Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (2007) (PC) (EA Los Angeles)
7Back in the mid- to late 1990s, it seemed like every PC gamer (myself included) loved the realtime strategy genre. Warcraft, Starcraft, Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Total Annihilation and a ton of other high-quality RTS games made little armchair generals out of even the most action-oriented shooter nerds. Something happened, though, as RTSs fell out of fashion a few years after the long-awaited release of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun in 1999. By the time Tiberium Wars arrived in 2007 only the truly dedicated strategy gamers really cared any longer (an indirect example of this is the relative success of Supreme Commander, which was noticably less accessible and "mainstream" than the Westwood or Blizzard games, and thus catered to a much smaller niche of players). The fall in popularity of the subgenre can partly be explained by a perceived lack of innovation - even the legendary Starcraft was criticized for not making enough changes and improvements to the basic gameplay formula - as well as the increasing mass market appeal of consoles which were not ideally suited for heavily mouse-based RTS gameplay.
I seriously considered getting the Xbox version of C&C3 but never got around to it. Now that Steam had an EA-themed sale recently I decided to pick up both Tiberium Wars and Red Alert 3 for a very low price (partly as an experiment to see if I care enough about these games to buy Starcraft 2 when it comes out soon). TW offers a very familiar C&C-like experience but spices things up somewhat with optional side quests and a new alien race. It hardly represents a significant milestone in RTS gaming, but the design is as tight and solid as ever and the production values are high as usual. Also, the game reminds me of how much I actually appreciate FMV cutscenes...