Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight

Thanks to the growth-rate of Tiberium, fifteen years after the end of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Earth is nearly unhabitable. The only way to stop it is to do the unthinkable: the Global Defensive Initiative (GDI) needs to ally themselves with the Brotherhood of Nod. Their leader, the infamous Kane, came into the possesion of the Tacitus during the events depicted in Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath. The little ball of light is the key to building a Tiberium Control Network which not only allows to contain but even reverse the effects of Tiberium. By 2077 earth is already feeling the effects of the TCN Hubs scattered around the world. Vast regions are already Tiberium-free for the first time in decades and the final step is about to happen with the re-activation of the Scrin Tower. But as always, everything isn't that easy. The Brotherhood of NOD has problems with leaders inside their ranks not believing in Kane's course and some of the GDI still don't trust the old enemy, holding a big grudge. In the end the inneviteable happens: GDI and Nod are again at war. But no matter who wins - in the end, Kane's journey will finally be over.

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight breaks with the rules of the real-time-strategy-series while still being controlled like one. There's no base building, no collectors driving through enemy territory and no vast army. Instead there are three types of MCVs, or Crawlers as they are called: Offensive, Defensive and Support. At the start of each single- or multiplayer-game, the player decides what Crawler he wants to use, but has the option to destroy it a limited amount of times in order to use a different class. Each Crawler can built different types of units and has access to different types of upgrades and specials. While the Offensive Crawler uses tanks, mechs and all the other armored and most powerful units in the game, the Defensive Crawler can only build infantry units but at the same time is the only one who has access to building like bunkers or defense turrets. The Support Crawler has access to "spells" allowing him to uncover the Fog of War or rain a carpet of bombs down unto the enemy. In addition he builds almost solely flying units and can fly himself.

Instead of collecting Tiberium to pay for all these units, each unit is worth a certain amount of command points. The player can build as many units as he wants until his command points runs out. Once a unit is destroyed, the player gets the used up command points back, limiting the amount of units the player can built at the same time, making each and every unit very important. At the same time the enemy unit as well as the enemy commander gain experience points for destroying the unit. Additionally the enemy commander earns experience points by completing missions and earning achievements.

Experience points allow the player to level up, giving him access to new units, upgrades and specials. While at the start of the game, the player will only have access to a handful of Tier 1 units, he'll be able to built everything once he hits the level cap of 20. While the player will unlock new stuff for each Crawler-type at a level up, experience points can only be earned for the faction the player is currently playing with. During the Nod campaign, he won't earn any experience points for GDI. The rank-system is global, meaning the player will level up both in single- and in multiplayer no matter which mode he plays.

Units on the other hand only gain ranks four times inside a match, making them stronger and unlocking access to additional attacks until they are destroyed. Sometimes an enemy (or a friendly unit) drop upgrade-cubes upon their death which instantly levels up the unit who collects them. To additionally increase the strength of a unit, it can collect packets of green Tiberium which can be scarcely found on the maps. While holding the Tiberium will slow the unit down considerably, it will again gain access to additional abilities and be even harder to kill. The second type of Tiberium is red and needs to be collected in order to buy global upgrades for the units or unlock access to Tier 2 units during a match.

Besides the two campaigns featuring once full-motion-video-cutscenes, the game also has two multiplayer-modes available: playing through the campaign in coop with a friend and a team-based Domination mode for up to ten players. The gameplay remains the same but instead of fulfilling missions, the players need to capture and hold TCN hubs on the map in order to gain 2.500 points and win the game. Destroying an enemy Crawler however won't bring upon victory, as the players are able to respawn after a while.