Red Alert 2 / C&C2, have things got better?
Discussion
Just installed these again at the weekend, and they are fantastic!
The campaigns are just excellent to play, all things considered.
I've played the newer versions since RA2/C&C2 and in my view, the series peaked with those two.
Yes, they can be a bit iffy in multiplayer, such were the days before widespread internet game play and balancing things being fixed, and also fixing the actual game for the year after it was first released
I was playing Civ2 and 3 again a while back and almost preferred Civ2 (Civ3 is better, but there is a charm with Civ2 that isn't there with 3)...
There is just something about the games from back then that is missing in newer stuff of this type. Maybe it's the invasion of the need to work on consoles, to appeal to simpletons to cover the widest possible market?
It's like they have to make them look flashier so you will buy them, but in Civ4's case, and RA3, all the extra visual stuff just makes it harder to actually play (although it looks nicer during the ensuing confusion)
Hmmm
Dave
The campaigns are just excellent to play, all things considered.
I've played the newer versions since RA2/C&C2 and in my view, the series peaked with those two.
Yes, they can be a bit iffy in multiplayer, such were the days before widespread internet game play and balancing things being fixed, and also fixing the actual game for the year after it was first released
I was playing Civ2 and 3 again a while back and almost preferred Civ2 (Civ3 is better, but there is a charm with Civ2 that isn't there with 3)...
There is just something about the games from back then that is missing in newer stuff of this type. Maybe it's the invasion of the need to work on consoles, to appeal to simpletons to cover the widest possible market?
It's like they have to make them look flashier so you will buy them, but in Civ4's case, and RA3, all the extra visual stuff just makes it harder to actually play (although it looks nicer during the ensuing confusion)
Hmmm
Dave
Buff Mchugelarge said:
For Pure gaming enjoyment try Total Annihilation. Its brilliant, I still play the odd Skirmish now and then.
The pinnacle of strategy gaming in my opinion. Absolutely awesome game. Great maps, great selection of units and you could easily lose a few hours in a skirmish. 'Supreme Commander' was a kind of follow up but wasn't quite as good. I bought the Decades C&C pack from Amazon about a year ago, and instantly reminded myself why I wasted so many hours as a teenager playing these games. They really are fantastic, and I don't think there is anything modern in its class that I enjoy playing or have played quite as much.
The more modern offerings from C&C did start to lose their playability, but on the most part, were still great fun to spend a couple of hours on.
Starcraft was another one that I spent a lot of time on. It wasn't quite as refined as the C&C games, but still had a great deal to offer.
The more modern offerings from C&C did start to lose their playability, but on the most part, were still great fun to spend a couple of hours on.
Starcraft was another one that I spent a lot of time on. It wasn't quite as refined as the C&C games, but still had a great deal to offer.
t. I was playing it on the pc up until about a year ago when I melted my pc & gave it to my brother to fix. Still got red alert & retaliaition for my PS1 & it works on my ps3.
I LOVE RA2!!!!
Swallowed so much I my time growing up!
Love the RTS's before they went "3D" AoE2, RA2, Warcraft 2, Sudden Strike, Rise of Nations...
Also a Civ 4 fan as well, the only "3D" game I actually get along with.
Trying to find Total Anihilation too if anyone knows where I can get a copy.
Swallowed so much I my time growing up!
Love the RTS's before they went "3D" AoE2, RA2, Warcraft 2, Sudden Strike, Rise of Nations...
Also a Civ 4 fan as well, the only "3D" game I actually get along with.
Trying to find Total Anihilation too if anyone knows where I can get a copy.
I consider myself a bit of a C&C connesieur, being the proud owner of every C&C original retail game except sole survivor. I'll give a brief summary of how I found the games.
I honestly think RA1 and the Aftermath expansion (counterstrike expansion was boring imo), Tiberian Sun+fs and RA2+yr despite the balance issues were the most fun. I struggled to get into the original C&C having played RA1 first.
Renegade was hilariously fun, shame it never really took off. Not a traditional C&C game but one of the best multiplayer fps experiences I've ever had. I dunno why, it just captured what a game should be in terms of entertainment over competition which is something all these CoD games have forgotten.
Generals wasn't a C&C game, it was a solid RTS using the C&C name to sell because it never would've really sold without that. I felt let down, but it was a solid RTS.
C&C 3+KW were pretty fun, I enjoyed them. Campaign was a little easy but it captured the story and feel of the old C&C. The scrin element seemed a little weird though.
RA3 and C&C4 were atrocious for different reasons. RA3 totally ruined the entire storyline of the RA series in a disgusting way. Everything was broken by this, it was overly complex and not fun to play IMO. The units all pissed me off because they weren't as good as RA2, the game didn't feel as well made or well thought out as RA2, it wasn't as amusing as RA2, it wasn't as good as RA2. Eva as played by Gemma Atkinson is hot though, that's about the only redeeming feature of the game.
C&C4 wasn't a traditional RTS and should never have been made. As the last true game of the series, it was an abomination and I was disgusted by it. Unit caps, no real base building, no proper resource gathering ugh. Shameful. It was like a capture the flag RTS style and I hated every moment of it.
I honestly think RA1 and the Aftermath expansion (counterstrike expansion was boring imo), Tiberian Sun+fs and RA2+yr despite the balance issues were the most fun. I struggled to get into the original C&C having played RA1 first.
Renegade was hilariously fun, shame it never really took off. Not a traditional C&C game but one of the best multiplayer fps experiences I've ever had. I dunno why, it just captured what a game should be in terms of entertainment over competition which is something all these CoD games have forgotten.
Generals wasn't a C&C game, it was a solid RTS using the C&C name to sell because it never would've really sold without that. I felt let down, but it was a solid RTS.
C&C 3+KW were pretty fun, I enjoyed them. Campaign was a little easy but it captured the story and feel of the old C&C. The scrin element seemed a little weird though.
RA3 and C&C4 were atrocious for different reasons. RA3 totally ruined the entire storyline of the RA series in a disgusting way. Everything was broken by this, it was overly complex and not fun to play IMO. The units all pissed me off because they weren't as good as RA2, the game didn't feel as well made or well thought out as RA2, it wasn't as amusing as RA2, it wasn't as good as RA2. Eva as played by Gemma Atkinson is hot though, that's about the only redeeming feature of the game.
C&C4 wasn't a traditional RTS and should never have been made. As the last true game of the series, it was an abomination and I was disgusted by it. Unit caps, no real base building, no proper resource gathering ugh. Shameful. It was like a capture the flag RTS style and I hated every moment of it.
I have been thinking about this for a while. My chums and I have been playing starcraft 2 since release but I don't get much fun from it any more due to it being more about timings, build orders and fast reactions than strategy so I'd like to move over to a more strategic game. Any other suggestions, or has everything been covered?
There's a lot to be said for old games. At uni, our most played multiplayer game wasn't anything flash on the 360...it was Worms on the original Playstation. Didn't matter that we had to entirely rearrange our living room whenever we wanted to play (as the wired controllers wouldn't stretch), it was totally worth it. Graphics were appalling (not helped by playing it through a big flat screen) but actual gameplay was unbeatable. Come back from a night drinking, rearrange living room, engage in four-way Worms multiplayer - perfect.
There is Spring, which is an open source development of Total Annihilation and has various game types. Some are based on the original TA game, some have extended it and some are completely different. I haven't played it properly for a while, but it was pretty decent and had a fairly active online player base.
wiffmaster said:
There's a lot to be said for old games. At uni, our most played multiplayer game wasn't anything flash on the 360...it was Worms on the original Playstation. Didn't matter that we had to entirely rearrange our living room whenever we wanted to play (as the wired controllers wouldn't stretch), it was totally worth it. Graphics were appalling (not helped by playing it through a big flat screen) but actual gameplay was unbeatable. Come back from a night drinking, rearrange living room, engage in four-way Worms multiplayer - perfect.
We used to play Worms (old pixely 2d worms) on the PC at network games. 6 or 8 players... it got really REALLY annoying when someone would get the rope out and spend about 15 mins swinging around during their play to try get somewhere Yep, an element of simplicity and clarity has been lost these days.
They are rushing out to push eye candy at you, which is nice of course, but a corresponding amount of time doesn't seem to be going into what games can do next in the way they work etc.
I've not played an innovative feeling game for a long time, yet for a time in the late 90's early 00's there were tons of them... these kinda games we are discussing I guess. The kinda games that existed just before the 'boom' of games I guess, where maybe the motivation for making a game has changed a lot!?
Rather appeal to everyone and be ultimately bland, than appeal to a specific audience who will be very happy and play it for years!?
Dave
Haha, Settlers 2, is that where you sent people tapping on ground looking for gold? Too many wasted hours spent on that
I think the game I sunk the most time into, and I've not bothered with anything seriously in the genre since, was Tornado by DID. Anyone else here play that?
No other combat flight sim came close. If they just re-made that today with flashier graphics but the exact same mechanic of play, I'd be in!
Dave
I think the game I sunk the most time into, and I've not bothered with anything seriously in the genre since, was Tornado by DID. Anyone else here play that?
No other combat flight sim came close. If they just re-made that today with flashier graphics but the exact same mechanic of play, I'd be in!
Dave
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