Get Command and Conquer The Ultimate Collection [Online Game Code]

CUSTOMER REVIEW



First of all, let's just get the value out of the way. 17 games for standard retail price is fantastic. Sure some of the earliest games are available for free online anyway but honestly, those aren't the best reason for buying this package anyway.



In today's world, Real-Time Strategy games are certainly less prominent than they were 10 years ago but the one's we have are phenomenal. In comparison, some of the older Command and Conquer titles feel dated. The single mouse button system, the poor graphics which make it difficult to tell what units you're moving and the lack of any type of tutorial or unit descriptions. All of these are artifacts of a previous age of gaming. Still, since the original Command and Conquer is one of the earliest RTS games, it can be a fantastic reminder at how far the genre has come.



Even though the gameplay for these early games can feel ancient, the storylines are still phenomenal. The Tiberium Wars with their science fiction take on the future of our world, the Red Alert games with a more light-hearted campy look at how our world could have looked and the Generals series with a more modern warfare take on the series. For some, the storylines will make the older games worth playing through even without the nostalgia factor for long-time fans of the series.



The real reason to buy this game is for the newer titles in the Command and Conquer series. Red Alert 3, Generals and Command and Conquer 3 are the stand-out titles in this collection and make the whole thing worth buying. For anyone looking for great RTS games, these three plus their expansions are each easily worth the price of admission.



There are a few downsides to this collection though. The first and most upsetting problem is that none of these games are available on disk. In fact, this is really just a code making the games available through Origin, EA's download service. As far as I can tell, you don't have to remain online once the games are downloaded but I haven't spent much time offline gaming. This could be a serious problem though for those who may not have reliable internet access or aren't fans of Origin. The second problem is that some of the older games took some serious troubleshooting before they would work on my 64-bit Windows 7 OS. Every game from Red Alert 2 on worked without any problems and Tiberium Dawn worked fine but the others took some work and EA's tech support required several emails before they could solve the problem. Still, I did manage to get every game on the collection to work eventually. Last, Command and Conquer 4 is certainly a low point of the series and it can act as a painful reminder as to why they haven't made a C&C game for quite some time since then.



This generation has had some great value packs and this is no exception. If you are a fan of Command and Conquer or RTS games in general, this collection has some great selections. It does have its drawbacks but if you can look past those and are willing to put a little work into making a few of the older games work, it's a wonderful series and this complete collection of all 17 games can provide a lot of fun. As an added bonus, buying this collection will give you early access to the beta of the new Free-to-Play Command and Conquer when it is released.