Real time strategy games have had a history, or should we say a lack of history, of appearing on video game consoles. It was almost regarded as fact throughout the gaming community that a strategy game would never be able to work on any platform other then a PC. This mindset was proved ultimately wrong last year as EA’s Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth II was brought to the Xbox 360, which actually turned out to work really well with the innovative controls engineered for the game. EA Games once again has PC gamers sucking their teeth in disapproval as they release one of the more popular franchises of strategy games, Command and Conquer, to the Xbox 360.

Command and Conquer, regarded as one of the trump cards or regarded as an icon of the strategy genre has been released on the Xbox 360, and it is reason to rejoice. C&C is a game about fast paced action, and as such, is quick to get into intense matches and firefights in its online multiplayer. If a more solo affair is desired, there is also an absurdly long single player campaign which will take gamers a worthy investment of time to complete. C&C will keep gamers busy regardless of where they wish to extract their enjoyment.

C&C has a unique way of telling the story, and by unique we kind of mean outdated. C&C’s cut scenes make use of a style we have not seen for many years, which is live action video. EA did not stop short of going all out for this installment. EA hired on high level talent such as Sam Fisher voice actor Michael Ironside and the two hot chicks from Battlestar Galactica(Grace Park and Tricia Helfer). Not only are the actors laying on the cheese and overacting their parts, but are doing it in such a way it actually turns out to be unexpectedly awesome. There is just something about a real live person telling you to go do an objective or saying about how crucial the next mission is. It gives the player a sense of attachment, but also a sense of meaning and placement in the growing conflict.

As the game opens you will be greeted to the prologue about how the world currently is in 2047. A large portion of the world is covered in Tiberium, and any of these areas infested with Tiberium are unsuitable for human life. What is Tiberium? Tiberium is a substance discovered in the first Command and Conquer game. It is a crystal like material that slowly converts anything surrounding it into more Tiberium. The crystal is also highly toxic and radioactive. This all means that Tiberium spreads quickly, and any areas it spreads to become completely inhospitable. Although this seems like it is entirely horrible, the great thing is that Tiberium is a cheap and easy to harvest substance that houses much power. Players will gather Tiberium in the game to supply their troops with weapons, power their tanks, and build more powerful weapons of mass destruction. Tiberium is a unique gameplay mechanic to the C&C universe, as not only is it a dangerous substance that plays a large role in the story and survival of humanity, but it also is the main currency and resource of the game which players will need to control to ensure victory.

But back to the story. The world has been in peace for many years now. The main conflict from years was between two factions. The Global Defence Initiative is a UN funded organization formed to keep the peace. The other faction is a cult of global proportions that believes Tiberium is the catalyst to bring humanity into its next stage of evolution. This group is called the Brotherhood of Nod. Throughout the campaign players will be able to play as both the GDI and Nod through their respectful campaign missions, which are 15 missions each. The beginning of the game is quiet peaceful, until the next mission where the GDI space station Philadelphia is blown up in a Nuclear explosion. Some believe this to be the Nod’s doing. Those some would be correct as shortly after the Brotherhood launch a full scale invasion on Washington D.C., launching the world into the third “Tiberium War.” At some point in the campaign aliens known as the Scrin land on earth and begin to harvest Tiberium, completely unaware of humanities existence. They are quickly lunged into the war and it turns into a three-way battle.

The story in the single player game is held together nice by both in game dialogue and the full motion cut scenes between missions. One of the best parts of the cut-scenes is a man named Kane. Who is Kane? Kane is the charismatic leader of the Brotherhood of Nod. His character is so over the top, so ridiculous, but yet so convincing and down to earth that it is hard not to like him. When players play the Nod campaign, they can't help but understand why Kane has the following he does. Not much is expected of a story in a real time strategy game, but when you have some one like Michael Ironside barking orders at you, or worshiping Kane's Tiberium prophecy, it is an experience that can only be found in Command and Conquer.

The missions objectives aren’t as great as the cut-scenes though, and the objectives, while difficult at times, are rather bland. Some missions give you set resources with the objectives being something along the lines of don’t get wiped out, or wipe them out. There are missions where you are given complete freedom, where you can build up a base and produce whatever units you desire. These are by far the better missions of the campaign as you are allowed to proceed with the objectives how you choose to.