Command & Conquer: The First Decade review

So while firing up the original C&C did indeed conjure up some pleasing nostalgic fun (once we figured out how to manually dumb down our widescreen, high-resolution monitor to be able to display 640x400 resolution), it also evoked memories of the technical hoops PC gamers had to jump through quite regularly with new releases in the mid-to-late 1990s. D'oh.

Assuming you can get all the games to work - we did, eventually - TFD does provide an enjoyable romp through the annals of the evolution of the RTS. An overlooked game, Renegade - the first and only first-person shooter in the C&C universe - is still relatively playable by today's standards, as are Red Alert 2, Tiberian Sun (marginally), and the Generals series. For most, the rest are really just there for nostalgia.

TFD tosses in a "bonus DVD" (read: glorified coaster) packed with trailers and interviews, including one with Louis Castle, former co-founder of Westwood and co-creator of the C&C franchise. You'll also find some concept art and a few tributes to C&C fans. This is all well and good in theory, but honestly pretty damn dull in practice. It would have truly rocked if EA just put all of the C&C games' FMV clips on the DVD for us to watch in sequence - in higher-resolutions, preferably. These clips were ground-breaking at the time of their release, and featured some pretty well-known actors, including James Earl Jones.