Command & Conquer

Command & Conquer, real-time war strategy electronic game series first released in 1995 by the American game developer Westwood Studios. Initially using the engaging Dune II (1992) as its model, the groundbreaking Command & Conquer franchise has produced a number of primary spin-offs and sequels, setting a new standard for longevity and consistency in a gaming series.

The original release in the series, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, pitted the Global Defense Initiative of the United Nations against the rogue Brotherhood of Nod. Both factions were after Tiberium, an otherworldly resource that sucked up nutrients in the ground and formed large crystals that could be harvested. Players gathered Tiberium crystals to build various structures, allowing them to produce different types of soldiers and war vehicles. Using the terrain, unit matchups, and formations, opposing armies fought in a variety of scenarios. The game allowed a single player to progress through a series of missions or multiple players to wage war together online.

Command & Conquer’s universe is vast, and the franchise has spread across many battlefields, realities, eras, and planets since its inception. Later releases in the series include the prequel Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996), which portrayed a parallel world in which Adolf Hitler never came to power and the Soviet Union and the Allied forces battled for control of Europe. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008) depicted an alternate reality in which World War II had never occurred and a powerful Soviet Union battled the Allied forces and the Empire of the Rising Sun for supremacy. Command & Conquer 4 (2010) was billed as the conclusion to the story that was introduced in the first game, but its gameplay differed radically from previous entries in the franchise, discarding the “gather resources, build, attack” formula in favour of a fluid battlescape that emphasized map control over resource production.