Command & Conquer

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This article is about the specific game. For the franchise of the same name, see Command & Conquer series. For the most recently released compilation of this franchise, see .

Command & Conquer is the original game in Westwood Studios' Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy (RTS) computer games. The game takes place during the 1990s, and tells the story of the struggle between two warring factions: the UN-backed Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the quasi-terrorist, quasi-religious Brotherhood of Nod.

Background

The game is widely known as Tiberian Dawn among the fan community, to avoid confusion between the original game and the series as a whole, and to match that of the game's sequel, Tiberian Sun. A similar title, Tiberian Twilight, was unofficially given to the third game in the series, which as of April 20 2006 is officially known as (working title).

Command & Conquer was hugely successful, and is credited with helping to popularise the RTS genre among mainstream gamers. It was also one of the first games to ship on multiple CD-ROMs, therefore allowing multiplayer gaming with only a single copy of the game, despite the fact that the game's content could easily fit on a single CD.

The game is known for the live action full-motion video (FMV) cutscenes which play between missions, and serve both to further the story of the game and give the player their objectives for the next mission.

Story

At some point during the 1990s, a meteorite crashes into the Earth near the River Tiber in Italy. A strange green substance, which comes to be known as tiberium because of where the meteorite landed, spreads rapidly out from the impact site. The tiberium leeches minerals from the soil and crystallises them on the surface.

An ancient organization known as the Brotherhood of Nod quickly sees the potential of this new substance and invests in technology to harvest the tiberium crystals. They soon control almost half of what has become the world's most valuable resource, and use these funds to equip a vast army of followers worldwide.

Following a series of bombings across the world, culminating in the destruction of the World Trade Center in Vienna, a wave of mass panic and fear sweeps the globe. Ultimately, these acts are blamed on Nod terrorists and their leader, Kane. The UN realizes that Nod has plans for world domination and mobilises its military wing, the Global Defense Initiative, to stop the Brotherhood's plans.

In the GDI campaign, the player commands GDI special forces to eliminate Nod's European forces. Under the command of General Mark Shephard, the player completes a range of missions, from securing a beach to rescuing civillians and scientists to defending GDI bases from Nod attack. Finally, the player assaults the Temple of Nod where Kane has his main base of operations.

In the Nod campaign, the player commands Nod forces, eventually taking orders from Kane himself. The player is entrusted with the mission of driving GDI forces out of Africa through the use of both conventional and unconventional warfare. In order to fully control the world's tiberium supply and rule the planet, the player is ultimately given the opportunity to use a nuclear missile against a GDI base.

Bonus Missions

Five "secret" missions are included on the Command and Conquer CDs. These sequential missions are accompanied by a briefing from Kane, in which he charges the player with investigating "reports of strange creatures." During missions one through four, the player commands a combined force of both Nod and GDI units against a herd of rampaging dinosaurs. In the fifth mission the player controls the dinosaurs against a Nod base.

To access the bonus missions, you need to start the game with funpark as a parameter, most conveniently accomplished in Windows by creating a shortcut and adding funpark as a parameter to the target field (outside of the quote marks). When you press Start New Game on the menu and choose either of the two sides, you will start the secret missions.

In the original DOS release, the expansion pack was required to access these missions, but all Windows re-releases allow access without the need for it. As well as this, the music track 'Untamed Land,' which was played during the secret missions and which was unlocked by installing the covert Operations appears on the regular playlist in the Windows version.

The DOS C&C 1.22 patch also unlocks the funpark parameter and the 'Untamed Land' track. However, for DOS The Covert Operations includes a vital update of the dinosaur missions, adding briefing text to the missions and death sounds to the dinosaurs.

While playing the secret missions, using savegames is not allowed. When a mission is completed or restarted after loading a saved game during the secret campaign, the player will end up in the GDI campaign. It is unknown if this is done intentionally or if it is just a bug in the way games are saved.

Covert Operations Expansion

The Covert Operations is an expansion pack for Command & Conquer that gives access to 15 new missions. Unlike the original game, these missions can be played at any time and in any order, and are not accompanied by mission briefing cutscenes. The expansion pack also adds new music.

Music

The music in this game was composed and produced by Frank Klepacki. It can be heard on his [web site], along with various cues that were cut from the game (some of which were actually present on the game CD of the original DOS version).

An official soundtrack CD was available with some collector's editions of the game.

Tracklist for The Music of Command & Conquer:

1. Act on Instinct
2. No Mercy
3. Industrial 1
4. Iron Fist*
5. We Will Stop Them (aka "Deception")
6. Radio
7. On The Prowl
8. Re-con*
9. Drone*
10. In the Line of Fire
11. Prepare for Battle
12. Depth Charge*
13. Rain in the Night
14. Creeping Upon*
15. Target (aka "Mechanical Man")
16. Just Do It Up (aka "Just Do It")
17. C&C Thang
18. To Be Feared*
19. Drill*
20. Full Stop (aka "Warfare")
21. In Trouble (aka "Looks Like Trouble")
22. Airstrike (the GDI credits theme)

Game tracks not included on CD:

• Demolition
• Canyon Chase (aka Industrial 2)
• Fight, Win, Prevail
• GDI Map Theme
• Great Shot
• Just Do It Up 2 (aka "Take 'em Out")
• March to Doom
• Untamed Land
• Voice Rhythm*
• Destructible Times (Nod credits theme, aka "I Am", after the internal name in C&C, which is actually the name of the band that plays it.)

*from the Covert Operations expansion

External links

• [A comprehensive resource outlining the complete story line of the First Tiberium War]
• [Official FTP site]