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Command
& Conquer Renegade
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...continued
As
in the original C&C, in Renegade's multiplayer
mode, the GDI and Nod sides are quite different
from each other but seem equally capable. Each side
has a few basic character classes that are always
available, but as you accrue credits over the
course of a match, you can upgrade to more powerful
specialized character classes and also purchase
vehicles. GDI relies on sheer force, thanks to its
powerful but expensive tanks. Meanwhile, Nod is
more subversive and has cloaking infantry units as
well as its flame tanks and stealth tanks. Both
sides also have their own cheap but effective
artillery piece, as well as engineers who can
repair buildings and vehicles and heal infantry.
It's effective to operate vehicles as an engineer,
since you can hop out and conduct field repairs if
your vehicle takes damage--but watch out, because
enemy players can steal unoccupied vehicles and
proceed to wreak havoc. Some of the most satisfying
moments in multiplayer Renegade involve jumping in
the driver's seat of an unaware enemy engineer's
vehicle and making your first order of business to
run him over with it--what better way to teach him
a finders-keepers lesson?
Conveniently,
there's an offline practice mode available, where
you can freely run around a map and figure out how
everything works. You'll see computer-controlled
bots running around in the practice mode, causing
you to wonder whether it's viable to play
multiplayer Renegade against the computer--but
you'll quickly realize that these bots are
thoroughly incompetent. Fortunately, it's easy to
jump right into a multiplayer match using
Westwood's built-in player-matching service. You'll
definitely need a broadband connection for smooth
gameplay over the Internet, and even then, it's not
a guaranteed way to avoid lag. The recently
released multiplayer demo caused many players to
complain about severe latency issues--online games
would be sluggish and unresponsive even on
dedicated servers that appear to be fast in the
game's server browser. Our own experiences were
considerably more favorable. Using a DSL or T-1
connection, we encountered very little lag during
many extensive sessions over the course of several
weeks (even in large matches containing more than
60 players), at least on Westwood's own servers. In
any case, Westwood plans to offer free downloadable
content upgrades for multiplayer Renegade
(including flying vehicles you can control), and
one can only hope that these will include
optimizations to the game's netcode.
When
lag isn't an issue, multiplayer Renegade can be
great fast-paced fun. There's hardly any
waiting--you respawn right back at your base as
soon as you die, and if there's a friendly vehicle
around, you can catch a ride with the driver
straight back to the front line. You'll notice that
dying isn't easy--it takes a serious amount of
concentrated fire to take down most characters,
although a well-placed shot from a sniper can be
deadly. To offset their power, snipers are
practically useless against buildings and vehicles.
That's part of the reason why team tactics are so
important--coordinated, concentrated assaults are
necessary to breach automated base defenses and
destroy key structures. Destroying enemy structures
is satisfying--the loss of any of the main
structures will cripple the opposing team in some
manner, preventing it from using vehicles or
advanced character classes, and so on. The best way
to dish out damage to the enemy's base is to use
either the GDI's or the Nod's respective
superweapons, the ion cannon and the nuclear
strike. Beacons for these must be deployed at the
target spot, after which a devastating and visually
impressive attack will commence.
Renegade
uses a proprietary 3D engine that Westwood built
for the game. The vehicles and character models
look good, and you can clearly distinguish between
different vehicles and characters from a distance.
The game has a few other notable graphical
features--you can play it from a third-person
perspective as well as from the standard
first-person view, and in a subtle yet very
sensible touch, you'll automatically pull back your
weapon when you're standing right in front of a
wall or a friendly officer. On the other hand, the
game's textures and environments are simple, and
the weapon effects are nothing special. Renegade's
indoor environments look particularly bland, though
it's nice that you can move from indoor to outdoor
environments seamlessly.
Much
like the graphics, the audio in Renegade does an
adequate job but isn't exceptional. The bass-heavy,
synthetic music that plays throughout the
single-player game sounds much like the stuff from
the original C&C, but it drones quietly in the
background and isn't memorable. No music plays
during multiplayer, though you'll hear an odd
"boink!" sound whenever you take out an enemy
player. In multiplayer, you'll also constantly hear
the robotic female voice of your computer informing
you that various targets, either yours or the
enemy's, are being attacked. These audible warnings
are of questionable use and can get rather grating
during large matches where a lot is going on all at
once. Other than that, the voice acting found in
Renegade's single-player mode all sounds
great--Havoc's voice is dead-on--though you'll
sometimes hear the same lines incessantly from
enemy troops searching for you.
Most
PC gamers have extremely high standards for
shooters after having played outstanding games like
Half-Life and Unreal Tournament. Renegade aims to
match the high-level quality of these much older
games but falls short--Westwood has never made a
shooter before, and you can tell. That doesn't mean
Renegade isn't a fun game. For one thing, Westwood
is extremely experienced at making multiplayer
games, and that too comes across in Renegade. In
the end, the game's single-player mode is a fine
homage to a real-time strategy classic, while the
multiplayer mode has a lot to offer those
interested in multiplayer shooters--especially
those who also consider themselves C&C fans.
Furthermore, like all of Westwood's products,
Renegade is also a highly accessible, impressively
produced game, making it well suited for players
who've wanted to get into shooters but have felt
intimidated by their generally steep learning
curves.
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