Command and Conquer 1 Review: The Original Command and Conquer Game

cf. History of 1990s Computer Games.

Command & Conquer 1 Review

Developed by Westwood Studios and released in 1995 on IBM PC MS-DOS and Windows, Command and Conquer 1 is the spiritual successor to the seminal Dune 2, also developed by Westwood Studios.

Command and Conquer 1 was followed up by Red Alert.

cf. Real-time Strategy Games PC.

Released three years after Dune 2, Command and Conquer 1 (C&C or CnC) competed directly with Blizzard's WarCraft 2 during the latter half of the 90s, thereby triggering the RTS boom.

In terms of presentation, gameplay and technical proficiency, both C&C and WC2 hit a highpoint of refinement in RTS design while being based on their own in-house alternate history and high fantasy settings, respectively.

The output of both developers was impressive. As a result, the RTS genre left cRPGs in the dust during the early and mid 90s. It was only god-tier TBS games such as Master of Magic that outdid RTS in terms of design and coding.

Command and Conquer 1 sold one million copies in its first year.

Already covered in the above-linked retrospectives are RTS basics and concepts common to RTS as well as the results of employing landmark technologies in the mid 90s RTS, such as Pentium CPUs, VGA resolutions and ultra-smooth avatar-anchorless screen-scrolling.

Thus, in subsequently treating C&C the above is not rehashed but rather only referred to in so far as C&C's implementations notably differ from its peer and predecessors.

Command and Conquer 1 Tiberium

In Dune 2, three interstellar Houses warred over Spice resources on the desert planet of Arrakis. The player chose a faction and harvested the spice to fund their base and battles. Westwood reapplied the concept in C&C: the Earth-based geo-political factions of GDI and Nod are warring over an alien crystalline resource that crashed to Earth via meteorite, known as Tiberium. Thus, Command and Conquer 1 is also known as Tiberian Dawn.

The middle image shows Tiberium as it appears in-game, as harvestable fields.

An interesting innovation is that Tiberium fields are toxic and cannot be negotiated by infantry on foot without them incurring lethal damage. To cross the fields, infantry can be loaded into Armored Personnel Carriers or other vehicles.

It is also a nice touch that Tiberium can be obeserved regrowing in the fields over time. If the opposing faction is all but wiped out, Tiberium blooms rapidly in reflection of that.

Taking place on different continents of Earth, Command and Conquer 1 consists of two separate campaigns: the GDI campaign consists of 15 missions; the Nod one of 13.

Directed by means of a continental map, campaign progression is largely on-rails. However, sometimes there is a choice between missions and, in one case, a mission can be skipped entirely.

Command and Conquer 1 vs WarCraft 2

Setting aside, the main difference between Command & Conquer and Warcraft 2 is that, as a rule, C&C is more about commanding swarms of combat units whereas WC2 is about commanding smaller forces which consist of stronger or more capable combat units, such as spellcasters and Heroes.

In C&C, the number of simultaneously commandable combat units is 63 (though any number can be bandboxed for viewing their Health) whereas in WC2 only nine combat units are simultaneously selectable and commandable.

 

As well, C&C swarms stream across the terrain with greater frequency than Warcraft 2 forces. Indeed, the forces are relentless unless we can cut off the opposing faction's access to Tiberium fields or inflict massive damage on their base of operations.

While Warcraft 2 does feature large-scale battles and C&C even features solo commando missions (with limited air support), forces are controlled and assessed differently in the main.

Elevating its battlescapes over those in WC2, C&C employs heightmapped terrain for tactical purposes; so much so, that it often forces our combat units to weave through maze-like maps. When the lay of the land is employed effectively, it can greatly reduce casualties and increase enemy body counts.

For example, Commandos are able to scout ahead to locate safe vantage points, double back to the Chinook and then get airlifted quickly to a ridge, thereby bypassing aggro and setting a stage for sniping and demolitions.

Command and Conquer 1: MS-DOS Version vs Windows Version

Here we have a 4:3 aspect ratio viewport comparison of MS-DOS and SVGA Windows 95 executables of C&C, upscaled for viewability.

While the increased resolution in the Windows 95 version results in smaller sprites and building icons, the concomitant zoomed-out viewport (doubled in size) grants a major advantage by increasing landscape awareness, reducing screen-scrolling requirements and allowing us to see incoming enemy combat units earlier, as well as their type (which the minimap does not show).

• DOS Viewport: 240x192 (sidebar) 320x192 (no sidebar)
• Windows 95 Viewport: 480x384 (sidebar) 640x384 (no sidebar)

Thus, MS-DOS C&C is undeniably harder than Windows C&C.

[*] The Windows 95 version is called Command & Conquer Gold (1996), and includes the Covert Operations expansion missions.

Command and Conquer 1 Units

There are GDI Units and Nod Units. Some C&C combat units are shared between factions and others are faction-exclusive. GDI are the heavy hitters whereas Nod relies on speed, stealth and recon. 

However, compared to WC2, both faction forces can be pumped out much more quickly, and are capable of streaming across the battlefield in what amounts to hordes.

GDI Mammoth Tanks may seem invincible when manufactured in large quantities, but they can easily be taken out by Nod mobile artillery and stationary Obelisks.

A notable feature of C&C is that vehicles can be serviced at repair bays (at a cost of Tiberium), thereby increasing their serviceability during prolonged missions.

In WC1/2, combat units could only be healed by divine spellcasters of the Human faction or through innate regeneration.

Engineers are another innovation of C&C. While not capable in battle, engineers can capture enemy buildings if we can find a way to get them into the enemy base safely. Since capturing buildings bring them under our control, engineers can impact mission strategy or even dictate mission outcomes through such actions.

C&C combat unit statistics are not viewable in-game as they are in WC2. As in older RTS games, we can only discern their rate of fire, range, damage, armor and movement speed through experience, as even the manual does not supply combat stats for units.

Combat unit range (how many tiles it can aim and fire across) is one of the most important "stats" to bear in mind during battles: while the AI is not so good at amassing overwhelming forces, it is good at placing its units at appropriate ranges.

As well, C&C combat units are not upgradeable and do not receive modifiers to stats. There are only different units in C&C, not degrees of unit. Every unit simply is what it is, and the player must find out how units complement each other on the battlefield as well as which ones work best vs. opposing faction forces.

Non-mobile setups that attack or defend:

Turrets, guard towers and obelisks are devastating versus invaders, but need to be constantly repaired.

I oscillated between playing the GDI campaign at fast and faster gameplay settings. The faster the game is, the harder it is. Not once did I build a fence or wall of any kind. That is not to say that fences and walls are useless -- for the Nod faction, they are more important and, in relation to walls, the AI can be exploited as per Dune 2 -- but they seemed comparatively useless versus moving walls that pack punch, aka tanks.

After Nod SAMs have been neutralized, GDI can call in cooldown-based air strikes by defining a region to be bombed. Towards end-game Ion Cannons and Nuclear Strikes can be launched, too.

If playing GDI, the flamer-based combat units of Nod are a nightmare in that one emission from a flame thrower or flame tank can turn an entire squad of infantry to cinders.

Unlike Warcraft 2 combat units, icons representing C&C combat units do not appear in the UI with different offensive or defensive options.

Not even the (under-used) Commandos can swap between hand-2-hand, sniping, spraying and demolitions. Instead, they either fire their 50 cal or employ demolitions as context sensitive actions.

Command and Conquer 1 Hotkey Controls

As it pertains to control of combat units, mere usage of bandboxing and basic positioning and movement are not enough to succeed in C&C: players must learn combo-hotkeys by heart in order to switch between squads quickly and frequently.

Guarding, force-fire, force-move, tailing and squad-scattering is integral to battlefield tactics. In addition, bookmarking allows us to instantly recall to preset map positions.

Without employing combo-hotkeys, campaign progression is all but impossible.

• Teams [CTRL+#, #, ALT+#]
• Guard Mode ['G' key]
• Force Fire [CTRL + Left Click]
• Force Move [ALT + Left Click]
• Scatter [X key]
• Next Unit [N key]
• Stop [S key]
• Follow [CTRL + ALT + Left Click]
• Center view [HOME key]
• Construction yard view [H key]
• Location Bookmarks [CTRL+F7-F10, F7-F10]

Command and Conquer 1 Graphics

On MS-DOS, Command & Conquer 1 graphics are displayed in 8 bit color depth at a playing field resolution of 320x192 (Windows 95: 16 bit color depth at 640x384). [1]

The backgrounds aka backdrops are (largely) static 2D bitmaps that are divided by the engine into cells aka tiles (a grid). Prerendered destructible buildings are assigned to cells via an ini file. The units are also prerendered. [2]

There are three visually distinct theaters of war that are based on climate: Winter, Desert and Temperate.

Westwoood Studios employed impressive artistry in C&C by way of animated building constructions, sprite animations and explosions.

Rockets have smoke trails when launched, flames are emitted from throwers and there is even muzzle flash for gunfire. When damaged, plumes of smoke rise from vehicles. When under fire, infantry units automatically adopt a prone stance and army crawl.

Due to the increased capacity of CD-ROM, many 90s developers included full motion video in their games, and C&C was no different; its 700 megabytes of live-action FMV driving campaign narrative. In terms of storage footprint, the game's logic, graphics assets and other data files pale in comparison.

Command & Conquer 1 Maps

In addition to its employment of heightmapped terrain and maze-like maps (mentioned earlier), C&C also innovated in that some maps differ in layout depending on our worldmap entrypoint. As an example, it is cool that the final map has three different layouts which are governed by our preceding mission selections.

Note how my GDI forces have removed the fog of war around the Nod base on a previous incursion, then retreated back to base, but I can still see the Nod base and its forces. That is because C&C doesn't employ fog of war masking like WC2 does (instead, C&C uses a regenerating shroud).

Also note how the AI doesn't build up overwhelming forces. Instead, it builds smaller mobs that it continuously sends out towards the player's base.

Command and Conquer 1 Cheats

There is no built-in cheat-mode for Command and Conquer 1.

Command and Conquer 1 System Requirements

Command and Conquer 1 is playable on IBM Compatible PCs installed with MS-DOS 5.0, powered by 486 DX2 66 MHz processors and 8 megabytes of RAM: 6 megs of EMS/XMS and 560K of free conventional RAM.

The Windows 95 version requires a Pentium 60, 16 megabytes of RAM and 1 megabyte video accelerator card (DirectX VGA).

Command and Conquer 1 Conclusion

In single-player mode, Command and Conquer 1 is much harder than Warcraft 2. Much, much harder. Due to its limited viewport size, the MS-DOS version is the hardest of all to master.

C&C often starts our faction off in tight spots that make it difficult to gain a foothold; short of AI exploits, it is also more difficult to maintain our base once it is initially established.

As always, it is just a matter of foreknowledge and getting good at the game, though a No Reload Run of the MS-DOS version would be interesting.

Upon completion of the GDI campaign, I felt like I was just getting warmed up. The final mission was the best mission by far, since it required thorough exploration of base-building dependencies and hierarchies, which included the Mobile Construction Vehicle (MCV) for multiple base establishment.

My criticisms of C&C are two-fold:

• Commandos were a cool but under-utilized concept
• Some of the missions felt too small and short

That said, we can keep playing C&C by trying out the other faction as well as the Covert Operations expansion, which features 7 new GDI and 8 new Nod missions [3] as well as 10 new multiplayer maps.

In conclusion, C&C is about as replayable as WC2, they are both entertaining to play in 2024, and I don't favor one over the other.

Command and Conquer 1 Free Download: Windows 95

You can freely download official Command and Conquer 1 ISOs for Windows 95 from Moddb:

https://www.moddb.com/games/cc-gold/downloads/command-conquer-gold-free-game-gdi-iso

https://www.moddb.com/games/cc-gold/downloads/command-conquer-gold-free-game-nod-iso

https://cncnz.com/features/freeware-classic-command-conquer-games/

Command and Conquer 1 Free Download: MS-DOS

You can freely download official v1.07 Command and Conquer 1 ISOs for MS-DOS from cnc-comm.com:

https://cnc-comm.com/command-and-conquer/downloads/the-game/gdi-disc-dos

https://cnc-comm.com/command-and-conquer/downloads/the-game/nod-disc-dos

Covert Operations Free Download

https://cncnz.com/features/freeware-classic-command-conquer-games/

A modded version of C&C for MS-DOS:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/command-conquer-unofficial-patch-106

https://www.moddb.com/games/cc-gold/downloads/command-and-conquer-dos

Command and Conquer 1 DOSBox

The MS-DOS versions of Command and Conquer 1 and the Covert Operations expansions run well in DOSBox. I recommend the MS-DOS version of C&C because the Windows version is too easy.

***

[1]

8 bit color depth = 256 colors; 16 bit color depth = 65,536 colors. However, the increased palette range mostly just facilitated more colorful icons (not more colorful backgrounds or sprites).

[2]

Prerendered: The destructible unit and building models were constructed in a 3D program, rendered out as raw 2D images and then converted for game-engine employment; that is, color-count and frame-count were reduced for in-game employment.

(Largely) static backdrops: There is some terrain animation and terrain modification (flowing rivers, cratered landcapes).

[3]

Covert Operations GDI Missions

• Blackout
• Hell's Fury
• Infiltrated!
• Elemental Imperative
• Ground Zero
• Twist of Fate
• Blindsided

Covert Operations Nod Missions

• Bad Neighborhood
• Deceit
• Eviction Notice
• The Tiberium Strain
• Cloak and Dagger
• Hostile Takeover
• Under Siege: C&C
• Nod Death Squad

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