Command and Conquer 4 offers a more free gaming experience

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Playing CNC 4 I have noticed that I generally feel more free then I do other RTS. There are several reasons for this, ranging from how multiplayer does not place as much responsibility on one player, to how there are classes, to how there are more relative wins/losses, and you can respawn continuously. I am not sure if these are all the reasons, but I do like CNC4 a lot and here is my analysis as to why:


1- Shared responsibility.

Whenever I play one on one I really get stressed out. Egos are on the line, and when you lose you just feel horrible. Even when you win however, I find that I do not enjoy it because I was so stressed out the entire game.

2- Constant respawns.

This adds so much more fun to the game it's hard to explain. In past RTS one reason I didn't like it was 1- When you died it was absolute, and it just felt really horrid. Like in past CNC, say an opponent does an engie rush- end of game. That sucked. It really prevents most players from using the higher tier units. Likewise, it leads to a paranoia about the MCV. Again, more stress, less fun. Even if you played multiple people, the problem is when one player died, it would go from say 2 vs 2, to 2 vs 1. In that case, you either have to sit and watch, or fight against 2 ppl by yourself. And even if you were on the winning side it was boring because it was usually so easy.

3- More viable strategies.

Because you are with 5 people, there is a broader range of viable strategies. Say you are a player, like me, who loves just teching and acquiring resources while turtled. In past CNC games this would not be so good, cause I would end up with 10,000 credits, and get swarmed. Now however by focusing on tib harvesting I help my entire team greatly.

This goes for the opposite as well. If you hate resources gathering, and just want to go offense, you don't have to focus on resources at all. And you can still get teched, and help your team immensely.

This makes the game more fun throughout because even if I lose, I at least got to play the game how I wanted to. I still usually got to utilize the higher tier units. I was still able to get some sort of shining moment in some sort of battle.

Generally put other RTS games seem to force you into a strict formula to stay competitive. You HAVE to build X of some units, Y of other units. Play a certain median/middle ground style that discourages individualized strategies or specialization. In fact, in most CNC multiplayer games Superweapons are rarely even used for this reason. In fact, when I observe Battlecast I notice that none of the RA3 or CNC3 games have any superweapons used at all.

Again, even if I win, I don't have fun doing this because I felt pigeon holed into a play style I do not honestly enjoy. I enjoy turtling/teching. CnC 4 lets me do that.

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4- Relative vs absolute victories/defeats.

In previous CNC games and in SC games victory and defeat is often absolute. You either win or lose- that's it. Again this stresses me out so much the game is no longer fun. However I like how in CNC 4 there really are relative victories and defeats. Even if you lose, if you still got 2000 VP you still feel pretty good about yourself, especially if the enemy was of higher ranks.

Overall then, I feel better losing because I still earn XP (or help others do so), I am not fully responsible (say what you want about this, but it *is* a game, I don't want to feel like a loser just cuz of a game), and I can play how I want to play for the entire game (I do not lose my MCV to an engie and have to sit on the sidelines for an hour. ) And when I win, I feel better for all the reasons above, I got to play a way that was tailored to my own style of strategy.

Generally I feel relatively free when playing CNC 4, whereas past CNC felt more constrained. I also don't feel bad if I lose. And I am allowed to use all the game has to offer, in multiplayer, without being some grand master.

Overall, I feel this more free style of game play will benefit casual players much more then hardcore, perhaps leading to multiple complaints. However, seeing as casuals make up something like 80% of the market (though I imagine they make up a significantly larger percentage of the forums and may thus prove useful sources of innovation and criticism) , I don't think EA should change the fundamentals of this mechanic just to please a very narrow crowd that is unlikely to be pleased by anything (and because they play games to put others down and feel like a God via having no life, something that has outweighed playing the game for fun in their minds. )

Again hardcore gamers are important for the development of a community, but to make a game only for hardcore players alienates the entire rest of the gaming community. In the end, such a game will stagnate because hardcore gamers rarely like to see their favorite games (which they have invested a great deal of time and effort into mastering) changed in any fundamental way at all. And it makes sense, if I skipped work/university, or stayed up an unhealthy amount of hours *just* to be better then others in a game, I'd be pretty mad if they changed it too. (World of Warcraft experienced a similar reaction when they made WoW more casual friendly, the hardcore gamers complained greatly because they had sacrificed so much to be better players. )

Of course a game has to be challenging, and an RTS has to be strategic. CNC 4 allows this though because you are against human opponents in Domination, and hence the difficult can be varied by infinite degrees.

The main point of a game is to have fun. The more freedom I have in a game, the more fun I have. The less stress I have in a game, the more fun I have. As a casual player CNC 4 does this for me. There is nothing wrong with competition, but when it comes at the expense of a game's fun factor you have to consider the original purpose of the activity.

If you haven't played CNC 4 yet, get your beta key here: Digiex CnC4 Beta Keys

 

it looks good i will purchase when its cheap enough

 

I do love this game. I myself love features and this game has them by far. I do however wish they would work on the super weapons and the shields. The shields do not react to incoming enemy fire. Supreme Commander (1) has released before it and has better shields.

The super weapons aren't half the power they were in CNC 3. Then after there ready to fire, they will only do very little damage without the weapon fully charged. Even when fully charged it's not much. Then there's that problem with the ION cannon how long it takes to fire. The enemy can actually move out of the weapons radius before it even fires.

Though besides those issues, the game is very amazing. I'm actually considering to purchase it, So that my co-commander and I can have some co-op and hopefully many good online games as we have had in the beta already.

 

Sounds like you have a good co-commander

 

I have never been too big a fan of C&C games, but this looks like it may set me straight. It looks like many of the issues that plagued the first 3 game have been addressed. I have been hearing from some people that the game is not worth playing, but what do you lot think? I already know KingBurnz's answer to that question .

 

As the King's favourite co-commander I also agree its the best CnC in a long time It has so many features!!

 

Co-commander seems to imply only you and the King, Nimrod. What about me and Curlysteve? Are we also considered co-commanders. All joking aside I have had alot of fun since the beta started (it takes a while to get used to the "your base is mobile" thing but once I did I had loads more fun). In fact I'd say I'm more excited for this than I was C&C 3 (of which I've yet to finish....).

 

I would never call you non-co commanders, but me and Kingzburnz have a very close strategy, we both know what each other is going to do on each of the maps, what point were going for and whos going for what tiberium, and if one of us loses our crawler we know we can respawn with the eachother for safety and what to do to push for victory. Just played way to many games with the King Perhaps if we played more games Trebor when the game is out, I can learn to think ahead of you knowing what your going to do, but at the moment your a wildcard playing it, as you like to try different things each time (which is good, but makes it hard for me to predict how you want me to help etc )

Anyways, more news on the CnC4 front, its out in 2 days, woooo

Been reading tons of reviews on the internet, read all the hate and love, and I have basically concluded:

90% of people who spread hate of CnC4 or say they dislike the game havent played it for more than 30 minutes. Whenever I read hate on the EA forums or anywhere, someone always asks the hater how much they played and the response is like "one or two rounds". Its impossible to understand the crawler system and classes in just one or two rounds.

I myself disliked the game at first, but the king forced me to play it some more, and I am to this date so thankful for that. It turned from a game I was gonna boycott to my favourite CnC game ever. Yes I do miss the classic style, but theres about 6 CnC games with that style, Red Alert 3 and the recent CnC3 were just rehashing of the old system and to be honest the whole CnC franchise was going stale. As much as the old system was good, it was getting boring as there isnt many other ways to do it. The crawler system gives the franchise a much needed reboot. Any hater just needs to actually play the game for more than 30 minutes and they might find it the most fun RTS they have played in a long time. Combined with player progression, matchmaking, intense 5v5 battles this CnC4 will be great.

Seriously haters, give the game a chance. and for those people who love the old style of game play, load up the CnC First Decade pack and play them all for a day, your find your get very bored of the same old thing rehashed over and over. It gets too repeative. The crawler and class system ensures for a varied different game play all the time.

CnC4 for the win

 

I had one game of it and I didn't understand what was happening. It was much different that the other games. I should of tried it again but I uninstalled.

 

Omg, here in the Netherlands you can snatch this game for just a lousy € 20,- (or less!) INSAAAAAAAAANE!

 

Yeah I didnt buy the game because of the DRM, its honestly not that good anyway.
You can get the game for around $25 here.

 

Starcraft II has the same requirement, and thats been selling like hot cakes

 

That is because its StarCraft II, so many people have been waiting for this game for years, they don't care what it takes to play. Its almost like saying the only way you could play Modern Warfare 2 is if you would have an internet connection, of course it would still sell like crazy and people without internet would probably find a way to fix that.

 

ive always been a die hard C&C fan, my favorite franchise of all time. many hours of my youth were spent in front of a C&C screen. that being said, i've expressed my opinions of EA and how they rip the soul out of every franchise they absorb to try and squeeze a few more pennies out of it. this is the prime example. i played the training missions for this and never returned to it.

also, i enjoy the single player campaigns more than multiplayer online, which is where EA has taken the focus of the game towards, which is another major turnoff.

but unit number caps? seriously? that was one of the major differences between C&C games and EVERY OTHER FUCKING RTS! warcraft, starcraft, age of empires, rise of nations, all decent RTS, but all with annoying fucking unit caps. now add C&C to that list.

on amazon, in the reviews for this game, a person claims that amazon.uk censored their reviews for C&C4 and removed all negative reviews when the game was released. they made it sould like this kind of censorship is very common in the UK, is that true?

 

I have this game and have yet to play it . i may have to have a go as soon as my seemingly never ending toothache goes away !

Steve

 

this is a good game, but the gameplay method of Generals is the best in the series as i think.