I am not an avid gamer, nor do I ever get excited by the release of a new game, but Command and Conquer Generals was an exception. I was a huge Red Alert 2 fan, and couldn't wait until the newest edition to the C&C line, Generals came out. It probably was one of the most anticipated releases of the year. Well, some people thought it got too much hype, but I for one, think the game is amazing. Everything, graphics, sound, and gameplay were all top notch. Our family's new upgraded Dell 8200 barely met the minimum requirements!

First off the graphics. All I can say is when I launched my first nuke and it detonated, it almost brought a tear to my eye. Unlike in old C&C, the game's, camera can be rotated, zoomed in, and zoomed out for Matrix like action. The detail put into each unit is mind blowing for a real time strategy. You can even see the soldiers limp around when they are low on health, and dust rises behind tanks when they traverse the desert. The scenery is completely 3D, and the maps are full of urban sprawl, forrests, rivers, lakes, valleys, ravines, mountains, and deserts. The graphics can be cranked up to 1024 by 768 bit resolution, or turned down if the game play becomes to slow. The detail level can also be turned down if necessary, but I strongly dicourage it because it turns off some of the most delighting affects of the game such as bodies flying from an explosion.

Although I don't pay attention to sound in games as often as I should, this game brought it to my attention. My computer's speakers are underused and I don't pay any attention to my woofer. When I started up the game I was bathed in rich sound from all angles and my woofer was hard at work cranking out the sounds of artillery and explosions. the game does a good job of incorporating all pitches of sound, so the game sounds natural. From the high pitched shreak of mortars sailing through the air to the deep boom when it devastates its target, C&C Generals makes sure all pitches are covered. The only drawback I found to the sound was lack of verbal diversity in the phrases of the units. Often I was caught listening to the same annoying Cinese Communist saying, "We will live in prosperity," repeated over and over as I built more of the same units. This is a minor flaw though, and the voices from the units can be turned off. Over all the sound was superb.

The gameplay in the new C&C Generals is nothing different than the old C&C's and will be familiar to most. The mouse is almost explicity used to control units, and the key board is used for hot keys to save time in the heat of battle. All of the units are completely new and different from Red Alert, and I thought that Westwood did a good job reinventing themselves. There are three completely different countries you can be as compared to the two in Red Alert (aside from the countries that just give you one special unit), and the only major difference is that there is no Navy in the game, but I have been told that will be a free patch later on. The fighting action is smoothe, and features like 8 person online multiplayer give the game an excellent replay value. In fact if you buy this game for anything don't buy it for its lacking single player missions, but for it's addictive multiplayer.

I would give the fun factor on this game a perfect 10, just because of the games addicting multiplayer that is fast, easy, and adds enough challenges to keep you busy for years. Overall Generals is an excellent game and well worth the $50.00 I paid for it at Electronics Boutique. I hope to see more people on the multiplayer network, so I can kick their noob ass. Happy hunting ;)