Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (add on)

February 18, 2008 - With Kane's Wrath, EA LA's upcoming expansion to last year's Command & Conquer 3, players can expect 13 new single player campaign missions, along with a much expanded set of units and some additional maps. We got an opportunity to go hands-on for a few multiplayer games as well as got a few details on the Xbox 360 version. But first, EA gave us an overview of what to expect with the Brotherhood of Nod's story, along with Kane's involvement.

The 13 missions revolve around the Brotherhood of Nod broken into three acts which skip around in C&C lore. The first act tracks Kane as he battles against the Black Hand for dominion of Nod forces, taking place sometime around the time of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. Things then move into the C&C3 time period, giving some extra perspective on just what Kane was up to at the time. For the third act the action shifts five or six years into the future, though we weren't given many details about the exact circumstances. You get more of the ultra-cheesy live-action cut-scenes the C&C franchise is known for, this time starring actors like Natasha Henstridge (Species) and Karl Lumley (Alias), and Joe Kucan as Kane. No Michael Ironside, though, and no Billy Dee Williams.

New to the game is a global conquest mode, a skirmish gametype where you move zone to zone across a world map, somewhat similar to what you may have seen in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. This is a separate mode from the campaign, basically existing as a series of skirmishes with no connecting narrative. It should be a good mode for those of you who enjoyed C&C3's gameplay, which is even more prone to rapid momentum shifts in Kane's Wrath.

Playable on each side are two variations, called sub-factions, of the base factions, bringing the total number of armies to nine. Since Nod is the only faction to play as in the campaign, you'll be able to select these others in multiplayer or skirmishes. For instance, you can either play the standard Scrin faction, the Traveler 59 sub-faction, which is more focused around finesse, or the Reaper 17 sub-faction, described by EA as focused on rushing. Between each standard sub-faction and their variations, you'll find a core of identical units along with a sprinkling of new and unique types, as well as differing functionality on existing units, along with unique upgrades.

The Black Hand, one of Nod's sub-factions, get a special avatar unit, which if you remember was the powerful bipedal construct in C&C3 that could be customized by strapping tanks and other machinery to it. The Black Hand's avatar instead comes equipped with a flamethrower right from the get-go, the trade-off being it can't actually be customized like the regular Nod walker.

As far as epic units go, we got a chance to test them out in a multiplayer session to see how powerful they really were. Something like Supreme Commander's experimental units, these massive ground units come equipped with several types of weapon batteries, are able to absorb far greater amounts of damage than any other unit, and can even be garrisoned with ground troops for additional firepower. We tried out the Scrin's Reaper-17 sub-faction, who get upgraded walkers that can suck up Tiberium from fields to bolster their damage output. Upon starting, we were glad to see the Scrin harvesters' resource gatherer was now shielded, and the tiberium regenerators that can be build in the fields to speed regrowth have been made more effective, according to EA. Once the game was underway, we got sidetracked on our mission to build an epic eradicator hexapod by a mechapede, an interesting addition to the Scrin loadout.



These things are high-level units, meaning you have to build a few base structures to make them available. Telling the game to construct the unit is only the first step, and it produces a somewhat underwhelming robot that looks something like the head of a centipede. However, we soon discovered its upgrade abilities that allow you to instantly, and for a small fee of credits, attach numerous segments behind the head, turning the once small segment into a formidable train of eight, with each segment capable of unloading different types of ammunition depending on your upgrade decisions. Again, these additional segments attach instantly, so there's no need to wait around more build times. We only had one in the field along with a few walkers, but we can imagine with several fully upgraded mechapedes running around we could have done quite a bit of damage.

As far as epic units go, their appearance on the battlefield does not necessarily indicate the end of a game. They're undoubtedly powerful, but we were able to take several of them out using combinations of rocket soldiers and high-level units. And it's not as though we had an overwhelming force, either. Eventually we moved our own fully-garrisoned eradicator hexapod toward our opponent's assault forces, and it got smashed in a matter of seconds. We neglected to initiate a number of upgrades on the hexapod, but even still the unit was far from invincible.

Next up we tested out the Steel Talons, one of GDI's sub-factions that represent some older designs in the C&C universe. With these guys we started out massing titans and wolverines, which are bipedal mechs, but eventually began concentrating on air units. A bunch of grenadier units we produced were loaded into hammerhead jets, which don't have to return to base to reload. These caused quite a bit of damage to our enemy's forces, as they weren't particularly prepared for our air assault, which was made even stronger by the garrisoned grenadiers lobbing explosives down from the Hammerheads.

From what we saw, it seems like Kane's Wrath is adding quite a bit of variety to C&C3's formula, and the additional skirmish modes are certainly appreciated. Kane's Wrath for PC is currently scheduled to ship late next month.

EA was also willing to divulge a few details on the Xbox 360 version of Kane's Wrath, which is scheduled to ship sometime this summer. The major change is an interface overhaul. Instead of having to move to structures to issue build orders and scroll across the screen to find units, players can now access a dial onscreen from which can be ordered all build functions, including multiple build queues. This can be done even in the midst of battle, so if you're assaulting an enemy base and want to build a few quick reinforcements, you can without ever having to leave the battle. In addition to that, X360 gamers can expect all the balancing and updates that have released on PC to come with Kane's Wrath.