C&C 3: Kane's Wrath REVIEW

It's a franchise

As with every command & conquer game, bar Renegade, C&C 3 recently enjoyed the release of an add-on, which is titled Kane's Wrath. Those of you whom are not familiar with the franchise I gladly refer to the website. Now that I've disposed of the heathens for a few minutes you true believers can read on.

The story (don't worry no spoilers, enough room for that in the PS)

As with every franchise that spans over a decade, command and conquer has gathered quite the amount of fans. And it seems Kane's Wrath is primarily created for this group of people, myself included. For the campaign fills a lot of plot holes on the Nod side and, in my opinion, makes Kane even more immortal. The way that he, as the super badass bald motherfucker that he is, succeeds in manipulating not only his fellow man, but also superior alien entities almost wants me to erect a nod splinter cell of my own. Someone in the ranks of EA did a really good job at creating a character who, even after three full games, still manages to blow my mind and surprise me.

However I'd be a sucky reviewer if I didn't highlight some of the downs of the add-on. As far as the campaign is concerned I was pretty let down when I found out there was only one side to play. Sure it's called Kane's Wrath (obviously) and it B-E-A-Utifully tells the tale of Kane's ascension from seconds after the second tiberium war and the CABAL crisis until the very end of the third tiberium war where it reveals the true intention of all Kane's hard work, but I was actually looking forward to some more special covert ops missions for GDI or a decent Scrin campaign. Be honest the Scrin got a rather bad deal as far as the campaign was concerned. It was incredibly short and very easy compared to both the Nod and GDI campaigns. They left me with a somewhat metallic and unfluffy aftertaste which has regrettably prevented me from really getting into this race. Which grabs me as being a tad racist.

Gameplay

So we have an add-on. And what comes with a typical C&C add-on apart from a new campaign? Yes, new units and abilities. Apparently, the name of the game is pimp-your-tank and it's breed is subfaction. All three factions get three to four new vanilla units (one of which is epic) and all three get two subfactions with their own unique units creating nine different armies. A surprising amount of units get the garrison infantry ability which lets you add some extra versatile firepower to your otherwise singlerole vehicles. It brings back memories from back in the day when only the allies got a hard-on from
	shooting everything but the kitchen sink at your mangled Russian visage from one tank. I for one stacking seals and chrono's in battlefortresses like tuna in cans. Now, I haven't played Scrin that much (thanks to the aforementioned problem) so I'll forgo them mostly, but most things said count for all. The subfactions all have a good feel to them and are roughly well-balanced with them having obvious downsides to there ups. I especially liked GDI's Steel Talons for it allowed me to play with Titans again, though it barred me from using the commando.

But, as with all things in this world, it can't all be good. I'm kinda let down by the fact that the only thing they put in the add-on is some new units and support powers. And as much fun as subfactions can be they're not really original. It's a standard formula used a little too much for my taste. Though, I guess it's hard enough to actually create something like this without new and innovative features. Let's be realistic, Kane's Wrath is good as is.

Until next time
-E

SPOILERWARNING
PS:
So apart from not playing the Scrin much I also refuse to play the Blackhand Nod faction. Why? Because dear brother Marcion, their leader, ordered the assassination of none other than Anton Slavik. I know that story wise it's always a strong move to kill off a loved character, but WHY ANTON? Apart from Kane he was my favorite character. He was the only one keeping me with the hood. He shared Kane's visions like no other. WHY! That being said. It's clear I'll make it my goal to eradicate black hand players. Die bitches! Oh, and for future games, expect Cabal to be back in some form or another. It's going to be fun!