"Kane... LIVES!"

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Welcome back, LEGION.

Indeed, Joe Kucan is back, portraying the legendary self-proclaimed prophet Kane, through 20 years of Command and Conquer history: past, present and future. The 13 missions spread story explains what happened to the Brotherhood of Nod right after the Second Tiberium War, and fill the history gap left by the original Command and Conquer 3. And then of course some more, the action takes us a bit more into the future, showing just a sneak peak of the shape of things to come.

"Rule of thumb, Hassan. You can't kill the Messiah!"

I have to be honest with you (and you know I always am): as a game reviewer you get all sorts of games - some of them decent, a lot of them quite bad, and a rare handful of really good titles that you can count on the fingers of one hand every year. I don't know if it's the right time and the right game, or maybe both, but Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath will always be one of those titles close to my heart. Sure, you can count the fact I am a long time C&C fan, but this is still a great game. So let's see...

The singleplayer campaign is comprised of 13 missions, and you will be playing exclusively with The Brotherhood of Nod, although a couple of sub-factions have been added as well. Fans told EA they wanted to see more of Kane, and they actually *shock* listened! 30 more minutes of high definition movies brief you between the missions; featuring Carl Lumbly (from Alias) as Brother Marcion, Natasha Henstridge (from Species) as Alexa Kovacs and of course Joseph D. Kucan as Kane.

An interesting twist has been added to the story, as you are LEGION, a sophisticated computer AI serving Kane and managing all important strategic resources and operations of Nod.

LEGION is instrumental in the capture of the Nod Black Hand leader, Anton Slavik, as Kane decides to show Brother Marcion the true way and instates him to power.

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LEGION also helps Alexa Kovacs frame Kilian Qatar which eventually leads to Kane executing her (Killian). Alexa trusts Kane blindly, but since her parents were killed by cyborgs when she was little, she doesn't trust LEGION. She plants a virus that sabotages your primary core, and Kane is forced to "put you to sleep" for several years.

"The Philidelphia was not an accident. It was a merciful bullet to the head of a malignant ideology. It was the death of fear and the birth of hope. Rejoice, children of Nod, the blood of your oppressors will flow and fifty years of tyranny will finally end. Transformation is coming. A new day will dawn. The future... is ours."

Finally, Kane's masterplan is revealed: to merge you, LEGION, with the alien artifact Tacitus and expand your knowledge with everything the universe has to offer.

That's pretty much the story that will (hopefully) keep you glued to the seat for a bit (I finished it a day and a half or so). Acting is really good, Kane doesn't disappoint and performs better than ever, and the two new characters add salt and pepper to the campaign.

The missions are much more varied than the original game, and include fun stuff found in previous C&C games like commando, sabotage or timed missions, and more. More or less the fun you had back in the days of the first Command and Conquer, with today's technology.

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Ok, enough about that, let's see what the new sub-factions have to offer. As I've already told you, each side has two new sub-factions, which makes the total number of playable races 9 (although they only bring few new units, buildings or abilities). Kane's Wrath is not as faction-customizable as Emperor: Battle for Dune, but the diversity still brings another fun twist to the game, especially in multiplayer mode.

"Come, My Brother. It is time you saw the face of the future."

GDI

Ultimate epic unit:

• M.A.R.V. - Heavy Duty tank. Can garrison 4 units and gets upgraded with their weapons (militant squads - heavy machine gun; militant rocket squad - missile pack; saboteur - self repair pack; Black Hand - flamethrower turret)

Steel Talons experimental task force was used to test cutting edge technologies for frontal assaults. As a result, they rely on big units and heavy firepower at the cost of less infantry units and no Sonic weapons whatsoever.

Advantages:

• Behemots - heavy Juggernauts with an infantry bunker attached.
• Titans and Wolverines.
• Heavy armored Harvesters with an infantry bunker attached.
• Pistol engineers.
• APCs with field repair capability.
• EMP-proof armor upgrade.

Disadvantages:

• Only able to build riflemen squads, rocket squads, grenadier squads and pistol engineers as infantry.
• No sonic weapons (towers or vehicles).
• Lack of some endgame support powers.

ZOCOM, or "Zone Operations Command", is an elite veteran unit that was sent to fight on the infested and dangerous Red Zones. Thus, they excel in infantry troops and are heavy armored.

Advantages:

• Zone Raider - Zone Troopers are replaced with females *whoa*. Equipped with sonic grenades and stealth detectors, plus the standard anti-air gun.
• Rocket Harvester - Just as the name says.
• Shatterer - The much anticipated sonic tank.

Disadvantages:

• ZOCOM lacks some heavy firepower units and support powers.

"No, I'm not God. But I'm a close second."

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NOD

Ultimate epic unit:

• Redeemer - "Resistance is Futile". Huge avatar robot with 2 infantry spots. And 4 legs. I have it as my wallpaper. Looks great. And I love short phrases. Stop this. Ok. Done.

Black Hand is a very powerful sect that relies on heavy firepower instead of the "traditional" stealthy approach of NOD. They are my personal favorites.

Advantages:

• Purifying flame upgrade - blue flame that pretty much instant-kills everything, but at close range.
• Confessors - standard infantry with hallucinogenic grenades who give a damage bonus to nearby friendly units.
• Black Disciple upgrade - brings an additional unit to every infantry squad in your command.
• Purifiers - upgraded mech avatars with a purifying flame straight "out of the box".
• Can train 2 commandos, each with max rank from the start.

Disadvantages:

• No stealth units/ buildings whatsoever.

Marked of Kane are special NOD cyborg units, "handpicked" by Kane. All of the awakened infantry units are replaced by cyborgs, but they lack high-end tier units.

Advantages:

• Awakened - Cyborg with EMP weapons.
• Enlightened - NOD's version of a Zone Trooper. Slower but tougher.
• Tiberium Trooper - Anti Garrison Unit with a liquid tiberium gun.
• Cyborg legs makes infantry faster, including engineers.

Disadvantages:

• Lack of (some) vehicle types.

Scrin

Ultimate epic unit:

• Eradicator Tripod - 4 Garrison-able unit. Bla bla. Bla bla bla. Can teleport short distances when a Mastermind or Prodigy is garrisoned in it.

Reaper 17 is a heavy-tiberium based faction, with increased damage but lacking at air units and mind control.

Advantages:

• Shard Walker - upgraded Gun Walker unit.
• Reaper Tripod - can absorb more tiberium to boost up its blue beams.
• Shielded Harvester - Reaper 17 harvesters are always shielded.
• Growth Stimulator building.
• Blue Shards weapon upgrades.

Disadvantages:

• Lacks air and mind control units.

Traveler 59 is the opposite of Reaper 17 in most ways. It heavily relies on mind control, speed and teleportation. In fact, their units can be the fastest in the game, with the proper upgrades.

Advantages:

• Cultist - Short range mind control unit.
• Prodigy - Advanced Mastermind with the teleport (blink) ability, and a nasty area of effect Mind Control.
• Advanced Articulators - gives travelers a significant speed advantage over everyone else.
• Cheaper aircrafts.

Disadvantages:

• No Devourer Tank units
• No shields

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As you can see, a lot of attention to detail and a lot of variation, even if subtle. Multiplayer matches are very exciting and I can hardly wait for the first quality replays from C&C 3 competitions! New official multiplayer maps have been added as well...

"And he cried in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!' And Lazarus did arise from the grave... I have always believed that faith was measured in deeds, not words. And while many of my children worshipped my name, their deeds betrayed them. In my absence they strayed from the path... But you, you my son, your faith never waned."

And not to let down the "lore" fans too much, Kane shows off a new play mode called "Global conquest mode". Global conquest mode is a turn based strategy game similar to Medieval: Total War... or Risk if you like. The "action" takes place on a world map and each faction fights for domination. There are some winning conditions specific for each faction. 3 tiers of pre-made task forces can be constructed as your base is being upgraded. Resources come each turn. You can establish new outposts and of course battle your enemies - a stage where you fight on a standard C&C3 map. You can also "auto-resolve" conflicts. In short, this is a more complex version of the standard "choose the next territory to attack" in previous C&C games.

As a personal note, I found it a bit too "tactical" and boring for the average "fast-paced" C&C player. But some of you may like it more, who knows.

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I love this game and it's a step-up from the original C&C3. More maps, more factions, more cinematics, more story... more Kane! What more could you ask?

Well... I would have loved a GDI and Scrin singleplayer campaign...

"I've seen the future. Our Tiberian future. And as you watch this battle just beginning to unfold I've already seen the final act. It is my destiny to lead the way for all mankind."

Gameplay: 92

Awesome! Fluid fast-paced action and a satisfying singleplayer campaign. Nice story idea, explaining what happened between Tiberian Sun and Tiberium Wars. I also love the cinematics and the acting is great. Go play it... now!

Just as a tiny side note... so you don't yell I'm not objective (which I am not), I've noticed the AI got smarter but sometimes... too smart for its own good. Some units (especially harvesters) love to get stuck sometimes. But most of the times the AI is remarkable, and manages to rearrange troops just perfect.

Oh, and of course... too short... I want more!

Graphics: 89

Several improvements on the original, but you need a good PC to be able to see them. Bottom line: it looked good before, it does now too.

Multiplayer: 90

The addition of the 9 "sub-factions" brings more balance (or chaos - depending on your friends) to the force. We love it!

Sound: 91

Kane's Wrath features remixed songs from the original C&C, and the sounds are the same as we're used to. *Building* *Training* *Establishing video uplink* *You are victorious!*

Hardware: 89

The bar has been raised a bit if you want to max out everything, but the game works great on most decent nowadays systems. And it's no small achievement considering the epic battles that take place in it. Remember: you have no unit construction limit.

PS: Thanks to wikiquote.org for the fantastic Kane quotes.