Electronic Arts has done plenty of things to draw the ire of gamers over the years, but remastering the original 1990s Command & Conquer games hopefully won’t be one of them. Some of the original developers got together in 2018 to announce a remastered Command & Conquer project, and EA has followed through. The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection launches on June 5 with numerous tweaks and enhancements for the modern age.
The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection focuses on the two iconic 90s titles: Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn (originally just known as Command & Conquer) and Command & Conquer: Red Alert. These games stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Warcraft and StarCraft to define the real-time strategy genre. While Blizzard’s franchises continued to grow in the 2000s and beyond, Command & Conquer was never the same after EA acquired the original developer (Westwood Studios) in 1998.
After 25 years, the original Command & Conquer games needed a fresh coat of paint, and they certainly got that. The games will now run in 4K resolution with completely redesigned textures and models. The developers even added a feature to toggle back and forth between the classic graphics and the enhanced graphics during solo gameplay. There’s also new audio, including several versions of the iconic Hell March track.
Command & Conquer and Command & Conquer: Red Alert were famous for their full-motion video cutscenes, which was almost unheard of in the mid-90s. The footage didn’t look great by today’s standard, but the team devised a way to upscale it for the remastered edition. The results look better in some places than others, but it’s better than the heavily pixelated mess designed for gaming PCs circa 1995.
The gameplay will also get a boost in the Remastered Collection. You get all 100-ish campaign missions from the base games and expansions, plus the extra content developed for consoles. The sidebar UI was also revamped to be easier to use.
You’ll be able to get the digital edition on Steam and EA Origin on June 5 for a mere $20 (pre-orders are live now). EA is also working with Limited Run Games to release special boxed copies with collectible items like stickers, hats, and little tank replicas. These versions will go for $60 and $50, depending on how many chachkies you want.
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