Release Date: 2007-01-01
Developer/Publisher: EA LA / EA Games
Genres: Strategy
Platforms: PC Games
LOS ANGELES--Electronic Arts is on hand at E3 2006 with private
demonstrations of Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars. We sat in to
watch a few new game trailers, as well as a gameplay demonstration.
The first trailer we watched explained the story behind the upcoming
game. According to executive producer Mike Verdu, the development team
is looking to make the game "a landmark in terms of story." To that
end, EA LA is bringing back the classic live-action full-motion video
(FMV) cinematic sequences from the previous games. The first trailer we
watched leaned heavily on FMV and told the story presumably from the
perspective of the game's main character, a biochemist-turned-GDI
operative who witnessed the transformation of planet Earth after the
mysterious substance known as tiberium, which "isn't of this world"
(suggesting that Tiberium is an alien substance from somewhere in outer
space) made its mysterious appearance. According to the trailer,
tiberium acts like an ecological cancer, turning everything it touches
into more tiberium. The series' classic "good guy" faction, the Global
Defense Initiative (or "GDI"), was apparently founded in secret to keep
the existence of the threat under wraps until the true nature of
tiberium could be determined.
Although Verdu suggests that the story will play a crucial role in the
game, Tiberium Wars will also offer "fast, fluid, and fun gameplay" in
both single- and multiplayer modes. Verdu suggests that although the
game has been in development for several months, the technical team is
still performing "plumbing" on the game's powerful graphics engine to
ensure that there are no lag or frame-rate problems that get in the way
of enjoying the game's fast-paced action. And the team is also
apparently hard at work on devising adaptive artificial intelligence to
cater to players who favor either an aggressive "rush" playing style
(that is, when players prefer to quickly build an army and try to take
out their enemies early) or a defensive "turtling" style (when players
prefer to hang back and build up their defenses until they can research
devastating superweapons). Said Verdu, "If you turtle, the AI will
turtle; if you rush, hey, the AI will rush you too." Though we've seen
precious little of the game, what we have seen looks absolutely
fantastic and should easily pull in both C&C veterans and beginners
who just want to see tanks, choppers, and gunboats blow stuff up real
good. The game is scheduled for release in 2007.
