activated in command centers/barrackses and war factories instead of in special buildings). In the end, Generals might be a very fun game in the final release (im doing the multiplayer beta test). So far it looks like loads of fun but a little different from teh old C&C games. NOTE: One review says the specifications are VERY HIGH, but this is very wrong. The multiplayer beta that is out right now is using unoptimized code which runs slow on anything (2ghz , 512 ram neccessary to play it). The final release will use the optomized code of course and only need the 350 mhz 64mb specifications Westwood is saying it will need.


Generals system spec   February 3, 2003
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Just wanted to clear up the rumors about high system specs needed to run the game.

The minimum system requirements are an 800MHz Intel CPU, 128 megs of RAM and a GeForce 2 graphics card.

This minimum system spec will run the game fine and if you have a higher rated CPU, more memory, and newer graphics card, you will get better looking graphics and faster performance.

Recommeded system specs are 1.8GHz CPU, with 256 megs of RAM, and a Geforce3 or equivalent graphics card.

The game ships mid-February so the reviews here are posted about the multiplayer test that EA released during November.

The first reviews of the final product come out from France and Germany and rate the game as 90+ game. More official reviews coming soon from US.


Command & Conquer: Generals - Amazing!   December 18, 2002
52 out of 69 found this review helpful

For all strategy players in the world, this is a must-have and even better. For those who have tried the previous Command & Conquer games, it is a little step away from them. Buildings no longer just pop up from the ground, here you use bulldozers or workers for building things. Generals also uses a new "experience system", this means you get more experience points for each unit/building you destroy. The experience points is used to buy new upgrades, how many upgrades you got depends on your rank.

Even though I'm only playing the beta test, this is the best game I ever tried. This is a must-have!

PS: The age 12, really isn't my age...


Amazing graphics - Great gameplay ...   December 11, 2003
Oyvind
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Here we go again - another chapter in the Command & Conquer saga, and a good one at that. With C&C Generals they've taken even further. The gameplay is pretty much the same as before (which is a good thing), although slightly improved, the story is good and catchy, and the graphics are absolutely amazing!!!

The game has 3 factions - USA, China and the Global Liberation Army (GLA), which all have very different but nicely balanced capabilities and specialties. Every faction has different "General" abilities, such as carpet bombing, paradrop etc.

The game has 3 single-player campaigns - one per faction. Each faction have certain advantages: USA has High Tech and Air Force, China is mainly about massing great numbers of units, GLA does not need to create powerplants, they have underground tunnels, and they can use chemical weapons. As usual in C&C, each faction also has their own distinct superweapon.

PROS:
* Superb graphics - Best I've seen in any RTS.
* Great multiplayer gameplay - The factions are nicely balanced, and large battles with 3x3 or 4x4 teamplay will have you hooked for months. Good ranking system that makes it so much more addictive to play online. It's also free to play online.
* Exciting single-player campaigns with very nice cut-scenes.
* Excellent music. Completely matches the gameplay.

CONS:
* 3 levels of difficulty where Easy is way too easy, Normal is also too easy, and Hard is way too hard. Normal should've been a bit harder to balance it all out.
* Does not have naval units. This is the only thing I'm really missing - Red Alert 2 was way better in that aspect.
* Extreme graphics requirements. Runs smooth on my P4 1.8GHz with a 512MB of RAM and a GeForce 4 Ti4200 (128MB).
* Not possible to skip the "cut-scenes" at the start of every new mission.

All in all, I would highly recommend this game, whether you're a C&C buff, or if you've never played C&C before. It's worth the money! 5 STARS!!!