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C&C3 – Tiberium Wars
Year:	2007
Developer:	Electronic Arts Los Angeles
Publisher:	Electronic Arts
Code name:	C&C3 EAv2
Original title:	C&C3 – Tiberium Wars
Abbreviation:	TW
Executive Producer:	Mike Verdu
Composers:	Steve Jablonsky, Trevor Morris
Rating PCG:	85% (05/2007)
Newest version:	1.09 (Kane Edition) / 1.09 (Standard Edition)
Add-on:	Kanes Rache

Story:

March 2047: A nuclear missile launched from Kairo was fired at the GDI space station Philadelphia and completely destroyed it. At the same time the elite forces "Black Hand" are attacking the baffled GDI troops everywhere at once. The GDI is facing its demise...

Trivia:

• TW was released on 03/29/2007 – exactly 40 years before the beginning of the fictional story. Coincidence?
• The demo is available here!
• Getting rid of the EA logo – No Logo Mod! Anyhow: In RA3 the EA logo was for the first time interruptible with ESC and one was no longer forced to watch it EVERYTIME! Aaargh!
• The poster from "The First Decade" depicts two motives from TW: The Ion Cannon and the Bull tank, before being replaced by the Predator. The draft was later transferred to Tiberium, where it would've acted as a successor of the model from TW.
• Some house walls have attached holograms of characters from Renegade.
• The FMVs were quite speechy and partly unintentionally comical. The sets could be counted on the fingers of one hand, thus Ajay's tent in America was absolutely identical to the one in Australia. CGI sequences were scarce goods, while Westwood featured short rendered clips before and after the missions. Not until RA3 this condition was improving.
• Ed Del Castillo expressed critically on the development of Tiberium and the core elements in general during a podcast on 03/10/2014:

  They didn't know what they had. And they didn't understand or and or value the depth of thought that was behind the creations that were created. Right I mean I doubt to this day that anybody understands what really Tiberium is. Right and what was its role in the terraforming of the Earth. Right and and why it was significant in the terraforming of the earth and and what that meant to the type of alien that were going to land on the Earth eventually. And the kind of eco message that was going to be given right around you know Command & Conquer 3 about caring for the earth and taking it back.
  [...]
  They took the solely points that they understood. They try to multiply those, but [...] because they didnt have the core your ideas were kind of derivative of of what had existed not reaching back into that fountain of core to draw new ideas.

• Would Louis Castle still hold the rights on C&C, TW and TT respectively and following games of the franchise would have developped into a completely different direction, he reported in an interview on 09/08/2010:

  How would you have continued the C&C franchise if you would still be in possession of it?
  It would have definitely been different. The Irvine team really liked a few mechanics from other games so starting with Red Alert 2 and continuing through C&C 4 the games have been heavily influenced by a different design team.

• Greg Black criticized in retrospect on 06/23/2010 in an interview the corporate policy of EA and denounced a lot of drawbacks:

  Unfortunately although we had a very talented team of passionate gamers, EA simply would not give us the time we felt we needed to make a truly great C&C game. In the case of C&C:3 our development cycle was something like 11 months. Compare that to Blizzard or Relic who was spending 3-6 years on their RTS titles. Our longest development cycle was 18 months on RA3, but at that time the team was split in half and added another platform (PS3), so the extra dev time was kind of a wash. EA simply needed us to keep cranking out games to keep the LA studio afloat while many its other teams floundered. So to answer your question I was not happy with how C&C3 or RA3 turned out, our games were always rushed, our engine technology aged and degraded over the years, our path finding was horrible, our online implimentations were embarassing, and ultimately our games did not, in my view, live up to the orginal C&C, or RA2, or Generals (which I also worked on but in a very lowly capacity).

  The game has been rushed, the SAGE engine always outdated, the path-finding gruesome, the online technology embarrassingly implemented and simply not doing justice to its predecessors. It is not looking much better in terms of balancing and design:

  Unfortunatly our schedules usually meant we couldn't do any real iteration on the design. We were essentially shipping out "first pass" work as final across all areas of the project, balance and design included. Additionally the schedules precluded us from having meaningful multiplayer betas. This was always a huge source of frustration and disappointment for me. I can not blame everything on time pressure though, Dustin Browder was under similar time pressure with Generals and that game had great multiplayer.
  
  With every game I've worked on ultimately all I can see are it's flaws. Its hard to not look at something every day and just see the problems. Pathfinding and UI responsiveness were the two things that always drove me nuts with the sage engine.

  From all areas the first runnable version had to be used and the implications of the multiplayer beta were therefore meaningless. Greg Black was additionally most upset about the path-finding and response time of the engine.
• Samuel Bass on 02/04/2010 about the unit design and absence of most technologies from TS:

  In CNC3, we were trying to get back to the feeling of Tiberian Dawn, with an emphasis on treaded and wheeled vehicles over more science-fiction oriented designs such as walkers.
  
  With CNC4, we had a desire to explore more of the science-fiction side of the universe, allowing us to embrace Tiberian Sun-era units such as the Mammoth Mk. II (returning as the GDI Mastodon) and to examine where other forms of battlefield technology (such as hovercraft) would be in 2077.

• Adam Isgreen on 06/05/2007 about TW:

  Goodness, people arguing my opinions...
  
  I have mixed feelings about the game. I played GDI up to the final mission, Nod up to the 2nd to last mission, and the Scrin campaign not at all. I played a few online games and many skirmish games with every faction to get a sense of their differences.
  
  The mission design wasn't as good as it could have been. Missions were generally slogs through the maps with not a lot of creative ways to sneak around and accomplish objectives creatively with varying unit types. The missions were too similar to each other in objectives, and IMO the campaigns were about 3-4 missions too long on each side for GDI and Nod because the missions were too similar. The campaign had worn out its welcome before I finished it, which is why I gave up at the last GDI mission and 2nd to last Nod one.
  
  I loved seeing the videos again in the series and it was great to see Kane back. After a while into the campaigns however, I ended up skipping the movies completely because they were very talk-heavy and took a really long time to get to the point (i.e. why I'm going to do what I do next). I'd read the summaries while loading and know just what I needed to do. Some of the vids (i.e. the interview program when the aliens land in the GDI campaign) were just very odd to me... it didn't seem like anyone was a freaked out as they should have been about alien invaders.
  
  Although I don't agree with each and every choice they made in the fiction, I completely understand why they made those decisions and can see what they're trying to accomplish. It's called C&C3, but it's really a reboot on the franchise, which is fine.
  
  The game, while playing more like the Red Alert series in terms of pace, really had the feel of a Command & Conquer title with its presentation, UI, and look, which I loved. The effects and terrain were great looking and really captured the feel of the universe and the tech they had in it.
  
  Balance wise, I think there's some issues for income and tech that that favor rushing more than anything else and I'm curious to see how they're addressed in the next "big" patch. I'm looking forward to what they add in the expansion and where they take the universe.
  
  The game has a lot of play value, great presentation, and while I don't agree with everything they did, they made a solid game. If I was a reviewer, I'd give it an 8/10 for overall value for your money and production quality that they delivered in the product.
  
  That's my overall take on the game.

  Phlakaton-PG about TW:

  I played through most of it. The repeater missions for each side were lame... I mean they stuck to the same general flow for each campaign. You had a defend mission and a commando one... wash rinse repeat.
  
  The polish on the game was very nice. Clean and awesome effects work from my bud Mikey Jones.
  
  Decent game but nothing special unfortunately. Effects kept me coming back for a while.

• EA consequently forwent unique installers compared to being the norm at Westwood. Mike Verdu justified this with "those are relics from the DOS era" – as if e.g. Renegade being a DOS game!
  On the contrary David Silverman was adoring in an interview on 10/01/2018 exactly those "relics":

  From the themed installation sequence – to this day I don't understand why other game developers don't do this – to the full motion videos and graphics, I was hooked!

• The music being a trademark of the C&C series is basically as bad as the one from Generals. Starting with the add-on KW things were slightly improving having remixes of Klepacki's classic tracks. Frank Klepacki himself should only participate in a C&C game by RA3 again.
• As the only C&C game TW has gotten a book of the same name. The ISBN of the novel is 3-8332-1644-1 and was written by Keith R. A. DeCandido, who was not very eager attaching importance to continuity. As such Mobius was supposedly killed on board of the Philadelphia, while according to the game he dies in an Ion storm. Furthermore it says, that the Scrin were invulnerable (!) with Tiberium-based weapons the only exception. Also McNeil is alive, while Westwood had him killed during the crash of the Kodiak in FS.
  Adam Isgreen appalled regarding McNeil on 06/11/2007:

  Seriously?! Jeez. Wow.

• Similar to ignoring the original Tiberium, same applies to the presented technology: Subterranean units? Firestorm technology? Disruptor tanks? Hovercrafts? All the mechs? Plasma weapons? Gates? Nothing of all that has been left over, but rather a tech level comparable to TD or even older. Fail!
  Having addressed Adam Isgreen to that on 06/07/2007:

  Heh. You have to read that as "tech they presented in the game". I was taking the game for what it showed me and how those things looked -- not what they omitted from the previous fiction / games.

  Regarding the fact that building walls is no longer possible on 10/07/2007:

  Walls were a very large part of C&C in the old days.
  
  They're kinda hard to justify in modern games, simply because there's other ways to get the same benefits.
  
  Still, they're fun when you have stealth tanks lurkin' about.

  And furthermore on 10/08/2007:

  They're not in TW because of findpath issues, which is why you don't see them in a lot of RTS games. The SAGE engine can't handle walls well. You can see this in LotR2.
  
  Walls dramatically complicate findpath. Although a C&C Tiberian game without walls doesn't feel right to me, because until TW, they were always part of the game.

  And again:

  The only reason I called out tiberian vs. RA is that so far the consistency with RA games and walls is still maintained. If an RA3 were to come out and not have walls, then I'd say the same thing about it not feeling right.
  
  We certainly would have run into the problem with the WW C&C3 versions as well, although we had still planned on having them as a player-built item. Sometimes it's worth the pain to maintain the universe.
  
  ...Of course, it completely depends on how much pain it ends up generating. Although I'd think that the TW team experimented with walls in TW, their experiences with the SAGE engine on the other products (LotR) may have eliminated that option very early in pre-pro.

  But: The wall tryouts of EA are still there, only disabled. By that mod teams have a chance to reuse them again.
  Especially asked if the Nod MCV was also able to walk like a mech, although only GDI being the pioneers in mech technology, Adam Isgreen responded on 09/22/2007:

  Our version of the Nod CC didn't walk. That was added.

• Contrary to the blue Tiberium from TS the TW variant is no longer explosive. There was no explanation given.
• Originally no blue Tiberium was intended at all! After heavy protests by the community (at whose I was not quite uninvolved... DIE EA DIE: NO BLUE TIBERIUM!!! anyone? heh) it found its way into the game after all. Aaron Kaufman on 08/18/2006 to it:

  Hey guys,
  
  Victory has been claimed...Blue Tiberium is officially in Command and Conquer 3. I am not privy yet to disclose the exact details on how exactly it will affect your gameplay experience (because that hasn't been fully fleshed out), but, I can tell you a couple of things.
  
  -it will be Blue
  -it will play a role in your strategy and defeating your opponent
  -it will likely be involved in the resource system in some capacity
  -i'll give you more specifics later :-)
  
  And yes, we took your feedback very seriously.
  
  We're getting ready for Leipzig to showcase the first major multiplayer battle between GDI and Nod, its going to be explosive, and yes, there will be a fully featured video of it shortly after the show for those who don't make it to Germany.
  
  With regards to Blue Tiberium, I'd like to say this was a collective decision between our designers and producers and the community feedback was a major critical factor in that decision.
  
  Like I keep saying, you guys do have a voice. Keep it constructive and you never know, we're always listening, especially myself.
  
  Its been a hectic crazy week getting ready for next week.
  
  Our official site will be re-launching this weekend, the next newsletter is hitting next week Wednesday/Thursday and YOU ABSOLUTELY must sign-up for it, like every newsletter, if you want to be on the inside first, then sign up, and tell your friends to sign up to. I'm putting the final touches on the newsletter right now, so you heard it from the creator himself, you don't want to miss this.
  
  Welcome back Blue Tiberium...you are welcome to post thoughts and ideas
  
  – APOC
  
  p.s. - BLUE KNIGHT!!! (only a select few will know what that means...wink wink)

• EA has considered the predecessors only superficial in general: The Tacitus was supposed to be discovered in 2028 only two years prior to TS. The Tiberium supposedly altered itself radically in a mere 16 years between FS and TW from a biological, virtual plant-like, kind with pods and blossom trees to a radioactive and crystalline structure. For this purpose EA in collaboration with the MIT has crafted a highly scientific explanation, which precisely points out, how everything transforms into Tiberium after coming in contact with it.
  That's all well and good, but one thing was forgotten: It has nothing more in common with the original Tiberium by Westwood. Epic Fail!
• As the only Tiberium creature the Visceroid makes an appearance. However no longer as a loose collection of cells and protoplasm respectively, but as a sturdy life-form with legs (!). OMG...
• During the development "Kane's Dossier" was published: Crafted by Lia Suskind for GDI/InOps after 8 months of work, a report about Kane finished on 06/27/2030. On page 5 is mentioned, that Kane could be close to 125 years old and despite the blackened text passages, it allows an allusion to Kane's appearance in RA1 – although EA is strictly separating these universes.
• The engine being used is once again SAGE, this time advanced with XML.
• The subtitle is not creative and uninspired: "Tiberium Wars". A title matching to every Tiberium game, since they have been Tiberium wars, too. Instead of listening to the community (greets @ daeas!) and e.g. using "Tiberian Eclipse" one stick to the original working title. This could also imply further Tiberium titles, since "Twilight" being the trilogy's ending is not longer used.
  Aaron Kaufman justified the title during June 2006 as follows:

  Hey guys,
  
  I've explained this before in a previous thread, but I shall do it again, hence the name of "Tiberium Wars"
  
  Tiberium: Mysterious substance discovered in 1995 near the Tiber River in Italy.
  
  Tiberian: Of or relating to the substance Tiberium, its molecular makeup, effects on the surrounding environment or history
  
  In Tiberian Sun they did not fight over the sun. It was a descriptor of the new stage of Tiberium growth and progress. In Tiberium Wars this is actually the name of the war. Not to get too deep just yet but Tiberium Wars is actually the 3rd Tiberium War if you didn't put 2&2 together yet...Wait that equals 4, but you get my lingo :o)
  
  So, hopefully that will make logical sense. GDI and Nod are not fighting over "Tiberian", they are fighting over "Tiberium", hence the name "Tiberium Wars".
  
  The title of the game grows on you once you think about it and understand the logical sense, and I think we save face by holding to our choice here. We don't want to keep back pedaling. You don't need to always be cliche in a title and have continuity in the sub-title. The continuity is in the franchise name "Command & Conquer". Tiberium Wars is a continuation of a story in the C& C universe in the "Tiberian Storyline". I know it gets confusing, but think about the literal meaning of the title and it makes sense.
  
  We fully understand what some of the intended titles were back in the day, but now that we are officially announced, the offiical title is Tiberium Wars :o)
  
  Remember, continuity comes in the actual story and the franchise name Command & Conquer. And there is plenty of continuity because this is the 3rd Tiberium War.
  
  I'll admit myself that Tiberian Twilight is a very cool name, but it doesn't conotate the story of C&C 3 well, of which you guys will learn a lot about in the coming months and when you actually play the game of course.
  
  We're building a next generation C&C game that is true to the spiriti of this classic franchise, universe, and story.
  
  It will all make sense guys...

  According to that given continuity has not to be reflected by a "clichéd" subtitle, but rather solely through brand name and the story. ...
• Check out also my article at the Community News for the first infos about TW!
• On 04/20/2006 EA's TS predecessor was officially confirmed again and previewed in detail by multiple magazines (see below, scans of PC Games with permission granted by CnCHQ!)
• The old logo in Generals style; fortunately dismissed:
  
  Although I prefer the "3" to the one from the new logo...
• Zones overview:
  
• TW emerged on 04/18/2006 and was officially announced two days later. It is the result of a long development odyssey: More on that at C&C3: Tiberian Twilight.

Official videos:

• Visual Effects Society Reel
• Frühes Interfacekonzept The interface is based on the game look and feel. The idea was that of a modern PDA interface.
• Nod Silo Animation
• Nod Raffinerie Animation
• Zerstörung der Philadelphia.
• Launch Trailer!
• Xbox 360 Version vom Theatrical Trailer.
• Weiterer Xbox 360 Trailer
• Launch Video.
• YouTube Kane Teaser.
• Nod Character Trailer (HD Version)
• GDI Character Trailer (HD Version)
• Feature Preview! DEUTSCHE Zusammenfassung und Überblick.
• Xbox Live Vision Cam.
• Scrin Prolog! Einleitung zu den Scrin Missionen, extremer Spoiler!
• GDI Mission in Alexandria
• Nod Prolog #2!
• Nod Prolog #1!
• Scrin Preview! Scrin Skirmish mit Rift Generator und Mutterschiff!
• Nod Skirmish!
• GDI Skirmish!
• Philadelphia Strike.
• Neue Version des Scrin Trailer.
• Neue Version Theatrical Trailer.
• GDI Mission 1 Die erste Mission der GDI mit Ionenwerfer ingame!
• Nod Mission 1 Die erste Mission von Nod mit Zerstörung der Philadelphia!
• Theatrical Trailer! Tempel von Nod, Atombombe und Ionenwerfer! Neue FMVs!
• Scrin Trailer! (MIRROR!) FMVs der Scrin und Mutterschiff!
• Winter Community Summit
• Clubic Preview jeuxvideo.com Reportage mit Nod Multiplayer!
• GameStop Video, der zweite Trailer von C&C3! Entspricht dem "Exclusive C&C3 Game Trailer" der Pre-Order DVD.
• Weiteres GameStop Video mit Nachricht von Kirce (GDI).
• GameVideos.com - Battle Gameplay 10 Minuten Scrin Video!
• IGN 8 - Rocket barrage.
• IGN 7 - Warmechs.
• IGN 6 - Shield aliens.
• IGN 5 - Aliens and Warmechs fighting.
• IGN 4 - Tripod charge.
• IGN 3 - Nod offensive in a Blue Zone.
• IGN 2 - Alien attack in the Yellow Zone.
• IGN 1 - Aliens take on a Red Zone.
• Gamespot Interview mit Amir Ajami und vielen Gameplay Szenen - in HD!
• Gamespot Gameplay 1 bis 3 in HD!
• Neue Version des Xbox 360 Trailer!
• Exklusives GameStop Video mit Nachricht von Ajay (Nod)
• MP und SP Video der PC Games (02/2007)
• Menü der Pre-Order DVD.
• Neue Version des GDI vs. Nod Trailers in HD!
• C&C3 Multiplayer Video des PC PowerPlay Magazins (Januar 2007).
• Neue Version des November Trailer in HD!
• Xbox 360 Trailer.
• GDI vs. Nod Trailer mit neuen Einheiten.
• Pre-Order: Preview Of "Behind The Lines".
• Pre-Order: Exclusive C&C3 Game Trailer.
• Pre-Order: Sneak Peek Of Live-Action Scenes.
• Pre-Order: GDI Strategy Video.
• GT TV Indepth Interview mit Amir Ajami.
• GT Exclusive Footage Gameplay HD Alle Szenen aus dem November Trailer ungeschnitten!
• November Trailer! (HD Version)
• Das finale Logo!
• Weitere Ansprache von Kane.
• Interview mit Mike Verdu und vielen Gameplay Szenen.
• Gamplay von der GC2006 #1,
• Gamplay von der GC2006 #2,
• Gamplay von der GC2006 #3.
• You can't kill the messiah! Ankündigung von Joe Kucan als Kane!
• Der erste Gameplay-Trailer!
• Hier ist die Vorankündigung für die Nod-Präsentation auf der GC 2006 inkl. Nod Logo!
• Hier gibt's den ersten Trailer zu C&C3!
• Hier gibt's den EA E³ 360° Trailer mit einer C&C3 Sequenz!

Official map packs:

• Kane Edition Maps
• GameStop PreOrder Maps
• Best Buy PreOrder Maps

Editors / tools:

• Worldbuilder -Offizieller Karteneditor.
• Mod SDK 5.0 -Offizielles Mod SDK.
• UI Files -Updated UI Dateien für Patch 1.08
• Clean Menu UI Screens -Blankes Hauptmenü (z.B. ohne die Weltkugel)
• Art Pack 2 -MAX Dateien von fast allen C&C3 Einheiten.
• Battlecast Viewer -Damit könnt ihr Spiele verfolgen, ohne das Spiel selber zu besitzen.

Official images: