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Command & Conquer Renegade
...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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