The game starts out with the player being recruited by one of two sides in a raging war. The Global Defense Initiative (GDI) would be what a person would identify as the good guys. They are the last line of defense against the Brotherhood of NOD (NOD). NOD's leader Kane, is hell bent on gaining control of the planet, and all of its riches. The story revolves around two separate conflicts you engage in on either side.

I first played the title at E3, and I was instantly impressed. Having clocked quite a few hours on the PC version , I felt completely at home with the somewhat smooth control layout. I was (and still am) impressed with the complete change from sprites to polygons. They also had tilted the playing field a little bit to increase the sense of play field depth.

I didn't have much time to really play the title, as the lure of the Pokémon section of the Nintendo booth took hold. My impressions of the title at E3 pretty much echo what I feel about the game now. I feel the control is probably the best in any RTS gaming on a console. The graphics received an ample push in the right direction. Not to forget that all the classic gaming is still in there.

I was surprised at how much of the briefings were left intact. Of course the FMV went out the window, but they managed to keep all the speech. The old simple music tracks were a small challenge, and easily made it to the N64. They also included the Covert Ops, which was an expansion pack released a little while after the original PC version of C&C. These new missions frequesntly involve the Commando unit, which is probably the coolest unit in the game next to the infamous Mammoth Tank.

My only gripe with the missions lies with one mission in particular. It was what took me 3 days to beat in the first version of this game, and I suspect would take longer on the N64 version. It requires precise use of the controls to evade a large patrol of enemy troops as you take out anti air weapons. Precise movements can be a little bit of a problem with the seemingly loose cursor. I really think they could have lowered the hurdle in this mission a bit, since the NOD missions didn't have a mission that was even near this difficult. It would have been a nice little fix on possibly the toughest part of the game.

The game has two save spots to use at any given time. Allowing one spot for a current game, and one as backup for those times when you make that one bad decision. The title is also compatible with the expansion pack, which allows for a higher resolution.

So what's the bad news? With these new graphics comes a pretty low framerate. You can really notice it in some maps, and if things are intense, you don't really need it hassling you. The graphics even suffer from a little of the N64 muddiness. The control, although well laid out, is hurt by the analog control roaming a little too freely. This game is also single player only. Split screen would have been pretty lame for an RTS title anyway, but an attempt should have been made since multiplay is part of what RTS gaming is all about.