Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
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| Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | EA Los Angeles |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Series | Command & Conquer |
| Engine | SAGE engine |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Xbox 360 |
| Release date | March 24, 2008 (PC - USA)
March 28, 2008 (PC - Europe) June 10, 2008 (Xbox 360) March 27, 2008 (PC - Asia Pacific) March 24, 2008 (GMT+0800) (PC - Singapore) |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T OFLC: M PEGI: 16+ |
| System requirements | Windows
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| Input methods | Keyboard, Mouse, Microphone (optional), Xbox 360 Controller |
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath is an expansion pack developed by Electronic Arts Los Angeles for the real-time strategy video game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. It was released March 24, 2008[1] in the US and March 28, 2008[2] in Europe for Windows and will be released on June 10 for Xbox 360.
Contents |
Gameplay
Global Conquest mode
Kane's Wrath features a "Risk-like" gameplay mode called "Global Conquest", where players build and control their forces from a strategic, global level with the goal of either destroying all enemies or completing their side's alternate victory objective. Instead of the traditional Command & Conquer RTS gameplay, the mode uses a turn-based system where the player issues higher-level orders such as "build a base here" (to have the computer automatically build a base with preset structures) or "upgrade this base" (to have the computer automatically perform multiple structure upgrades on a base); the orders execute at the end of a turn and the other sides then get theirs. Combat in this mode occurs whenever two opposing forces collide on the world map; the battle can either be played traditionally (as a standard real-time C&C game) or be automatically resolved by the computer using the forces' relative strengths.[3][4]
Campaign Mode
In addition to the Global Conquest mode, Kane's Wrath contains a Brotherhood of Nod campaign which spans 13 missions in length, spanning from the end of Tiberian Sun: Firestorm to Command & Conquer 3 and beyond. Broken into 3 linear sub-stories that tell Kane's story; Act 1 takes place between Tiberian Sun: Firestorm and Command & Conquer 3; Act 2 takes place separately, but during the events of Command & Conquer 3; and Act 3 shows a preview of the story to take place after Command & Conquer 3, leaving the player with a strong cliff-hanger. The entire Campaign Mode is played as Nod (a first for the series) from the perspective of the AI system LEGION, which the players represents (another first for the series to have the player referred to by a name other than "Commander").
Sub-factions
Each of the three factions featured in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Global Defense Initiative, Brotherhood of Nod and Scrin) have received two additional "sub-factions" in Kane's Wrath; a gameplay concept previously used in Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and closely resemble the asymmetry in Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour. Each of these sub-factions features unique special units, upgrades and support powers, and are designed to cater to more specialized styles of real-time strategy gameplay.[3] This sub-faction system brings the total number of playable sides in Command & Conquer 3 from three to nine[3].
Global Defense Initiative
- Steel Talons
A post-Second Tiberium War battalion, the Steel Talons were an experimental task force specialized in field testing cutting edge technologies for GDI's original and traditional "superior frontal firepower" doctrine, before future policies retired the bulk of the organization's walker arsenal in favor of improved space-based assets. This sub-faction features the Titan and Wolverine units from Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun,[5] and their Juggernauts (called "Behemoths") have attached infantry bunkers. Tiberium Wars-era sonic technology is not available to these heavy-hitters; their guardian cannons instead are upgradeable with rail guns. Minor upgrades to standard units are also featured: engineers are armed with pistols, harvesters have a one-slot infantry bunker, and their APCs are capable of repairing vehicles in exchange for the unit's own independent offensive abilities. Additionally, Steel Talon vehicles can be upgraded with heavy EMP-proof armor. To counterbalance their sheer prowess in vehicles, the Talons are not able to build any infantry outside of riflemen squads, rocket squads, grenadier squads and their new pistol-armed combat engineers.[6]
- ZOCOM
Short for "Zone Operations Command", ZOCOM is an elite unit established after the Third Tiberium War which comprises the most veteran, high tech troopers of GDI, who have been equipped specifically to tackle the planet-wide Tiberium infestation and to begin the reclaiming of Earth's Red Zones. ZOCOM units cater to technologies related to advanced sonic weaponry, special Tiberium-resistant powered armor as well as suppression and area-of-effect tactics. The sub-faction replaces GDI's Zone Troopers with "Zone Raiders"[7], a newer power armored infantry unit equipped with anti-air rockets and sonic grenade launchers. Their Orca gunships and grenadier squads utilize special sonic grenades instead of their original weaponry, and ZOCOM receives the most powerful incarnation of GDI's new sonic-based "Shatterer" unit. The standard harvester unit is replaced with a Rocket Harvester. Their lower-end infantry also see the composite armor upgrade replaced with the more potent "Tiberium field suits", which increase even more so the armor of ZOCOM infantry squads, make them more resistant to Tiberium-based attacks, and render them immune to the effects of Tiberium radiation on the battlefield. For these benefits however the sub-faction does not have access to rail gun technology.
Brotherhood of Nod
- Black Hand
A feared order of warrior priests within the Brotherhood of Nod[8], specialized in powerful and highly trained shock trooper infantry. The Black Hand’s standard infantry is the "Confessor Cabal"; a squad of six basic Confessor units all armed with hallucinogenic grenades (this time a manually activated ability), as well as anti-infantry gatling guns which can be upgraded with "Charged Particle Beams" to increase their firepower. Confessor Cabals also give other nearby allied infantry a buff that increases their rate of fire, their endurance on the battlefield ,and renders them more resistant to the effects of suppression. All Black Hand shock troops are trained as veterans, their commando starts out at the heroic rank by default, and two such commandos can be used by a Black Hand player at any given time. The "Black Disciple" upgrade adds a Black Hand shock troop to all of the Black Hand's infantry squads, in similar fashion to how the Confessors are added to the various militia squads of Tiberium Wars. Their Avatar warmechs, called "Purifiers", automatically come equipped with flamethrowers, but cannot be further upgraded. All flame weaponry of this sub-faction, whether infantry or vehicle-based, can be upgraded to do much more damage against every type of target. In return for all this offensive and destructive prowess however, the Black Hand forgo stealthed or air units entirely, and the vehicle laser upgrade is unavailable, having been replaced with an infantry equivalent. Due to the Stealth Tank being unavailable, a new vehicle called the "Mantis" serves as an anti-aircraft vehicle for the Black Hand faction. The Mantis can also detect stealth units, but cannot attack targets other than aircraft. [6]
- Marked of Kane
A sinister sub-faction which epitomizes both the Brotherhood of Nod's stealthy methods and reliance on radically advanced Tiberium-based technologies and weaponry. The Marked of Kane replace the militia squads of Tiberium Wars with the "Awakened" cyborgs; heavy infantry units that are devastating against enemy infantry and which come with the innate ability to disable vehicles through EMP charges. Their elite "Enlightened" cyborg infantry squads are comparable to GDI’s Zone Troopers, and are armed with super-charged particle beams and an EMP attack that has an even bigger radius than that of the Awakened. These cyborg units, along with the sub-faction's Saboteur units and Tiberium Troopers, can be upgraded with cybernetic enhancements to greatly increase their rate of movement. The Black Hand shock troopers are replaced by "Tiberium Troopers" within this sub-faction, which are capable of dealing damage over time, clear out garrisonned structures and slow the rate of movement of their targets. The Marked of Kane also receive deadly magnetic mines that slowly kill vehicles (unless removed by repair drones).[6]
Scrin
- Reaper-17
Themed as the heavy “shock” faction of the Scrin, Reaper-17 possesses more powerful and effective vehicles and ground units. The trade-off for its enhanced ground power is a marked lack of the Mastermind and air units, except for Storm Riders and Drone Ships. The Gun Walker is upgraded and renamed as the "Shard Walker" and "Reaper Tripod", which converts Tiberium into extra damage in the same way the Devourer Tank can. An upgrade is "Conversion Reserves", which allows for Reaper Tripods and Devourer Tanks to store more absorbed Tiberium. They also receive an upgrade that allows Seekers, Shard Walkers, and Stalkers to shoot blue Tiberium shards for extra damage. Reaper-17 has a new structure called the "Growth Stimulator", which functions as a normal Growth Accelerator in addition to providing a steady trickle of income like a Tiberium Spike. Reaper-17 Harvesters come with shields of their own.[6]
- Traveler-59
The polar opposite of Reaper-17, Traveler-59 focuses on speed, teleportation and mind-control. It features new "Cultist" infantry units, as well as an upgraded Mastermind unit called the "Prodigy". Cultists have no regular attack, but can control units just like Masterminds without the build limit, but cannot take over air and epic units or structures. The Prodigy receives area-of-effect mind control and a personal blink pack in addition to its old abilities. Traveler-59 doesn’t get Devourer Tank units or shields, however their Seekers are upgradeable,also the "Advanced Articulators" upgrade gives infantry units a significant speed boost and "Traveler Engines" give a speed boost to Traveler's heavier aircraft units. Traveler aircraft are cheaper compared to the other two Scrin factions.[6]
Epic units
Each faction has a unique hero-type "Epic Unit" designed to cause high degrees of damage on the battlefield. Taking a longer time to build than other units, they are large, powerful, and difficult to destroy. Each Epic Unit announces its arrival to all players when its construction has been completed, similarly in manner to the "Commando" units throughout the various C&C games.
- GDI MARV
The MARV (Mammoth Armed Reclamation Vehicle) is armed with a tri-barreled cannon that fires heavy sonic shells. It can be garrisoned by four infantry units. When garrisoned, the infantry regiment is sacrificed and one of the MARV’s hardpoints is permanently upgraded with the infantry’s weaponry.
The MARV can also be used to instantly harvest Tiberium by simply driving over patches of it. The MARV's abilities make it particularly useful for attacking Tiberium patches and outposts controlled by the opponent.
- Nod Redeemer
A giant quadrupedal walker which looks like the bigger version of the Avatar walker, the Redeemer is armed with a tri-barreled laser cannon. It can garrison two infantry squads to increase firepower and/or specialization.
While the Redeemer lacks the resource-generating abilities of the GDI or Scrin epic units, it does have a powerful Rage Generator ability with a large area of effect. The Rage generator causes enemy units to fire on each other, which can be devastatingly effective against large groups of enemies, and can turn the tide of battle when defending against large attacks. However, this only takes effect after the targeted units have destroyed or lost sight of their target. This makes it very useful against idle armies. The Rage generator is the only ability that can be activated amongst the three epic units that is available at construction without special requirements.
- Scrin Eradicator Hexapod
A massive, spider-like biomechanism, the Eradicator Hexapod is armed with a powerful Plasma Disc launcher. It also has three garrisonable hardpoints; garrisoned infantry permanently turn into upgrades or weapons.
The Eradicator can convert enemy units destroyed near it into credits by recycling their remains. The process is passive and automatic; enemy units destroyed in its radius immediately provide credits for the Hexapod's owner.
Plot
In the first act of the campaign, Kane enters a bunker deep in the Earth's crust apparently healed of all injury save for his face mask. He instructs the player to begin the Rio Insurrection by taking out the GDI presence in the area. After the player succeeds, Kane informs the player of his plan to reunite the Nod splinter factions. Since he cannot risk revealing himself to the world yet, he chooses Brother Marcion, the leader of the "new" Black Hand to convey Kane's will to the Brotherhood in his stead. The player is then commanded to drive Marcion out and capture him. Brought before Kane, Marcion comes back into the fold of the Brotherhood as Kane reveals himself to him, and removes his face mask, showing a completely scar-free face. Kane then orders the player to destroy a Liquid Tiberium facility as a sign to the remaining splinter factions to rejoin him.
During the second act, Kane begins to lay the plans for the destruction of the Philadelphia, commanding the player, LEGION, to steal plans for the Ion Cannon network. Since the destruction of the Philadelphia would eliminate most of GDI's leadership, Kane decides that Redmond Boyle will be his pawn and become the Director of GDI, so as to provoke the future liquid Tiberium explosion. The player is also ordered to capture Dr. Alphonse Geraud from his research facility, explaining his disappearance in the GDI campaign of C&C3. Meanwhile, Abbess Alexa Kovacs has taken the view that General Kilian Qatar is a traitor to Kane, and plans to have her discredited by attacking Temple Prime in her guise, then leaking Ion Disruptor technology to GDI. On a mission to secure the Tacitus, Abbess Alexa launches a virus into LEGION's system and is detained by Kane. Kane discovers to his horror that Alexa attacked Temple Prime and had Kilian executed for a crime she did not commit. Alexa pulls out a pistol as she is about to be taken away for interrogation, and shoots herself, ending Act II.
In the third and final act, LEGION reawakens in the post-Tiberium War 3 period, and Kane focuses it on recovering the Tacitus. GDI has been meddling with the device, causing it to become highly unstable; Kane needs the Tacitus for his master plan, so he orders the player to first awaken the Marked of Kane, a faction of cyborgs that only LEGION is capable of controlling due to its link with the destroyed CABAL. With the successful reactivation, Kane then sends the player to recover the Tacitus from GDI's facility in the Rocky Mountains. After the Tacitus's successful capture, Kane connects it to LEGION, and the AI becomes infused with the vast knowledge of the object, ending the game in a cliffhanger. The ending video shows a reverse of the Scrin campaign introduction video in C&C3 with the words, Earth Warp Gate Status Active, followed by Commencing Phase 2 and lastly Invasion. This seems to set the stage for the game Tiberium that will take place in a second Scrin invasion.
Cast
Kane is back, and this time, the self-proclaimed Prophet is the center of attention. The supreme leader of the Brotherhood concentrates on his new schemes, mostly related to the LEGION and Tacitus.
He also masterminds several of the events seen in Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars, such as picking Redmond Boyle as GDI's successor
- CABAL / LEGION
CABAL, the sentient Nod AI that went rogue in the aftermath of the Second Tiberium war, reappears in the game in a new form known as LEGION. Kane plans to use LEGION's unmatched tactical genius and its connection with the Tacitus to achieve his goals. LEGION is controlled by the player in the same way as the GDI/Nod Commander or Scrin Foreman from the original campaign. It shows an innate ability to connect to the Tacitus' signal and interface with the device itself.
LEGION was built by Kane on CABAL's old foundations, aided by one of his assistants, Abbess Alexa Kovacs. As a result of his CABAL roots, CABAL's face flashes onto the screen a few times during the campaign, highly distressing Alexa. Alexa shows a deep mistrust for the combat AI, as her parents had been slain by CABAL's cyborgs. In her last act before she is removed, she infects LEGION with a virus that causes its systems to fail.
LEGION resurrects itself many years later however, and receives a signal being transmitted from the Tacitus device which, according to Kane, only LEGION is able to detect. Once Kane orders LEGION to use the remnants of CABAL's cyborg army -now known as the Marked of Kane- to reclaim the Tacitus from GDI, LEGION is shown to become infused with the vast amount of knowledge from the device, and the game ends as a cliffhanger.
A new Nod character played by Carl Lumbly. After Kane's supposed death at the end of Second Tiberium War, GDI undercover agents succeeded in convincing Marcion that Kane was not the true Prophet. GDI also secretly arranged an asassination of the leader of the Black Hand, Anton Slavik, so Marcion could take his place. Eventually LEGION defeated Marcion's forces and captured him. Kane revealed himself to Marcion, and faked his public recantation, bringing the Black Hand back into the Brotherhood.
The Species starlet joins the Command and Conquer cast lineup as a member of the Brotherhood. According to Natasha Henstridge, Alexa idolizes Kane in every way. However Alexa's parents were killed by CABAL's cyborgs. Thus her disdain for LEGION grows from mission to mission, until she eventually betrays Kane and attempts to destroy LEGION by infecting it with a computer virus, shooting herself shortly thereafter.
Bonus content
Every copy of Kane's Wrath, including the bundled Command & Conquer 3 Limited Edition, includes a code which entitles the player to enter into the beta for the next Command & Conquer: Red Alert series game, Red Alert 3, if the code is registered before September 15, 2008.
A bonus map named "Ruined River" is also included for preorders. [9]
A special edition version of Kane's Wrath which included a Kane's Wrath Razer DeathAdder mouse was released exclusively for Singapore customers.[10]
Reception
| Reviews | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | 9.1/10 [11] |
| Game Informer | 7.8/10 [12] |
| GamePro | 4.5/5 [13] |
| GameSpot | 7.5/10 [14] |
| GameSpy | 3/5 [15] |
| IGN | 7.9/10 [16] |
| GameTap | 8/10 [17] |
| Compilations of multiple reviews | |
| Compiler | Score |
| Metacritic | 83% [18] |
The expansion has been generally well received by critics and fans alike. It was praised for the subtle tactical additions of the sub-factions and for the new Epic Units.[19] Others feel that the campaign feels jilted, and that the expansion lacks any special additions, saying that the sub-factions are underwhelming. [20]
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
References
- ^ EA Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars , Electronic Arts
- ^ EA Command and Conquer 3 Kane's Wrath Expansion Pack
- ^ a b c Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath First Look. IGN Entertainment (2007-08-21). Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
- ^ Jason Ocampo (2007-08-22). GC '07: Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath First Look. Gamespot. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
- ^ EA Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars - News
- ^ a b c d e Kane's Wrath Gameplay Preview. GameReplays.org Staff (2007-12-17). Retrieved on 18 December 2007.
- ^ Kane's Wrath Zocom Zone Raider Spotlight. Electronic Arts. Retrieved on 26 February 2008.
- ^ Kane's Wrath Marked of Kane & Black Hand Unit Spotlight. Electronic Arts. Retrieved on 26 February 2008.
- ^ Electronic Arts BV Online Store - Product Information Electronic Arts
- ^ Electronic Arts Singapore - Promotions Electronic Arts
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review Index, Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath Reviews
- ^ Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Review
External links
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