We've got the scoop on next week's demo release for EA's latest entry into the long lived C&C series.
by Dan Adams
US, February 23, 2007 - Next week Electronic Arts will be debuting their newest addition to the Command & Conquer franchise to the public when they release their first single-player demo on Fileplanet. The exact day is, as of right now, not perfectly settled, but it will be next week. Could be Monday. Could be Friday. Either way you can start your anticipation engines. Lucky for us, EA agreed to let us have a go at an early build of the final demo to get a look at what will be included. We've had the chance to play it, take some screens, and enjoy the explosions.
![[IMG]](http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/767/767652/command-conquer-3-tiberium-wars-20070223064538674-000.jpg)
The demo itself is a pretty solid amount of gameplay as far as demos go. Those of you that choose to download the thing will have the opportunity to play through one tutorial mission, two campaign missions, and one skirmish map on four difficulty settings. Depending on the difficulty you play the game at, it could take an hour or more to get through the tutorial and game missions. Skirmish adds quite a bit of life to the party as well. There's only one map, but it'll help you all get to know the game.
The tutorial and campaign missions follow the GDI faction. The tutorial doesn't really have a story, it's just training set in a yellow zone (craptastic, but livable, parts of the world). The tutorial will take players through the basics of movement and construction with some further instruction about GDI in particular in the prologue mission. The prologue is the first of the two campaign missions that begin the this latest chapter of the Tiberium Wars. As it stands, there has been a relative period of calm around the world Kane and Nod went silent. The first mission sends you, the player, to the North Carolina badlands, a yellow zone where some Nod activity has been detected. The introductory FMV starring Michael Ironside and Grace Park (Boomer from Battlestar Galactica) basically explains the premise in more detail and then you're on your way. Upon arrival, it's pretty clear that Nod's not just playing around. Before too long, you're in a small conflict with an advance base of Nod as you learn some of the more detailed points of the game. It's a relatively easy mission that ends with a lovely bang and is followed up by another FMV scene that sets the tone for the rest of the game.
The second of the campaign missions is set in Alexandria Egypt, once again, a yellow zone. This particular area is serving as a major port for Nod's activities and weapons shipments. Alexandria serves as one of the earlier missions for GDI and happens to be the first encounter where Mammoth Tanks rumble into the fight. There are several objectives in the mission, most of which call for a lot of large explosions and violence. There's still a little bit of hand-holding in the mission but setting the difficulty to hard will create a much nicer challenge. The AI isn't shy about sending large groups of enemies running screaming towards your base. It's really a matter of making sure you have enough defense up and around to buy enough time to push out a few mammoth tanks. Once that happens, all bets are off for the enemy. Those mammoth tanks are brutally strong and can withstand a ton of punishment. This is a terrific map to see a lot of the awesome pyrotechnic displays that C&C 3 can push out. With all of the Mammoths, Orcas, and Zone Troopers (new heavy infantry with cool beans lasers) spewing death out around the map, it's hard not to be entertained by the visuals.
![[IMG]](http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/767/767652/command-conquer-3-tiberium-wars-20070223064555612.jpg)
The skirmish map included in the demo is called Small Town USA. You'll be able to use the GDI in this mission and fight against NOD. It's a two player skirmish map with four difficulty levels ranging from easy to brutal. Only one of the five AI personalities (Balanced AI) is included with the demo as well. You can expect to see rush, turtle, guerilla, and steamroller AI routines in the skirmish in the final product. The map takes place in one of the cleaner blue zones where tiberium hasn't taken control so there are plenty of buildings to knock down in the process of stomping Nod. Each base begins at opposite corners of the map set straight from each other across a dense city area providing plenty of places for infantry to hide and ambush enemy troops. The other two corners of the map are taken by large plots of tiberium for expansion areas. Grabbing one of these early is necessary to claim victory. Four tiberium spikes that generate cash constantly can be captured by engineers or destroyed to keep the enemy from using them. The map is relatively small so combat begins quickly and will ramp up steadily until one side can finally get the upper hand in technology or tactics.
This is actually a map we've played before in one of the multiplayer sessions down at EA, but playing against the AI was a different matter. Hard is pretty damn hard. Granted, we're still pretty new at the game, but hard presented quite the challenge. The computer is quick to get resources gathered and good about using them efficiently to create powerful strike groups out of smaller units. Either way, those hoping for a challenge to prepare for online matches may find the AI here adequate for researching build orders and techniques for GDI. Unfortunately, the replay function found in the final version of the game isn't included in the demo so there'll be a bit of guesswork as to how the AI manages to operate so quickly.
In any case, you can expect to see this demo hit sometime next week. Our guess is that it will be earlier rather than later, but you never know. So take a look at the screens in the media section and look forward to downloading the demo at Fileplanet very soon!
