I took some time away from GRAW2 this weekend to check out the Command and Conquer 3 demo. I’ve never played any of the previous Command and Conquer games, but I spent many hours playing StarCraft back in college so I’m familiar with playing real-time strategy (RTS) games. I also played some Battle for Middle-Earth II when it came out for the Xbox 360. I still prefer playing RTS on a PC because using a keyboard and mouse are much better for RTS games. However, I enjoy gaming from my couch a lot more than gaming at my computer desk. That is why I originally tried Battle for Middle-Earth II. They did a decent job on getting the control system to where it worked for a controller in Battle for Middle-Earth II, but it still had some quicks that a die hard RTS fan would probably not stand for. However, since EA made Battle for Middle-Earth II for the Xbox 360 and they are making Command and Conquer 3 I figured they would improve the controls based on their knowledge of how fans liked Battle for Middle-Earth II. With that in mind I started playing.

After playing through the tutorial and both single player missions I found that I like the control scheme in Command and Conquer 3 better than the one in Battle for Middle-Earth II. The controls are very similar, but they have made a few improvements. There are options to access just about everything you would want to do from the control menu. So you can do things like build more troops or structures without first having to click on the building that makes them. This allows for the screen to stay focused on the battles going on while still managing everything back at your base. This is one of the best additions to a RTS game. It helps make the game be about the fights and not about micro-managing your build order.

The game itself looks great. The graphics look like what I expect from a game on the Xbox 360 and the cut-scenes with actors I recognize are a nice bonus. Sure, RTS games are about the multiplayer, but since they have a single player mode it is nice to see they put some real effort into making it have a decent story to play through.

The multiplayer in the demo only lets you play against a random person and not against your friends as far as I can tell. If there is a way to play against your friends someone let me know how to do that. Also, I read a while back that the game will support the vision camera for multiplayer, but if the demo supports it I did not see how to set it up. Even against random players the multiplayer played great. I got schooled, but then I think if I play a few more times I will figure out a good build order and be able to get off to a better start.

For anyone who likes to play RTS games, but just doesn’t think playing with a controller will be as fun as playing on a keyboard/mouse give Command and Conquer 3 a try. You don’t have quite the level of control you can have with a keyboard for things like hot keys, but for anyone but the most serious RTS player the controls are good enough to have fun. I really enjoyed the demo. I’m not sure if I’ll rent or buy Command and Conquer 3, but I’ll definitely be playing it. I just have to see how many of the guys on my friends list get it to see if it will be worth buying or not.