NotStyro
Shared on Sun, 09/23/2007 - 00:44Sometime this past week I sat down and ordered Command & Conquer 3 from GameFly. I had been dealing with some sleep issues due to being in training, so I guess that was the excuse to order a game for the 360 that I already own and occasionally play on one of my two Windows boxes (main & lappy). Both of the Windows boxes are no longer anywhere near 'cutting edge' in any part of their build, and I've been toying with the idea of either building a new pc or buying a Mac Pro (as soon as Apple adds a dual-layer Blu-Ray burner). What I'm getting at is that I guess subconsciously, I wanted to play C&C3 in a high-quality video & maybe action mode.
What I got was some compromises.
While the 360 version does appear to have much better graphics than my almost antique main pc (don't ask about the lappy), the controls are quite a bit different. Yes, I expected the controls to be different on the 360 than from a pc. On a pc you can use the mouse and all those lovely keyboard buttons for quick and efficient selection/action. The 360 just has a bunch of buttons and sticks for control. Therefore the designers decided to use a system somewhat like 'chording' with the 360 controller. Chording, in case you didn't know, was using two or more buttons or sticks at same time to create more choices then are usually available. Using the 360 controller with chording during the heat of battle is, well, troubling. For the most part the designers managed to find a way to put most items with reasonably quick selections range. But a few problems I've seen include group assignment and selection.
Group assignment & selection are two big, ok huge, items that must be used and mastered in the C&C games. Grouping allows you to grab a bunch of units and assign them to a group for quick selection. Get a group of a couple squads of rifleman & grenadiers - highlight them, assign them to a quick selector. On the pc that entails using the mouse to draw a box around the squads then press something like ctrl and a number key (ctrl+1) - dead simple. On the 360, however, that entails getting the squads you want in a group to move aways from other units, then zoom down on just those squads, left-trigger+A (hopefully selecting all the units in the view), then bring up a tab menu, select group tab (first one, fortunately), then select on of the six locations (there may be another step here, I'm not positive). Hmm, six groups on the 360, 9 or 10 on the pc.
What about group selection... On the pc just press the number key you assigned to the group, then do something with them. On the 360 you have to de-select, then right-trigger to bring up the tab menu, select the first tab - groups, choose which of the six slots you assigned your group (better remember because it doesn't look like it will show you which group slots are used), then hope your group is actually selected and the viewpoint moves to that group. I have a problem with the group assignment & selection due to the seeming randomness of it actually working. It is almost better to just go back to where you left your group and select them then take some action.
Another problem I noted was a horrible route tracing formula. I remember some earlier pc versions, and clones, of C&C also having this problem, but not the current version. When I tell a squad/group to come out of the barracks, cross a field, cross a bridge and form on a field I don't expect the squads/groups to form-up on the shore beside the bridge. After much frustration I finally gave up on getting the squads/groups to cross the bridge on their own, and just form on the base side, then I would corral them onto the bridge then onto the other shore. Might as well be a game of corralling cats into a swimming pool.
More to come later...
What I got was some compromises.
While the 360 version does appear to have much better graphics than my almost antique main pc (don't ask about the lappy), the controls are quite a bit different. Yes, I expected the controls to be different on the 360 than from a pc. On a pc you can use the mouse and all those lovely keyboard buttons for quick and efficient selection/action. The 360 just has a bunch of buttons and sticks for control. Therefore the designers decided to use a system somewhat like 'chording' with the 360 controller. Chording, in case you didn't know, was using two or more buttons or sticks at same time to create more choices then are usually available. Using the 360 controller with chording during the heat of battle is, well, troubling. For the most part the designers managed to find a way to put most items with reasonably quick selections range. But a few problems I've seen include group assignment and selection.
Group assignment & selection are two big, ok huge, items that must be used and mastered in the C&C games. Grouping allows you to grab a bunch of units and assign them to a group for quick selection. Get a group of a couple squads of rifleman & grenadiers - highlight them, assign them to a quick selector. On the pc that entails using the mouse to draw a box around the squads then press something like ctrl and a number key (ctrl+1) - dead simple. On the 360, however, that entails getting the squads you want in a group to move aways from other units, then zoom down on just those squads, left-trigger+A (hopefully selecting all the units in the view), then bring up a tab menu, select group tab (first one, fortunately), then select on of the six locations (there may be another step here, I'm not positive). Hmm, six groups on the 360, 9 or 10 on the pc.
What about group selection... On the pc just press the number key you assigned to the group, then do something with them. On the 360 you have to de-select, then right-trigger to bring up the tab menu, select the first tab - groups, choose which of the six slots you assigned your group (better remember because it doesn't look like it will show you which group slots are used), then hope your group is actually selected and the viewpoint moves to that group. I have a problem with the group assignment & selection due to the seeming randomness of it actually working. It is almost better to just go back to where you left your group and select them then take some action.
Another problem I noted was a horrible route tracing formula. I remember some earlier pc versions, and clones, of C&C also having this problem, but not the current version. When I tell a squad/group to come out of the barracks, cross a field, cross a bridge and form on a field I don't expect the squads/groups to form-up on the shore beside the bridge. After much frustration I finally gave up on getting the squads/groups to cross the bridge on their own, and just form on the base side, then I would corral them onto the bridge then onto the other shore. Might as well be a game of corralling cats into a swimming pool.
More to come later...
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