Kane's Wrath. The highly anticipated expansion to C&C 3: Tiberium Wars is here. But will Kane Unleash his wrath like a Tiger, or squeal like a little kitten? Long time C&C fan, Saracen, takes a look.
When you take a look at Kane's Wrath, you'll probably expect it to be all about Kane being pretty upset. Congratulations, you've almost got it one one! But this C&C expansion pack is more than just that! Kane isn't just going to cry about how he failed once again. There is much more to it than meets the eye. Firstly, being an expansion about Kane, it means that there is only one campaign which rather interestingly goes through 3 decades of the Tiberian Saga.
Campaign
The campaign is split into 3 separate acts. Act 1 deals with the aftermath of the 2nd Tiberium War, and shortly takes place after the Firestorm Expansion, Act 2 intertwines itself within the storyline of C&C3: Tiberium Wars. And Act 3 goes forward 3-4 years after the 3rd Tiberium War. It's a hell of a lot of ground to cover in one title, and with C&C 3 being somewhat weak on storyline, and other certain shortcomings, this expansion has it's work cut out to deliver some more positive results.
Once you've started the campaign though, and have done the first couple of missions, you immediately see a change in Kane's Wrath. Taking the FMVs as an example. Gone are the wide open style sets, in comes a more tighter, claustrophobic feeling. The atmosphere is darker and more sinister. Then you start to pay attention to the acting which is less wooden, and a lot stronger than C&C 3. All of a sudden (as a C&C fan) you realise you've had this feeling before. The intimacy, the familiarity, then it clicks.... Joe Kucan finally comes across like the Kane he once was in the previous titles! This feels like a true C&C!!!
So how does it play? Well, at first the missions are the usual simple affair, you'll get tasked to blow X up, take over Y, and annihilate Z... But instead of just sending in a small amount of forces to get the job done, completing the objective and having mission accomplished come up. Many missions have 2, 3, or maybe even 4 stages to complete. The result is often that you find yourself underpowered, in the wrong position, or having to restart the entire mission because you decided to save the game at completely the wrong point.
While that may seem like an issue, it certainly adds a lot more depth and quality to the campaign gameplay. Strategical thought is more imperative than in C&C 3, and as a result, the game is a lot more enjoyable.
What's also enjoyable is that when most missions start, you'll be jumped upon before you even have the forces to deal with the incoming threat. And while you may fend off that wave. You'll be sure to find another wave shortly taking its place. The problem however is, with the subsequent waves, they increase their numbers. If that doesn't work, the AI will raise it's tier level and come in with bigger hitters. Then if that fails, there will be higher tiers in higher numbers. So naturally, the Kane's Wrath campaign is not for happy campers who enjoy sitting back and massing. Therefore, the game keeps you on your toes, and makes you adapt more efficiently.
Without giving much more away though. The campaign does offer a whole lot more variety, liveliness and genuine quality than the main C&C 3 game. While the story overall is scattered too much for newcomers to understand, it holds some good merits for fixing the “tie-in” issues that C&C 3 largely chose to ignore. However, the story-writing for Kane's Wrath still lacks the more complex depth and thought-provoking twists and turns that games like Tiberian Dawn and the original Red Alert set up.
Global Conquest & Skirmish
Once you're done with the campaign, Kane's Wrath bulks itself up with a Global Conquest mode. This mode of play offers something different in terms of your normal turn based “Conquer the globe” Risk Style mode in that there are no set territories to capture. Instead, what you're given is an open ended map to play with. In this vast open world, with each turn, you have to build bases, which in time grow larger with a ring of influence as you upgrade. From this, you will build strike squads, influence cities, attack other bases, and use super weapons to soften targets.
While the issues surrounding the lack of territories may be a negative to most people. The influence rings around bases do offer a rather interesting change to the way games are played, and can bring more strategy to the table that normal territorial play doesn't provide. However on the flip side, Global Conquest really isn't deep enough to be considered another full campaign in it's own right. Perhaps having more control over bases, upgrades and squad management, plus better AI in the strategic overview would have scored this area of the game highly. But without the depth, it lets down what great potential this mode has.
If Global Conquest doesn't grab you, then the other single player mode is the classic Skirmish. There's really not much to go on here other than the fact that there's a whole new bunch of maps (many which are once again are symmetrical!!!). But, if you're here, then there's one of the biggest overhauls, the Artificial Intelligence...
Skirmishing in C&C 3 was a rather standard affair, on medium, it was simple to stand back, play with the AI as you see fit, and your troops could have played a few a few matches of football, before going to attack. Now in Kane's Wrath, the AI has upped its game! Even on medium difficulty, the AI will not take you for a fool. It's going to attack in greater numbers and with more aggression. It even doesn't hang about when building. The AI will tech up more efficiently, and put priority on building its Epic units before super weapons! This most pleasingly makes for more intense battles, tactical decisions and a more re-playable mode than ever before!
The new units and sub-factions in Kane's Wrath probably offer the biggest change in gameplay. And for the most part, they do much more than just tack themselves on. The GDI Steel Talons for example, replace the standard tanks and anti-infantry vehicles for the old school Tiberian Sun units, the Titan and Wolverine. Though they are more expensive than their TS counterparts, they themselves are much more useful, pack more of a punch and offer more enjoyable frontline Skirmishes.
The Brotherhood of Nod follow the tradition with The Marked of Kane. This sub-faction brings back the more traditional Nod, with Hard hitting Cyborgs and darker, more stealthy old school tactics. This sub-faction, plus all the others in Kane's Wrath do a good enough job to add a good amount of variety and tactics into the fold to make a Skirmish or Multiplayer game feel different every time.
Perhaps the best addition to each faction though are the epic units. GDI sports the M.A.R.V. A super-mammoth, 3 barrelled, Tiberium vacuum cleaner of doom. Nod get a 4-legged super Avatar, called the Redeemer. This unit is pretty damn angry and also has the ability to send it's enemies into a rage! And then there's the Scrin's Epic unit, the Eradicator Hexapod. A six legged freak of alien nature, which offers the most diverse customization of the three. Regardless of which faction you choose, the Epic unit is an awesome addition to any army which can dangerously turn the tide of battle.... Best of all, they are a guilty pleasure to use. Especially if micro-managed correctly.
If you are a hardened C&C fan looking to give C&C another chance, or a casual C&C player, then it's a sure recommendation to check out Kane's Wrath. If however you're a newcomer to the C&C series, it might be worth going through the other 3 games in the Tiberium Universe to understand the lore before paying this expansion a visit. Nevertheless, Kane's Wrath is a great package that's definitely worth the purchase if you're an RTS gamer.
Pros
- Great FMV acting... Kane really feels like he's back!
- Excellent Intense Gameplay made better by the sub-factions
- Stronger mission design
- Better AI
- Solid universe tie-ins
Cons
- Fractured Campaign may confuse newcomers
- Storyline still not a strong point
- Global Conquest lacks depth
Score: 89%
