Electronic Arts launches a pack full of content with juicy changes to attract both purists and new players.
Not so long ago we were counting the complexities here when facing a remastering. To what extent is Remastered and to what extent is Remake? The limit is difficult to establish, but there is no doubt that this Command & Conquer Remastered carries the tagline more than correctly if we stick to the strict meaning of the word.
Because Command & Conquer takes everything that already worked in the past and brings it to the present with a more than curious hand of sheet metal and paint. In addition, and this is what is really important, not only is the graphic, sound or technical section improved (now we will go into detail), but it incorporates more content than the base game and spin-off. Time to move units.
Back to the nineties
The genre of real-time strategy has undergone a great evolution in the last decade. Not only does it predominate because it has a dreamy graphic section, something unthinkable in the 90’s, but also because it incorporates enough new features of a playable level that the approaches have been changed.
Examples of this type we have to porrón, but comes to mind what Creative Assembly has done with its Total War (with two planes, one per turn and another in real time when units are deployed on the map). However, before all of this existed, a few were paving the way, and one of these products was Command & Conquer.
The saga developed in its beginnings by Westwood Studios knew how to deal with technical complexities through easy design decisions. This earned him considerable fame among players, who were eager to receive new content every so often. And this is where the first feature of this remastered version comes in: in addition to including the “base” game, the collection also comes with Command & Conquer: Red Alert, the missions that came out for consoles (and their cinematics) and the expansions of the two games. In total, over 100 campaign missions, over 250 multiplayer maps, and a total of over 50 or 60 hours just shooting single player mode. There is nothing (and you have to add the possibility of including mods created by the community).
This is the first statement of intent for remastering, but there’s so much more. The facelift the game has undergone is quite commendable. The studio knew well that preserving the aesthetics of the original was not only important for the staunch fan, so what it has done is improve the design of everything that appears on the screen with new textures, but always respecting the signs or identity marks for It doesn’t seem like another game. Now, what do you not like the new? Well, as easy as pressing the “Space” key and the game returns to the original graphic section in real time. So, without further ado. It is a joy to be able to enjoy the version that you like the most in a matter of a second and by pressing a key.
All this is accompanied by a 4K resolution on the screen, which is why it not only stays in the merely “HD”, but tries to go a step further to address a resolution more in line with the current.
And if the graphic section works well, the sound does not match anything – never better said. Surely many still remember the more than outstanding soundtrack that had the title. Well, it returns to the present day in a remastered way. As reported during their announcement, more than seven hours of music, with 20 music tracks re-recorded live by the original composer, Frank Klepacki, and the Tiberian Sons, which sound scandalous (and also with the inclusion of playlists).
All this is the “good”, but the bad is also present. One of the signs that Command & Conquer had were those live action cinematics recorded by actors. They were “peculiar” -we are going to leave it there- and they gave it some packaging at the time. Now they mess up a bit, we are not going to deny it, but the problem is not that: the remastering work here is not good.
Unfortunately for those present, the tapes with the original videos were already more than shredded. Electronic Arts scrapped them entirely, in one more move that underscores the importance of preservation. The studio, along with the fan community, has attempted to rescale resolution and image quality through an algorithm run by an AI. The leap from what was seen in the original game is visible, but even so, the remastered version still has blurry cinematics. At least they have tried.
In the same way, it can also be attributed that at the level of playable design some “things” are very outdated. In fact, at the level of control or gameplay, improvements already present in the current RTS could have been introduced, thus trying to bring the style of play closer to the most current players (especially in regards to HUD on screen, which although the interface has been improved, we see scope to grow).
CONCLUSION
Command & Conquer Remastered is a good example of what a remastering should be. It knows how to respect the original code and empowers it with new textures and resolutions, but you can always go back to the base product in real time if you are not attracted to the new. Added to this is a huge amount of content so you have more hours than originally seen.
THE BEST
- Switching between original and remastered in real time.
- The new touch of the soundtrack.
- Fun of yesteryear.
WORST
- The cinematics, no matter how much effort they have put in, leave a lot to be desired.
- Playable approaches and / or interface performance obsolete at times.
Very good
Game with a remarkable finish that we will enjoy and remember. A good purchase, highly recommended for lovers of the genre. It is well cared for at all levels.
