Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (Xbox 360)

Before today I was firmly convinced (and I’m still of the opinion) that RTS’ are much better on the PC. That a console is no place for a real time strategy game since most of the time the control systems are horribly designed and there’s a plethora of buttons and commands to learn. However, whilst I still believe that the premier format for the rts genre is the PC, I can say after playing Command and Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath; the stand-alone expansion pack for C&C3 on the 360 – this is an rts that actually works on a console.

The story puts you in the role of someone whom Kane trusts and whilst people thought the ‘Messiah’ was dead during the events of Command and Conquer during the rebirth of Nod in the aftermath of the Second Tiberium War, they very quickly learn that isn’t true. As Kane makes a bid for power again and you follow the story through the events of the Third Tiberium War and beyond. The game is packed with new missions, new maps, new units and it has been designed to work with a console controller.

I approached it with a good degree of cynicism to begin with, which quickly began to evaporate when I went through the game’s helpful tutorial mode: Boot Camp and learned the controls, controls that I was able to remember without too much hassle. The game has an expansive single player mode, a skirmish setup that has numerous options including AI controlled allies and enemies, several special challenges thrown down by Kane himself and of course Xbox Live connectivity to take the battles online with friends or against them.

What makes this an overall better experience than any console rts before it, is the fact that the control system provides a degree of flexibility and unit control that you could normally only get from a mouse and keyboard. Whilst by no means perfect it’s a massive step in the right direction, other developers need to take note of these control systems and incorporate something similar into their console based rts titles, unless they’re going fully voice controlled like Tom Clancy’s Endwar aims to do.

Unit selection is simple, a single press of A will select a squad and double pressing A will select all squads/units of that type. Holding the left trigger will allow you to select every unit with a single press of A that’s on screen at the time or in range of the cursor. Movement is simple, A moves the unit to a location and double pressing A on an empty patch of ground moves that unit there in move-attack mode. It’s advisable to check out the manual for other advanced controls like changing attack strategy, changing unit formations, suffice it to say that those command choices are simple to get to.

The right trigger is something you’ll learn to use quickly; it opens a radial menu that allows you to access special powers, unit abilities and many other features with a quick swing of the left stick to choose them. Stepping back through the menu is done by pressing B and it’s possible to select more than one wheel by using the d-pad. This is all explained in the Boot Camp. It’s the radial menu that steals the show, with it you can order new units at the push of a button without having to find the correct building during a dangerous confrontation.

It’s as simple as opening the right part of the menu, pressing A on the unit type and that’s it. Everything important is controlled from this menu and it’s the reason that Kane’s Wrath is playable on the 360.