Command & Conquer (コマンド&コンカー) is a real time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for IBM compatible computers running DOS in August 1995. It is the first in the Command & Conquer franchise and is considered a milestone in the genre, influencing many RTS games in the years which followed.
The game's success saw it ported to the Sega Saturn, where Sega signed a deal to make it a Saturn exclusive until 1997[7] (though as a late 1996 release, this "exclusivity" amounted to just under three months). Command & Conquer is frequently referred to as Tiberian Dawn by fans and is subtitled in Germany with Teil 1 Der Tiberiumkonflikt.
Command & Conquer takes place in an alternative universe, shortly after a mysterious alien substance crashes on Earth near the river Tiber in Italy at some point in 1995. This substance, henceforth known as "Tiberium", becomes an extremely valuable commodity, which despite its toxic nature, is able to absorb and crystallize precious metals from the surrounding soil. A secret society known as the Brotherhood of Nod, spearheaded by a self-proclaimed messiah known only as "Kane", claims to have foreseen the arrival of Tiberium and has great plans for its future, soon controlling over half the supply and using the funds to amass an army of followers.
Following a succession of terrorist incidents blamed on the Brootherhood, the United Nations Security Council authorizes the creation and deployment of the United Nations' Global Defense Initiative (GDI) to intervene against Kane and Nod, quickly escalating into a conflict which spans the globe (and is later referred to as the "first tiberium war").
The player, who is nameless and does not speak, can choose to conduct missions on behalf of GDI or Nod (each as its own disc), building bases and ordering troops, usually to destroy enemy factions and spread influence over countries. GDI's campaign takes place mainly in Europe, while Nod is more concerned with Africa.
Gameplay
Command & Conquer is an evolution of the gameplay seen in Westwood's earlier work, Dune II, in which the goal usually involves building a base and destroying all enemy units or structures on a map (although missions are generally more varied than Dune II). Command & Conquer introduces support for selecting multiple units at once, has a single unified menu for construction of buildings and training of units, and has a more varied selection of said units, including engineers for capturing structures and airbourne helicopters.
Similarly to Dune II, the player must manage resources such as power (generated from power plants) and tiberium, replacing spice as a resource harvested from select points on the map. Later in the game superweapons are introduced, such as GDI's signature Ion Cannon, which can devestate large areas in one click. The cap on the number of units allowed in-game is much higher, to point where it isn't noticed, although hundreds of units on screen can invariably affect the frame rate.
Structures
Both sides
Construction yard
Sandbags
Chain link fence
Concrete wall
Power plant
Advaned power plant
Repair facility
Helipad
Tiberium refinery
Tiberium silo
Communications center
GDI
Barracks
Guard tower
Weapons factory
Advanced communications center
Advanced guard tower
Nod
Hand of Nod
Turret
Airstrip
Temple of Nod
SAM Site
Obelisk of light
Units
Both
Minigunner
Rocket soldier
Engineer
Commando
Mobile construction vehicle
Harvester
Armoured personnel carrier (APC)
Chinook
Hovercraft
GDI
Grenadier
Humvee
Medium tank
Rocket launcher
Mammoth tank
ORCA
Gunboat
Nod
Flamethrower
Chemical warrior
Buggy
Recon bike
Light tank
Artillery
Flame tank
Stealth tank
SSM launcher
Apache
History
Legacy
Command & Conquer is thought to have been reasonably successful on the Sega Saturn, as it qualified for the Satakore range in Japan (where it was published by Sega themselves) and was at one point bundled with consoles in Europe. It has since been superseded by superior versions - a Macintosh port released around the same period in 1996 which offers higher resolution graphics and official support for online play. These features were eventually ported to a Windows 95 version released in 1997. The final port of Command & Conquer was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. This version features 3D graphics, but has missing content.
Tomsoft attempted an unlicensed port to the Sega Mega Drive, but gave up early on and released his horribly incomplete beta. Because he failed to remove the copyright from the title screen, this has sometimes considered an official beta — but a look at the header (crediting his SDK) proves otherwise.
Command & Conquer was followed by Command & Conquer: Red Alert, set in the cold war era of the 1950s/60s, however the Tiberium storyline would receive a direct sequel in the form of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, which introduced isometric graphics (although cameos and nods to the future mean Red Alert is technically a prequel also). No future Command & Conquer games were released on Sega systems, though the series has largely avoided consoles entirely (save for PlayStation ports of Red Alert and some expansions, and the Xbox 360 port of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars).
Versions
The Sega Saturn version of Command & Conquer derives from the DOS original, being the most accurate console port of the game. There is no support for the Shuttle Mouse meaning the controls are considered to be more cumbersome than computer versions, and the resolution is fixed at 320x240. Some other changes were made for unknown reasons, such as the inclusion of wider bridges. Unit shadows are also missing, and the user interface features horizontally-scrolling menus as opposed to the vertical ones seen in the DOS version.
Its PlayStation counterpart is reportedly built off the Saturn's code, with slightly higher resolution (and more complete) cutscenes in comparison. Unlike the Saturn, the PlayStation version is known to suffer from noticeable slowdown when many units are on-screen, but is at an advantage for including extra missions (sourced from The Covert Operations - an official expansion pack for Command & Conquer). The Saturn version retains more of the original soundtrack and sound effects, however.
Production credits
Producer: Steve Wetherill
Asst. Producer: Ed Del Castillo
Original Concept: Joe Bostic, Brett W. Sperry
Programmers: Greg Hjelstrom, Jonathan Lanier
Technical Direction: Eric Wang
Designer: Erik Yeo
Artists: Joseph B. Hewitt Iv, Matthew Hansel, Damon Redmond
Screenplay: Ron Smith
Audio Direction: Paul S. Mudra
Soundtrack: Frank Klepacki
Sound Effects: Dwight K. Okahara
Qa Direction: Glenn Sperry
Quality Assurance: Kenny Dunne, Chris Rubyor, Randy Greenback, Phillip Castro, John Archer, D'Andre Campbell, Chris Blevins, James Hughes, Levi Luke, Errol Campbell, Abe Hernandez, James Adkins, Richard Rasmussen, Ben Lublin, Chris Holloway, Isaiah Myers, Lloyd Bell, Mike Smith, Albert Springfield, Steve Corcoran, Tyler Thackery, Marcus Cobb, Chad Shackelford, Troy Leonard