izigame.me

Disclaimer

I finished the GDF campaign on Hard (3rd out of 4 difficulty settings) before reviewing. That's 1 of 2 campaigns available in the game.
I didn't and don't plan to play multiplayer PvP. Look for a different review if you want an opinion on that.

TL;DR

It's fine. If what you wanted was a modernized C&C classic then this delivers. You won't make a mistake by buying it. However it's also nothing special either, other than the fact that it's a competent RTS in a market where we just don't have RTS games anymore, especially ones with high production standard.

Description

An RTS game that's similar to C&C in more ways than one. The story and units will remind you of things from C&C and Red Alert games. You will feel right at home here.
2 campaigns, 1 for each of the sides of the conflict. Sides are similar in themes to GDI and NOD from C&C.
Briefings seem to be in-engine animations, there's some effort here, but don't expect campy but entertaining videos like in Westwood's games of old.

Pros:

+ Unit movement
It's not as good as in Starcraft 2, but it's close. Units move well, especially when not engaging in combat. You want to move one scout through a bunch of your tanks? They will move out of the way for it. You still need to make room to micro damaged units away during combat because while engaging the units don't move.
+ Audiovisuals
Ingame graphics are good, units are distinct and look nice, the sounds of explosions and attacks are good.

Cons:

- Unit behavior
I think you should be able to make your units automatically attack buildings or not move in to attack if you maneuver them away. Sure, you can make a unit hold position, but I'd like there to be a set of behaviors/stances for you to choose, where an attack move would make units destroy ALL buildings along the way, including the power plants and production facilities as well as a stance where they won't move to engage things nearby.
EDIT: Fixable somewhat through options menu, there is an option for making all units match speed and for units to target everything. Not an ideal solution because every piece of wall and even 'neutral' fences are also targeted, but there it is. Match speed is also a double edged sword, because in most RTS games the units will snap to their full speed once in battle, but here everybody keeps driving at a limit even with enemies about.
- Difficulty spike
Mission 4 is weirdly difficult and the most difficult mission in the campaign. Every other mission may have moments of 'gotcha' which you will need to reload for if you get surprise killed, but Mission 4 actually requires you to be very efficient with your money and micro your units well in order to beat it at least on Hard. It can be made much easier depending on your meta upgrades. Speaking of which...
- Meta upgrades
Them being in the game is fine. Good actually. Starcraft 2 did it and it turned a great campaign into a legendary one with fantastic replayability. But, dude... some upgrades in here seem to be part of the balancing. Tempest plating that prevents red status buildup on your vehicles is so pog, you are doing yourself a disservice by not taking it. Several drone upgrades, including turning drone missiles into lasers, increasing laser dmg and making lasers mark targets as well as provide dmg bonus are making missions trivial near the end.
Worst of all, resets are limited and if you screw up your upgrades buying useless stuff - you will have to restart whole campaign if you get stuck.
- Story
While VA-s are doing good work, the story is what we already saw in C&C. It's very simple and rushes a lot. There are no real characters here either, no real personality to anything.
- Unit VA-s
Eh... some of them are fine, some are poor. Not a huge issue, but it's there.
- Objective bug
Sometimes you have an objective unit but no associated objective is visible
- No MP PvE content
Multiplayer is just skirmish with other players, there are no modes you can casually play with other players and from what I can see no map creation tools to create interesting maps like in Starcraft 2.

Lowdown

Like I said - it's fine. Nothing special. I will finish the other campaign and most likely not play this game again. It's no Starcraft 2. Hell, not even Supreme Commander in how good the campaign feels to play through. The units are interesting but mechanics are very basic and familiar, not much to sink your teeth into unless you like the multiplayer.

7/10

I acknowledge that I may be a bit more lenient to it because of the drought of RTS games. With how much of a disappointment Spellforce 3, Company of Heroes 3 and especially my beloved, massacred Homeworld 3 (you did not deserve this fate, Homeworld, rest in peace...) - Tempest Rising comes in and wins by just being competent.
My hopes rest with D.O.R.F.