Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight Will Expand the RTS Audience

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight is now out worldwide and a lot of people are playing a real time strategy title that has changed fundamentally since the launch of Tiberium Wars, in 2007.

The game has no actual resource gathering and the overall gameplay is now based on classes and on crawlers, rather than the base building and tech advancements we were used to. It's all a sign of how the real time strategy landscape is changing as it tries to get a wider audience interested and avoid going the way of the flight sim.

Talking to Gamasutra, Sam Bass, who is the lead designer who worked on Command & Conquer 4 and one of the keepers of the universe lore at Electronic Arts, said that “C&C4 is an attempt to grow that audience a little bit - to open the doors and say, 'Hey, people who are interested but terrified because every time they play an RTS they go online and just eaten by an eleven-year-old Korean kid, here are some different ways to play'."

Talking vaguely about the future Bass also stated that “We're definitely moving in some interesting directions after this game.” Electronic Arts revealed that Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight would be the last game to feature iconic character Kane, the leader of the NOD faction but also reserved the right to launch more videogames based on the universe.

Command & Conquer 4 is big on the online element, featuring an experience shared across all game modes and encouraging players to tackle the main campaign in a cooperative manner and engage in multiplayer versus matches where collaboration and complementary strategies are crucial for success. Much in the same way of recent Ubisoft titles like Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter V, it requires a constant Internet connection to offer the best experience.