Was it Good? - Command and Conquer: Tiberian Dawn 

The remaster of this game was an absolute labor of love. It is shocking that it came frm EA, but they got Petroglyph to work on the game. Petroglyph, for those unaware, is a studio formed by MANY of the original Westwood developers of C&C. Frank remastered the music AND they even got the Voice Actress for your AI to rerecord ALL her dialog for a nice clean "UNIT READY". THIS is how remasters should be done.

The fact that Joe Kucan Barely aged over the series, and even now hardly shows change beyond some grey hair shows how perfect a choice of Kane he was

Josh didn't know about the best unit in both armys against the AI : the sandbag. The fact that it still works in the remaster is just so fun ^^

The AI actually did need to collect Tiberium. What happened was someone had entered the code incorrectly and the AI was supposed to get 30% more money per unit of tiberium in the harvester, they instead got 3x the amount I think it was. This can be exploited by capturing a silo right after the AI has filled it and getting a ton of money. On some missions where there are multiple bases, you can then sell the silo and the AI will try to rebuild it so you just the capture it when it fills up again.

The whole "commitment to immersion" thing is spot on. I will never forget how blown away I was when inserting CD1 and having autoplay kick in to proclaim (in EVA's voice, of course) "GDI disc detected. To play the brotherhood of nod missions, please insert the NOD disc"

"There is just something about tiny blobs of pixels screaming, and dying for the glory of Kane that makes me happy" 100% agree with you

The poor trooper slowly succumbing to the tiberium poisoning still haunts me to this day, guy just did his job and it cost him.

As a child I played Dune 2, but was too young then to really grasp it. But with C&C I got hooked, oh man. And that soundtrack...I played the demo for ages... and then I finally got the full game... WOW! Soon followed by Red Alert, which blew me away even more... Absolutely fantastic memories.

In terms of sound design, the charge-up of an obelisk will always be memorable. A sound of terror when you're GDI, a sound of joy when you're Nod.

Josh if you see this: i love you. you are a gentlemen and a scholar

The full motion video cutscenes really were amazing. I still watch them today and they are part of what make C&C amazing

If you thought the base campaign mission were hard, the Covert Missions expansion pack was absolutely brutal.

Used to adore this game and still play the remastered now and then. My guilty pleasure was leaving one enemy unit alive and construct professional and well kept base/army, have all tank a lined up accordingly etc 😅

I don't know why, but somehow hearing "unit ready" LITERALLY every time a unit is built just doesn't get old ^^ It should get annoying, but it doesn't ^^ I agree btw, the score is what really sets this appart. It's probably one of the best in all of video game history.

I miss Westwood. For me their last big hurrah was Earth & Beyond. Many fond memories of a rare online community that wasn't toxic. I knew they were fucked when they were bought out, and one of the reasons they pulled the plug on the E&B servers was it was outdoing their online darling, Sims Online. They tried to get players playing that by offering it as a "replacement". Seeing as they were so similar and all.......

It was a puzzle game disguised as a real time strategy game. And I loved it.

Casting my vote for the classic Dune RTS games!

The original Command and Conquer was the first pc game I ever played. It still stands to this day as a hallmark of my childhood and as a pivotal moment where video games became a thing for me. What a rush of nostalgia watching this video was. Thank you Josh Strife Hayes for the trip down memory lane!

The other exploit I learned, and loved, was that the AI never registered the sandbags as a building, so when you wall yourself in the AI just sat there as I built up, then built my wall to the enemy base and walled them in. Such great times

Haven't got the chance to play Tiberium dawn, but Tiberian Sun is one of my favorite RTS, next to RA2/Yuri's revenge. Lots of weird environment details in that game, with the growing blob things, the tiberium creatures and the bio weapons stuff of Nod.

My suggestion is Heroes of Might and Magic 3. A masterpiece of a game that still holds up to this day. Amazing sound design and OST too. Though I recommend the GOG version instead of the HD remaster from Steam, the Steam version doesn't have the expansions. It also has a fantastic fan made mod/expansion called In the Wake of Gods that adds tons of new content and balances the game.

As someone that is only mildly interested in MMOs, I am pretty hyped for this new channel. I appreciate the effort you put into your MMO videos and enjoy the discussions of systems and mechanics so it will be good to see that kind of content for a wide variety of games.

It's 1995 Hamburg/Germany and four 14 y old guys are sitting excitedly in front of the pc and starting c&c for the first time. up until 1997 no game captivated us like c&c. the game is timeless! missing the 90s

I'm so glad you brought up Frank. The music of this whole series was a huge part of our childhoods.

I borrowed C&C from a friend and could only play it without sound (the family pc had a shitty soundcard which wasn't recognized by the game). I played through both campaigns, and returned the game. Years later, we get a better pc, and I get to play Red Alert. With sound. Oh my. I quickly went back to C&C and this time played it with sound. Oh my. A childhood game for you to play? Full Throttle. Or maybe even Deadlock, with their awesome animated ambassadors.

I'd have also liked to see mention of the spiritual predecessor of this game, Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty. It shares much of the same unit role based gameplay, territory control, faction-unique units, difficult missions, and legendary soundwork as Tiberian Dawn. So much so that C&C was originally nicknamed "Dune III" around the time of its release.

Ah my first ever PC game. I loved it to pieces. Still have the original packing, CDs, soundtrack and all. God damn it, I ll never forget EA for not giving the franchise a proper ending.

As a kid it didn't take me long to learn that the AI's pathfinding can be blocked by *Sandbag Walls.* So in the late stages I would quickly build silos out to the mid map choke/narrow points and build a wall across it. Leaving all the Tiberium free to harvest as well as not requiring any base defenses. But the sand bags also had a second bonus. You could build structures next to them. So I would slowly build sandbags the rest of the way to the enemy base. Block the entry, then build a barracks next to their *Construction Yard* and spam engineers _(Having 4 Barracks back at base to increase build rate of primary building)._ I could also just destroy their base by building base defenses and infantry with in as well. Because the AI had several waves of units just sitting in front of the mid map line. They wouldn't be building or have any units inside their base. They won't react unless their base is attacked. But when I did they were blocked from entering. This exploit was fixed in Red Alert.

I remember wasting hours in custom games, building my base on ps1 back when I was 6 or 7 (I'd defeat the enemy leaving only 1 of their buildings so I could continue building). That and wc2 were my favorite games on ps. Later on I played Celtic Kings Rage of War (Also one of my favorites, highly recommended). Good luck with the new channel and with your whole career.

Absolutely love this game. Basically spent my childhood playing this game. Great idea for a series josh 👍🏻

I remember being at 5th grade when I saw this game at pc cafe. The graphics were utterly pixelated, I think screen resolution at a time was 640px in with or less. It was love at first sight. USSR collapsed relatively not long ago, our family in Eastern European country wasn’t doing great with finances and playing one hour on pc at the cafe was expensive AF. I tried getting every cent I could to enjoy the game for one hour a week. At some point cafe established a network between PCs and C&C multiplayer started, usual strategy people used was to amass an army and go fight, the one who had better economy would win. I was watching all the time people playing and figured that no one sends helicopters loaded with infantry because bases are secured with sam sites or defence towers, but if you send two helicopters, one will die the other will pass through. Loaded both with some flamers sent them - worked like a charm. Opponents usually surrendered after that such attack. Beating a guy 5 years older than you as a kid - greatest and most memorable feeling.

This masterpiece was totally worth the time of my childhood and junior high back then. ❤️🎮🎉

Another game that is among my favorite games and a lot less common; - Populous 3: The beginning a game where you are a shaman of a tribe of a people and you conquer other peoples on different worlds using magic. This magic can literally change the landscape of the world and can be used to defeat your enemies (this is 3 years before Black&White). The pacing, the escalation of magic, the soundeffects... glorious.

"AI cheats, they don't need to collect tiberium". Nothing is more far from truth than this. Actually starving AI by denying them to harvest resources (by walling off their base) was always the most useful tactics in the game. Stuck their harvesters and they run out of money and can't do anything anymore.

I'm a little late to the release of this video; Yes, C&C was a gem back in the 90s. I played NOD and solved the difficulty curve by exploiting the AI: The AI would not destroy walls or sandbags. So after finding their base, I'd build a chain of sandbags from my base to the enemy, cage them in, and then gather resources in peace. Later games did not allow this anymore and I had to step up my game :) As for memorable tactics when playing with friends: lining up 6 stealth tanks near the enemy con-yard and suddenly destroy it in a few seconds. Selling the remains of my base while the other rushes it, only to then rush their undefended base with 10 helicopters from a hidden, second base of my own... Teenage-hood memories.

3:08 I would actually argue that the PLOTS of C&C and Red Alert were at inception quite well thought out and clever. IThey were over the top in places sure, but they balanced that with fascinating "Elsewhere" storylines for our worlds and engaging RTS gameplay. The problem is that slowly but surely the "camp factor" became the focus of the two series. Continuity, good storytellingvand even balanceecgame mechanics half the time took a backseat to spectacle. I personally checked out of RA after "Yuri's Revenge" and didn't have the heart to buy Tiberium Twilight and see them massacre my boy...

I remember me and my siblings playing this on the Sega Saturn. We were playing GDI towards the end of the campaign, and got so confused when we heard, "Nuclear missile approaching." Then our base was destroyed and that quadrant of the map was a charred wasteland. Yep. That's a nuclear missile, alright. Good times, man.

I'll cast my vote for the old goldie, and another awkward "RTS on console" situation like your first experience with Tiberian Dawn; Aliens Vs Predators: Extinction on PS2 And Xbox, that game was one of the three core pieces of my childhood gaming experience (the other two main ones being the original Digimon World and MegaMan Legends)

This game is great! In the last GDI mission I found out I could send my engineers to steal Nod's tiberium silos and sell them to get a ton of money, then wait for them to rebuild them and repeat, it might sound like cheating, but the AI cheats anyway so I figured I was just evening the odds. I built a base so big that even a nuclear strike didn't slow me down, then steamrolled them with mammoth tanks! =D

I always thought that the Ion Cannon was overrated. There are a few cutscenes making it seems as if it was some base-destroying superweapon, when in-game, it could only take out one Obelisk or Turret, or 5 infantry clustered together. The Nod Nuke, on the other hand, was never really mentioned, but it would demolish an entire area. Unfortunately, in the Nod campaign, you only got to use the Nuke one time, in the very last mission.

Awww c'mon, I thought the vid was up :D

More of a RedAlert fan myself, but defnitely appreciate C&C. Did play a fair amout of Tiberian Sun. Also played C&C Renegade which was memorable for being FPS in the C&C world, but I don't recall that game being any good gameplay wise.

The best FMV was the Nod ending. The cyber-running sequence to then claim and use GDI's Ion Cannon was impressive and possibly worth the heartache and headache of actually beating the Nod campaign. Far more satisfying than the GDI one.

I love and hate those commando only missions. You have to destroy turrets, and sometimes the turret just misses 3 times in a row, you destroy it and it's fine. The other time, it hits you three times, lowering it's health by 1/3rd, and then 2 rifle men spawn out of it when it's destroyed and kills your commando in 1 go. Do know you have to destroy like 4 of them, saving is advised, and good luck if you played the console version without a save option.

God, i loved this game as a kid. Me and my dad would play this with his friends on multiplayer all the time. Good times.

I was absolutely addicted to this franchise and still am. I bought a gateway computer just to play this game. Red alert retaliation is still #1 in my heart.

This was an amazing video - every comment, every detail was spot-on. Well done, sir.

comand and conquer was just amaizing, it kik your emotions with how inmersive it is, outstanding music, one of the first RTS, one of the wonderfulls of the 90’s

With the remaster coming this year I would like to see a review of the original System Shock, a game that was an absolute childhood favourite of mine and still is one of my favourite games today and get's a playthrough every year. oh and of course: KANE LIVES !

The ms dos installation is a whole nostalgia trip.. I remember reading the sound card manual just to key in the irq number

Honestly not sure how I have only just found your channel! But these 'Was it good' series videos are absolute master pieces! Keep up the great work! :)

man I just found all your videos and I am binging all of it... because nostalgia hits different on these old games

Two game suggestions: Heroes and Might and Magic 3, and Dungeon Keeper. Those two are amongst the best games ever made.

there is an AI exploit where the AI wont destroy sand bags so when i was younger and got stuck on a mission i would just surround the enemy base with sandbag walls so they could only build a small amount of units and not attack my base then i could take my time building a massive army then just walk over them

My new fav channel. Found your armoured core video and omg these videos are welll made. Ill watch anything you upload ngl.

Command & Conquer were my favourite RTS games until Total Annihilation was released. C&C had a nice story, something TA lacked, but the gameplay, the many different units, the whole modding community around TA creating new units and maps, made it the king of RTS for me back then :) Especially when getting together with your mates for a LAN weekend, TA in multiplayer was such great fun.

I'd love to see a review of castlrvania SOTN or any of the ones that came after it, they're my total comfort games and I've lost count of all the times I've 100% completed those games, full exploration and full item drops and relics, all endings and everything, but despite how much I love them maybe to modern standards they've not aged well. Love your content, hope you're having a wonderful day :3

Possibly 1 of the most fondest (and earlier) memories of gaming experience was this game. Eva saying 'building, unit ready, building, unit ready' still gives me goosebumps and the soundtrack is just......... do it up

This was insanely good back in the day. A true bomb. A masterpiece strategy out of the 90s. Mad soundtrack, and super compelling narrative and war freedom. The fact you could take your time in most missions and literally make as much army as you can, was pure bliss. They simply don't make them like this any more. Amazing game. Bad-assery on all counts. It was all about the gameplay and the bad ass soundtrack. Difficulty was great tbh, challenging, some times brutal yes, but super rewarding and satisfying when finishing levels. Finished the game a few times with each faction, in different ways as a youngling. Truly great difficulty. Completely disagree with OP's take on difficulty. 90s games are inherently harder than most modern ones and this is no exception, this is not bad in any way, it just means you need to get better and the game does not hold your hand like many other games do. This was an 11/10 game, going above and beyond. Red alert built upon it making it even better in terms of QoL and some gameplay elements but the recipe which is the difficult part, was already perfect.

I remember how captivated I was playing this game. I couldn't get away from it. It's a shame they don't make immersive RTS games like this anymore. The C&C series is now dead.. I enjoyed replaying the remaster though, but I wouldn't mind seeing a brand new C&C Game! :D

You Should try Dungeon siege. Honestly, the only non online game that i've ever beaten i remember loving it. :) Edit: Nvm, i also beaten Torchlight 2 haha :D

Is it fair to say Josh Commands and Conquers my attention whenever he uploads

Around 11:30, when the BGM fades back in... that's a major dose of nostalgia, right there.

OOH, the instalation process gives me back memories. I remember being instantly awestruck by it, like I was really connecting to a remote server to play commander ala "Ender's Game".

I'd love to see a replay of Giants: Citizen Kabuto 😁 I remember loving it to bits

KANE LIVES C&C was one of my favorite games as a kid, and the remaster holds up wonderfully. Yes, there's some nostalgia for sure, but its a solid RTS game, if you're willing to overlook some of the missing QoL features that hadn't been invented yet. Everyone I know liked red alert the most, but I always preferred this original game with the introduction to NOD and KANE. Red Alert leaned heavily on tongue in cheek camp (IN SPACE!) whereas this one still tried to take itself (mostly) seriously, and I appreciate that. I would love some modern games with FMV - there are a few, mostly new entries in game series that used it originally, like the 13th doll or Tesla Effect, but nothing like the glut of great and terrible FMV of the 90s. Suggestions: The Legacy Of Kain series, The original Thief games, and Might and Magic 4+5 "World Of Xeen" is very interesting with its unique world combine feature that I don't think has been done before or since.

That limited unit mission you kept showing footage of actually is very easy and quick, one of the easiest and quickest in the game. You aren't there to kill the enemy: you are there to get the thing in their base and escape. So treat it like a smash and grab: send your units straight in, ignoring the enemy. Make a hole in the wall around the thing, grab it, and tell your troops to get to the extraction.

As far as games go, C&C was my first love. It still holds up today.

So many fond memories. Learning that there was a remastered edition made me purchase immediately. Thanks JSH

ah yes the classic C&C Engineer joke XD C&C Engineer is legendary, he can single-handedly get inside a building and turn it friendly with his monkey wrench and little briefcase he can even take over a whole barrack, war factory, communication center or construction yard what an absolute beast

Have not played this game since back then and I can still remember a few of the missions you show off.

The sounds and music in the game are a core childhood memory. If I were to be quizzed 30 years from now what game made these sounds I would know instantly

Any chance of a Gothic series video? The games haven't aged terribly well (and boy is the English dub something else) but when compared to some of their contemporaries they had some interesting ideas, as well as a charming set of characters.

My recommendation is Age of Empires 1. It is a truly a classic that defined the genre, and while it is clearly missing some features modern games have, it still holds up pretty well (until you put it against aoe2, which is a very similar game but improved in literally every way).

My brother recommended me this video (and channel) as we spent years playing this and Tiberian Sun and by God am I glad he did. Thanks!!

My first introduction to the Command & Conquer series was Red alert retaliation. That games was amazing, it made me fall in love with war based realtime strategy games. I can still remember the sound effects of a Russian accent saying "go shoot?" and the maniacal laugh of the female allied special forces unit. Brilliant series of games

Love the videos Josh! Do Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

I remember playing this as a kid and picking the scorpion side for the exact reason you stated, because i thought it looked cool and would get so frustrated because of the absolute stomp i would receive by the 4th mission. I'm glad i have some closure knowing i was in fact challenging myself with such a hard game at a young age.

What a great review! Loved this when I was younger though I have never gotten over being crushed online 🤣

haha, seeing the sound card selection towards the end, gold! oh those memories.........i am old :(

For the most part everything in this video is so true: The great soundtrack, Joe Kucan being perfect for playing Kane, Nod being the choice of the cool kids, the Nod campaign being harder, the terrible pathfinding and a lot more. But some things are absolutely untrue: Destroying the village is NOT the objective of the first Nod mission, killing the warlord Nikoomba is the objective. And with regards to the missions without a base: destroying the enemy base is usually not the objective of those missions. In the example in the video the objective is to get in, steal the crate (that is located inside the fenced off area) and get out, which is actually not all that hard, especially if you're quick enough.

Remember playing this when coax LAN was a thing. Oh the good old days.

This was my very first video game my grandpa had this on the sega saturn i remember having a sheet of paper laminated with all the level passwords thank you for bringing back the memories that got me into the hobby

I almost finished all your vids in no time I know you're going to boom very soon Your videos help me with my insomnia Please keep it up!

Hey just thought I’d say I’ve watched hours of your mmo series even though I’m not that fond of mmos so glad you’re branching out to other things and can’t wait to see more

Command and Conquer is one of those games that's so old that it feels like the devs overlooked a lot of quality of life design choices, but in reality, it predates those quality of life choices. I've got a lot of good memories about this series, and it's great to see how the genre has evolved from here.

I subbed not even a minute in. Nice work mate

Good video! No mention of the sandback trick or free sell bugs!

It’s amazing. It stands up so well. Such a fun and satisfying campaign to beat.

You could also play star wars jedi knight 2: jedi outcast and/or jedi knight: jedi academy. I remember playing and loving them as a child and recently tried the first one again and....found plenty of flaws but still good games imo :)

i love this series, i even have the collectors edition from the remaster, and basically every game from the time it came out (through my dad). also, something i was absolutely ecstatic about was the fact that when it came out i got to play with the devs through a german content creator, who also did one of the few interviews with joe. and the dude why made the remastered installation sequence also frequented our tiberian sun sessions, and he's a really cool guy who then did the transition animations for the command and conquer streams

man...you keep playing all my childhood favorites as a kid (had this on ps1)

The death scream is my favorite in any game ever. Hands down.

I'd love to see a modern review of Army Men: RTS, it was one of my first strategy games and the voice lines are iconic to me. Similar to harvesting Tiberium, you harvest plastic and can harvest it from dead troops as well, which I still think is an amazing mechanic to this day. (Another game I'd like to see is Super Monkey Ball 1 or 2)

Great video! Would love to see you tackle the NES Kemco Trilogy (Shadowgate, Deja Vu, and Uninvited)

Oh my god I have spent so many years playing Red Alert and Tiberium series games this review gave me enormous nostalgia. I really want to see you playing C&C Renegade, I have started my jorney into tiberium fields with this one and it had really cool fantastic yet grounded vibe.

My childhood, that wonderful time when we had amazing RTS! Even on the PS1 and yes I played it on PS1 at the time too! I've always been a big fan of this franchise!

Can't wait for the Morrowind review. The RPG masterpiece for me.

Command and Conquer was such an awesome series. I picked it up in the GDI vs NOD days but the Red Alerts were great too. I loved how you could garrison a building with ground troops and turn it into a giant pill box of death

there is also a way to cheese the AI in TD; the AI doesn't know what to do if they cant path find to you. so if block all paths to you, the AI will just not do anything. they may send air units, but that's about it