Looks like this is the ending chapter for Kane in the Command and Conquer series with Command & Conquer 4 billed as Tiberian Twilight. Although you will still see your usual NOD Obelisks or the Mammoth tanks of the GDI, EA has changed the way you play the game, making a drastic change in all the game mechanics. Yes, it was quite a surprise for every fan to have the classic tiberium harvesting removed and basically every building in the game; all the way to play it. But giving it a try, it was quite entertaining.

So, what's this time as regards to the story? The year is 2062 which is 10 years after what happened in Kane's Wrath. You will see a world where Tiberium has spread all over the planet and human extinction is set to occur in 2068. Out of the blues, Kane will meet with GDI in hopes of using the Tacticus to save the world. For those not familiar with the Tacticus, it is an ancient alien data matrix which improves the technology and it's powers are infinite.

The final battle with GDI and NOD united to solve the tiberium crisis has generated a lot of anger and confusion with NOD activists bombarding and sabotaging the process. You take the part of Commander Parker, a GDI officer who after losing his eye sight during battle, has been implanted with an optical eye.

The one thing which was kind of cool from the game's story is that you will play the first few mission and after Kane and GDI's Colonel Louise James fight for you to join their respective forces, you will be presented with a choice to either follow NOD or GDI. As regards to storyline, it's the same for both factions, but you will see the battle from your choice perspective. The campaign is relatively short, having three tutorial missions followed by seven mission for both NOD and GDI.

As I said earlier, in this chapter, the game mechanics are redesigned from scratch and everything revolves around your MCV which is now called a Crawler. You don't need to build your factories, barracks or power stations. People which have played other RTS games, can see a resemblance with Dawn of War, with regards to game mechanics. Mind you, the gameplay is still great, but changing the gameplay which was enjoyable by every fan of the series since the last 15 year, might not be liked. Talking about myself, the first thing I said is Where is the harvester?.

The gameplay has taken a different approach to the gameplay, making it more fast-paced, with mobile bases and fast unit production. If you are used to the old Command & Conquer gameplay it will take a while to master the new mechanics, but it worth going through it.

You will have a choice from three classes of crawlers. The Offensive, Defense and Support classes are available. The offensive will provide any ground units including a number of upgrades, the support class will provide any air units while being the only class to unleash powers in the battlefield and the defense class will provide any turrets and defensive garrison buildings. This feature is acceptable and quite interesting to play around with it, but on the solo mode, it is a bit annoying for the fact that you are limited on how much you can switch from one class to another. When you want to switch from a class to another, you have to destroy your current crawler. This will make a lot of sense in team based battles where everyone can pick up a class.

Here is your mission to keep pace with the gameplay where you have to be always on the move and move your crawler and units where it is needed to create a path for the mission's success, while doing a correct decision with the crawler's class selection. The action doesn't stop if your crawler is destroyed since you can immediately re-spawn a different class from the deployment zone. Also, when the crawler is moving to another place, units can be created while moving so that when you get to the destination and deploy the crawler, you will have an instant spawn of the units built. Money is not available in the game, you will be supplied with commander points which can be increased by capturing and securing spawn zones. Also you will be rewarded for the enemies you kill. Although this may sound a little bit odd, it's a tactical solution for rapid and effective attacks on your enemy.

The crawler is a multitasking unit where when deployed, the area around it can be used as repair area where any unit in the area will be repaired. The success of the battle, depends on how carefully you use the battle configurations with your crawlers and you will find that the system is fast and flexible.

Now, for the cinematic scenes of the game, it still features Joe Kucan in the role of Kane and a live-action cutscene is present at both the beginning and ending of mission. This time, the acting and cinematic scenes are way much better than its predecessors but, since the campaign is not that long, it will leave a bitter taste at the end while watching the conclusion and end credits, making you think that the ending was rushed and you are still waiting for more.

With regards to graphics and sound, well the game features a great dynamic orchestral soundtrack with detailed graphics of both effects and the rest of the environment. The explosions and other chaos occurrences are highly finished and you will surely enjoy the game.

The game mostly seems to focus on the co-op and multiplayer mode, and it makes it easy for you to get in action. As soon as you start, before you select the mission to play, you will be logged into a channel with all the users online where you can easily just chat or find a party to start a game. The online experience is much better than the solo since, as I said before, the classes can be used simultaneously if there are three players on your side.

Conclusion

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, is a great strategy game thou not being the traditional Command & Conquer gameplay and mechanics, some old school player may find it difficult to master at first. The game mechanics and gameplay have been overhauled and no tiberium harvesting is there. The game mechanics moved forward to a team based gameplay which players will greatly enjoy in the co-op mode. It's very easy to create a multiplayer game and the this time, the acting in the cutscenes is much more improved than it's predecessors, good job on that.