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

During big skirmishes there was little to no slowdown, some frame-rate issues do occur but they’re not enough to bring the game to a grinding halt. The graphics are detailed enough and zooming (via the right stick) gives you a good view of the action close up. The maps are designed to take advantage of the console style of play and especially in singleplayer, expect to be harassed fairly early on and make sure you bring up several defensive structures and build units as quickly as possible once you have a stable infrastructure.

The game’s story is told through the medium of live action cut-scenes, the staple of the C&C series. Kane returns again and is on top form with some of the best (and cheesy) performances captured perfectly to disc ever. This is futuristic warfare cheesy dialogue and acting at its finest, yet it still manages to bring a smile to your face regardless. The sets and cg effects are decent and the costumes are up to scratch.

With the control system and the CommandStick interface, Kane’s Wrath is actually a joy to play and even online it’s possible to have some pretty intense matches and still feel as though you’re in control of your virtual army. Talking of online play, for the most part it’s stable, there are a few server issues now and then and lag was a problem in some of the games, but these problems are often par-for-the-course in these kinds of games.

The AI is good, the CPU provides a decent enough challenge and the path-finding is adequate, none of the units were bottlenecked even on some of the smaller maps and the enemy was able to make use of alternate routes into the base. You can also set the difficulty, as well as the kind of enemy you want to face. If you’re up for a challenge, go against an expert turtler or an expert rusher. The turtler concentrates on making the strongest base whilst fighting you for resources. The rusher will charge headlong in and relentlessly force you to concentrate on defence until you’re strong enough to take the fight to them.

The physics system is effective and bases come apart with a better damage system than before, crumbling under the onslaught of sustained fire before they blow apart in a satisfying explosion. The same can be said for vehicles as they take damage, small fires start and eventually the vehicle is consumed in a conflagration leaving a broken husk in its wake. Units can be knocked into the air by heavier weapons and when a fire-fight erupts between various squads the animations for combat are fluid enough and interesting (not quite up to the interesting of Dawn of War with its Synch-kills) to liven up the action.

All in all, Command and Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath is definitely an excellent rts on the console format, it is playable and the control system is good enough to allow a console gamer to master the intricacies of unit and building management without a mouse or a keyboard. Further enhancements to the CommandStick system and other elements might just secure a foothold for rts on console if developers adopt this kind of control system.