Filling the gaps…
The first thing that strikes the player is that there’s merely a central plot in Kane’s Wrath, rather than a series of individual scenarios that tend to fill in story gaps in the eternal strife between GDI and NOD. In fact, there’s only one playable faction in the single player campaign and this is none other than Kane’s legion, the Brotherhood of NOD. It came as a surprise really since each and every C&C game had a storyline and campaign for all sides of the conflict ever since Tiberium Dawn. Nevertheless, this collage of FMV’s featuring Joe Kucan might be sufficient for the bald prophet’s fans and truth be told, production values have been kept at a high standard. As you will find out later on the sheer scale of additional content begs for a more detailed storyline at least with respect to the minor sub-factions that are introduced but still, let’s see what Kane is up to.
Necessary tweaks...
Have taken place in C&C 3’s graphics engine that undoubtedly make up for a far livelier gaming experience. The terrain has received a few improvements here and there while units from all sides have definitely been re-worked both in terms of static detail but animation sequences as well. Special note has to be taken with respect to the game’s new units the collection of which is quite substantial. Taking into consideration that all three major factions have received not only your typical couple of new toys to play with but structures and tech-trees have been tailor-made for them. So far so good, with six sub-factions in total and new graphics you can say. However, the Epic super-units indicating that they definitely don’t belong in this game. In all fairness, creative thinking is all fine and dandy but in our humble opinion introducing these…behemoths truly damages not only the gameplay by nullifying most if not all of a faction’s units but thy truly stick out as a sore thumb in the game’s overall graphic atmosphere. Who would have thought that a gigantic mech would be the next installment on NOD’s arsenal or a three-barreled Juggernaught that’s definitely out of scale with the rest of the game’s units are great additions for a C&C game? For a new and fresh sci-fi RTS these units could work but not on this ‘universe’ and not on this plot…At least the amount of detail on both epic and ‘normal’ units is well above average and attention to detail remains to be one of the game’s strong points. Overall, the new toys look great but the Epic super-heavy…things scale and scope tends to be detrimental to the overall visual experience.
Frank Klepacki where art thou?
The overall sound scheme remains unchanged, with the usual sound effects, explosions and weapon sounds. We cannot stress enough the need for a solid soundtrack that’s sorely lacking since C&C3 and the depart of the original sound composer for the C&C saga. Besides the perhaps boring music score with the exception of the Act on Instinct remix, the new units have clearly received more attention in their voice-acting and sound effects. However, a few unit acknowledgements lack necessary polish as they come out on a too fast tempo. Take the Cabalist infantry for example that once trained reply with ‘Archibald and Burgess’ which is in reality ‘Our Cabal Emerges’.
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