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Command & Conquer: Generals Zero por IGN
The Command & Conquer series moved along in a new direction with the release of Generals. Gone were the crazy mad scientist stories with cheesy actors and live action cutscenes. They were replaced by in-game cutscenes and a "real world" setting pitting the US and China up against a common terrorist foe called the GLA. While the weapons are still wacky in some cases, the situations almost have a present-day feel considering the war on terror that insists on happening. Generals was a breath of fresh air that the series needed with exciting gameplay, big weapons, plenty of strategy, and a lot of well designed missions. The expansion, Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour is a big one adding more units, more scenarios, and more fun that fans of the parent title will have a hard time not enjoying.
First off, you've been seeing this whole 30 new units campaign going on, and really, that's some marketing BS. There aren't 30 new units to play with. There are new units on each side and some modified versions of other units that can be used when playing as one of the specialized Generals such as the Emperor Tank, that's basically a more powerful version of the Overlord. Yes, technically they're a bit different, but the ad campaign has been a bit misleading on that account. It's like saying the blue zombie and the red zombie in Diablo II were really different creatures. Regardless of this, Zero Hour is a damn fun game that adds a lot of gameplay and hours even if there aren't really 30 totally unique new units in the game.
From a graphics and sound stand point, Zero Hour remains true to Generals with slick visuals in terms of texture, lighting, and effects. Superweapons continue to impress and the new heat wave effect for the US microwave tanks is a pretty good one, even if it can make things a bit confusing on the battlefield occasionally when you have a few of them in your army. Sound is equally good with nice sound effects for combat and ambient sounds (although some of the cities seem to have an awful lot of loud angry cats running around) as well as the same half rock, half symphonic score playing in the background of your battles. Voice acting still makes me laugh in a lot of cases and its still sometimes difficult to tell whether I'm laughing for the right reasons.
As far as additions to the game experience go, there's a whole lot of new stuff to see here, and a lot of it is way the hell more challenging than the first game, which as one of the developers recently pointed out, several members of the press complained a bit about, including myself. Well they certainly showed me... The game is broken up into single and multiplayer with single player broken up into three sections. Players can choose from skirmish (which remains unchanged), campaign, and Generals' Challenge.
The campaign breaks up the three sides once again with five good missions apiece. Some of them are certainly more challenging than others, but all of them (except for one of the US missions) made me happy, which is actually unusual for an RTS. As with the parent title, you can complete the campaigns in any order, but the "story" works best when you play through in the order they're given to you (US, GLA, then China). The story isn't really a story so much as a chance to see the conflict unfold from all three sides. Each of the missions is begun with a live action newscast cut in with some in-game engine cutscenes done in the style of various news organizations from around the world. The US is reported by BNN (I'm guessing this is the British News Network or some such thing), while the GLA and China have their own specific news shows with different hosts. These little briefings set up the coming conflict and give a little recap of what just happened in the previous mission as well as how the outcome is affecting the situation in various parts of the world (although most of this conflict is centered around Europe and the Mediterranean). They're all done pretty well and keep with the theme, which I liked quite a bit. You'll also get one of the in-game cutscenes to start off most of the levels as well with fancy camerawork for some pretty good scenes. I guess finding a cinematographer from Hollywood did some good. I give a thumbs up to the new campaigns and their creativity.
These campaigns also show off the new units on each side, such as the microwave tank and the Chinese Helix helicopter. It also gives a chance to try out some of the new powers such as the surprise attack of the GLA. This nifty new General ability will let you pop a gunless tunnel exit for your tunnel network anywhere that you've explored on the map, which will let your units pop into the back of an enemy base if you've happened to look there with a radar van.
My favorite part of this Zero Hour is probably the Generals' Challenge mode. Now, when I play RTSs, I usually can get a grip and win on the first try in most of the missions given. This was most definitely not the case when playing against many of the Generals in this mode. In fact, I just plain couldn't win some of the matches by the time I had to write this review. While they're all doable (at least on normal difficulty, hard is maddening), they'll take some time, effort, and patience to win.
The Generals' Challenges are set up almost like a match in Street Fighter, giving you a loading screen with each General's portrait and a little quip from the opposing General about how your ***** is small and you don't stand a chance in hell because you're such a sissy. I tell you what, there's nothing more motivating to kicking the computer's ass then having it constantly insult you. You begin not caring because it's a computer program, start to grow angry with them when you lose, and suddenly find that you're taking the losses personally. They're all sadistic jerks and will relentlessly give you crap, which strangely enough is damn entertaining, although I wish they had more to say. Hearing the same thing over and over about how General Kwai's tanks are testing my flanks even though I'm stomping his base into the ground is a little odd. Still, they will comment when you destroy specific structures of theirs that they want as well as comment on structures that you build while making sure to mention that it won't last very long.
Each of the Generals (there're three for each faction) has a specialization and will use it relentlessly against you. You can pick any of the nine Generals to play with and use their special armies as well. You will have to play on the opposing General's home territory, which is conducive to their victory. General Granger (the master of air superiority) doesn't have a lot of ground units available to him, but his home map sets you on the other side of a river, which is a huge pain if you happen to be playing with General Kwai, who's all about tanks.
Each General will give you an opening taunt and then sits back to let you build some basic defenses. There will be a couple of warnings before they attack, and then you had better have your stuff together because when they start, they don't mess around. Superweapons, laser tanks, aircraft, nukes... everything is fair game as long as it's in their arsenal. And considering you're also using a specialized General that won't have everything in the normal faction lineup to build, you had better learn your strengths, and fast. For example, General Alexander specializes in weapons of mass destruction and will therefore get bonuses such as lower costs for Particle Cannons and good defenses since she can't build any tanks and will rely heavily on using these big weapons to slow down the enemy attacks enough to muster ground forces for the final assault.
One of the really cool things is that once you've completed the cycle with one of these Generals, you'll be able to use it online in multiplayer games along with all of their bonuses and disadvantages. They make for some interesting games...
So yes I liked Zero Hour a lot, but there are still some problems with it that can be pretty damn annoying. Problem number one is the pathfinding AI. It still suffers from clogging at choke points and getting places slowly. I really wish that formations had been a part of this series, either preset or custom would have been good. As it is, directing your units can be a pain in the ass. I've also experienced problems with units not responding to enemy fire as they should. Long ranged units such as the Inferno Cannon will just sit there while a Rocket Buggy peppers your base defenses. You'll have to actually tell them to attack the units, which are well within range. There were also some really strange bugs that need to be fixed in some of the maps. One in particular can actually be devastating to your attacking units on General Townes' pentagon base. Each of the ramps into the base has some invisible marker object above the ramp. All of your units that can shoot into the air will zero in on this indestructible invisible object and shoot the hell out of it while all of the real units left in the base attack your army. It does this for each of the ramps and can really be a problem if you don't manage where you want your units to attack.
Closing Comments
Other than the little bugs that can be worked around until they're patched and some wonky AI issues, Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour is an excellent expansion pack. It adds a lot of new fun for gamers that have already played the hell out of the original game. The campaign is usually enough addition for an expansion pack as it is. The extra work the team did on the Generals' Challenge mode is awesome. The value is certainly there and fans of the series should have no problem sinking into the game and having a blast.
este juego tiene un rating de 9.0
The Command & Conquer series moved along in a new direction with the release of Generals. Gone were the crazy mad scientist stories with cheesy actors and live action cutscenes. They were replaced by in-game cutscenes and a "real world" setting pitting the US and China up against a common terrorist foe called the GLA. While the weapons are still wacky in some cases, the situations almost have a present-day feel considering the war on terror that insists on happening. Generals was a breath of fresh air that the series needed with exciting gameplay, big weapons, plenty of strategy, and a lot of well designed missions. The expansion, Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour is a big one adding more units, more scenarios, and more fun that fans of the parent title will have a hard time not enjoying.
First off, you've been seeing this whole 30 new units campaign going on, and really, that's some marketing BS. There aren't 30 new units to play with. There are new units on each side and some modified versions of other units that can be used when playing as one of the specialized Generals such as the Emperor Tank, that's basically a more powerful version of the Overlord. Yes, technically they're a bit different, but the ad campaign has been a bit misleading on that account. It's like saying the blue zombie and the red zombie in Diablo II were really different creatures. Regardless of this, Zero Hour is a damn fun game that adds a lot of gameplay and hours even if there aren't really 30 totally unique new units in the game.
From a graphics and sound stand point, Zero Hour remains true to Generals with slick visuals in terms of texture, lighting, and effects. Superweapons continue to impress and the new heat wave effect for the US microwave tanks is a pretty good one, even if it can make things a bit confusing on the battlefield occasionally when you have a few of them in your army. Sound is equally good with nice sound effects for combat and ambient sounds (although some of the cities seem to have an awful lot of loud angry cats running around) as well as the same half rock, half symphonic score playing in the background of your battles. Voice acting still makes me laugh in a lot of cases and its still sometimes difficult to tell whether I'm laughing for the right reasons.
As far as additions to the game experience go, there's a whole lot of new stuff to see here, and a lot of it is way the hell more challenging than the first game, which as one of the developers recently pointed out, several members of the press complained a bit about, including myself. Well they certainly showed me... The game is broken up into single and multiplayer with single player broken up into three sections. Players can choose from skirmish (which remains unchanged), campaign, and Generals' Challenge.
The campaign breaks up the three sides once again with five good missions apiece. Some of them are certainly more challenging than others, but all of them (except for one of the US missions) made me happy, which is actually unusual for an RTS. As with the parent title, you can complete the campaigns in any order, but the "story" works best when you play through in the order they're given to you (US, GLA, then China). The story isn't really a story so much as a chance to see the conflict unfold from all three sides. Each of the missions is begun with a live action newscast cut in with some in-game engine cutscenes done in the style of various news organizations from around the world. The US is reported by BNN (I'm guessing this is the British News Network or some such thing), while the GLA and China have their own specific news shows with different hosts. These little briefings set up the coming conflict and give a little recap of what just happened in the previous mission as well as how the outcome is affecting the situation in various parts of the world (although most of this conflict is centered around Europe and the Mediterranean). They're all done pretty well and keep with the theme, which I liked quite a bit. You'll also get one of the in-game cutscenes to start off most of the levels as well with fancy camerawork for some pretty good scenes. I guess finding a cinematographer from Hollywood did some good. I give a thumbs up to the new campaigns and their creativity.
These campaigns also show off the new units on each side, such as the microwave tank and the Chinese Helix helicopter. It also gives a chance to try out some of the new powers such as the surprise attack of the GLA. This nifty new General ability will let you pop a gunless tunnel exit for your tunnel network anywhere that you've explored on the map, which will let your units pop into the back of an enemy base if you've happened to look there with a radar van.
My favorite part of this Zero Hour is probably the Generals' Challenge mode. Now, when I play RTSs, I usually can get a grip and win on the first try in most of the missions given. This was most definitely not the case when playing against many of the Generals in this mode. In fact, I just plain couldn't win some of the matches by the time I had to write this review. While they're all doable (at least on normal difficulty, hard is maddening), they'll take some time, effort, and patience to win.
The Generals' Challenges are set up almost like a match in Street Fighter, giving you a loading screen with each General's portrait and a little quip from the opposing General about how your ***** is small and you don't stand a chance in hell because you're such a sissy. I tell you what, there's nothing more motivating to kicking the computer's ass then having it constantly insult you. You begin not caring because it's a computer program, start to grow angry with them when you lose, and suddenly find that you're taking the losses personally. They're all sadistic jerks and will relentlessly give you crap, which strangely enough is damn entertaining, although I wish they had more to say. Hearing the same thing over and over about how General Kwai's tanks are testing my flanks even though I'm stomping his base into the ground is a little odd. Still, they will comment when you destroy specific structures of theirs that they want as well as comment on structures that you build while making sure to mention that it won't last very long.
Each of the Generals (there're three for each faction) has a specialization and will use it relentlessly against you. You can pick any of the nine Generals to play with and use their special armies as well. You will have to play on the opposing General's home territory, which is conducive to their victory. General Granger (the master of air superiority) doesn't have a lot of ground units available to him, but his home map sets you on the other side of a river, which is a huge pain if you happen to be playing with General Kwai, who's all about tanks.
Each General will give you an opening taunt and then sits back to let you build some basic defenses. There will be a couple of warnings before they attack, and then you had better have your stuff together because when they start, they don't mess around. Superweapons, laser tanks, aircraft, nukes... everything is fair game as long as it's in their arsenal. And considering you're also using a specialized General that won't have everything in the normal faction lineup to build, you had better learn your strengths, and fast. For example, General Alexander specializes in weapons of mass destruction and will therefore get bonuses such as lower costs for Particle Cannons and good defenses since she can't build any tanks and will rely heavily on using these big weapons to slow down the enemy attacks enough to muster ground forces for the final assault.
One of the really cool things is that once you've completed the cycle with one of these Generals, you'll be able to use it online in multiplayer games along with all of their bonuses and disadvantages. They make for some interesting games...
So yes I liked Zero Hour a lot, but there are still some problems with it that can be pretty damn annoying. Problem number one is the pathfinding AI. It still suffers from clogging at choke points and getting places slowly. I really wish that formations had been a part of this series, either preset or custom would have been good. As it is, directing your units can be a pain in the ass. I've also experienced problems with units not responding to enemy fire as they should. Long ranged units such as the Inferno Cannon will just sit there while a Rocket Buggy peppers your base defenses. You'll have to actually tell them to attack the units, which are well within range. There were also some really strange bugs that need to be fixed in some of the maps. One in particular can actually be devastating to your attacking units on General Townes' pentagon base. Each of the ramps into the base has some invisible marker object above the ramp. All of your units that can shoot into the air will zero in on this indestructible invisible object and shoot the hell out of it while all of the real units left in the base attack your army. It does this for each of the ramps and can really be a problem if you don't manage where you want your units to attack.
Closing Comments
Other than the little bugs that can be worked around until they're patched and some wonky AI issues, Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour is an excellent expansion pack. It adds a lot of new fun for gamers that have already played the hell out of the original game. The campaign is usually enough addition for an expansion pack as it is. The extra work the team did on the Generals' Challenge mode is awesome. The value is certainly there and fans of the series should have no problem sinking into the game and having a blast.
este juego tiene un rating de 9.0
