This is Doom from the world of strategy

A fantastic remaster of classic Command & Conquer (at the time of writing I have only played Tiberian Dawn, I imagine Red Alert is of similar quality) While the staple gameplay remains mostly unchanged, what this remaster does offer is much improved visuals and a slew of extras in the form of missions, music, and behind the scenes goodies.

The love put into this game is apparent as soon as you start it up; beginning with an amusing "HD update" cinematic that mimics the old install video from the original release. The presentation throughout is just magnificent, the updated visuals are some of the most detailed and crisp sprite work I have seen and the ability to toggle between the old and new graphics at any moment really exemplifies the improvements. The music is, as it always has been for the series, incredible, boasting new mixes of the most popular tracks from original composer Frank Klepacki alongside the original tracks. The new mixes inject a heavy dose of rock into the already energetic soundtrack, I'll admit when the first GDI mission began, and I heard the new opening riff to "Act On Instinct" I got goosebumps.

Besides some much-needed QoL improvements that introduce more modern sensibilities to the classic C&C formula (being able to queue production of more than one unit at a time comes to mind), the gameplay itself remains largely unchanged. You build a base, build your army, and go fourth into battle. All the old tricks still reign supreme, tank spamming and engineer rushes will score you a victory more often than not as the AI struggles to not be overwhelmed by the tactic. There is a certain satisfaction in returning to basics, however there are some systems that definitely show their age. Unit pathing is abhorrent, with units often picking the most obtuse way forward in large groups. Harvesters can be particularly bad, sometimes ignoring the unhindered path to the refinery to waste time snaking around nearby buildings. One thing I will say though is in terms of user interface, nothing beats the simplicity and effectiveness of the C&C sidebar, and I embraced its return to my screen with open arms.

In addition to the updated visuals, the Remastered Collection offers a plethora of bonus content. The most significant of these extras are all the released expansions for both games, which add a good number of missions to the game’s factions. They even included missions that were previously exclusive to console versions and as a longtime fan of the series it was nice to be able to experience those for the first time. Other content includes behind the scenes for the filming of the games FMV cutscenes, which is a fun addition. While the FMVs themselves are corny and kind of quirky, they were always something that made C&C stand apart from other games in the genre and I find that I have grown fond of them.

We would be fortunate if all remasters had the quality and dedication present in this collection. EA made the correct decision to hand this over to Petroglyph Games, which include many of the original Command & Conquer devs, and it paid off in spades. While you get some minor tweaks to gameplay and overall usability, what is presented here is classic C&C with a fresh coat of paint, as it should be, even with all its faults. I highly recommend this to any Command & Conquer fan, or even to fans of RTS games in general who want to experience where it all started. Here's to hoping that Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 get the same treatment in the future.

Amazing! Best Series ever. Whatever happend to westwood studios..... oh yeah brought and scrapped by useless EA games....what a waste