Command & Conquer 3 - mega interview

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As the Tiberium Wars begin, the game's developers tell you how to prepare and what to expect next

GamesRadar: Why should we be excited about Command & Conquer 3?

Mike Verdu, Executive Producer: It's been a long time since the last Command & Conquer game was released. Generals was four years ago; the last game in the Tiberium universe was seven years ago.

C&C 3 is really an updated classic. We've done our best to take what is timeless and cool about the franchise, from Tiberian Sun all the way back to the original Command & Conquer, and update it with innovative features expected in a current RTS. Three generations of C&C fans worked on this game and, for us, it's been a labor of love.

Jason Bender, Lead Designer: Some of our team goes back to working on Red Alert 2. Of course, we have people from Westwood. We're big fans, so we wanted to make sure that we weren't taking Command & Conquer off to someplace that would seem really unfamiliar. We took it right back to Tiberium - we went with Mammoth Tanks, Orcas, all that stuff. And then tried to give you all the updated gameplay you'd expect out of a modern C&C.

Chris Corry, Senior Development Director: It's a new C&C and it's the same C&C. It's got that classic fast, furious and fun action, but at the same time, it's got a lot of great new features like BattleCast.

MV: Command & Conquer is set in a dark future where an alien crystal called Tiberium is slowly consuming the Earth. This crystal appeared in the 1990s and then started spreading. It's a resource you can harvest and solves the Earth's energy problems, but it's also an ecological catastrophe. It's changing the climate and mutating into a self-replicating organism.

It's divided humanity into two factions - Global Defense Initiative (like NATO or the United Nations of today) fighting against a stateless superpower called The Brotherhood of Nod and led by an enigmatic guy named Kane. Kane believes that Tiberium is the future of humanity, that it is the catalyst for the next stage of evolution. GDI views it as a catastrophe, something that needs to be contained and shut down. So you've got two competing views and there have been three World Wars fought over this stuff... GDI and Nod have been fighting for 50 years.

When we come into C&C 3, Nod's been pretty quiet for a while, but they launch a surprise attack on GDI and all hell breaks loose. If that wasn't bad enough, the stakes get raised and our new third faction shows up in the middle of the conflict. Those are the aliens called the Scrin.

GamesRadar: What is C&C? For people who are unfamiliar with the franchise, can you give us a quick overview?

MV: Command & Conquer is set in a dark future where an alien crystal called Tiberium is slowly consuming the Earth. This crystal appeared in the 1990s and then started spreading. It's a resource you can harvest and solves the Earth's energy problems, but it's also an ecological catastrophe. It's changing the climate and mutating into a self-replicating organism.

It's divided humanity into two factions - Global Defense Initiative (like NATO or the United Nations of today) fighting against a stateless superpower called The Brotherhood of Nod and led by an enigmatic guy named Kane. Kane believes that Tiberium is the future of humanity, that it is the catalyst for the next stage of evolution. GDI views it as a catastrophe, something that needs to be contained and shut down. So you've got two competing views and there have been three World Wars fought over this stuff... GDI and Nod have been fighting for 50 years.

When we come into C&C 3, Nod's been pretty quiet for a while, but they launch a surprise attack on GDI and all hell breaks loose. If that wasn't bad enough, the stakes get raised and our new third faction shows up in the middle of the conflict. Those are the aliens called the Scrin.

Charlie Barratt
Charlie Barratt
I enjoy sunshine, the company of kittens and turning frowns upside down. I am also a fan of sarcasm. Let's be friends!