Untangling Tiberian Twilight (Part 2)

by Piyoz on Feb 16th, 2013

GDI Scene Eight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBJHcUs_tJ

At this point, the generals high up in GDI decide that Colonel James has gone off the deep end. They send in a squad to seize her and her entire force. Everyone has been incarcerated and will await formal court martial. You, the player, are also captured and imprisoned.

Some guy who looks like G-Man from Half-Life comes to your cell and lets you out. Who is he? Who arranged your freedom? Your mysterious savior informs you that you must follow Colonel James to the Threshold towers. Did James escape? How? What is she doing there? Why is the player the only one who has no idea what is going on?

GDI Scene Nine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMjS6504G2g

So it looks like the Nod supporters consist mostly of frat guys. How charming. I’m trying my hardest to make this all look stupid, but this story is doing all my work for me.

James is in full anachronistic Army fatigues again. She says she’s going to assassinate Kane at a peaceful Nod rally outside the Threshold towers. Why is this the first that we’ve heard of this rally?

GDI Scene Ten: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-nvflpXmW4

James has a tough time getting a clean shot on Kane, who is on stage, addressing his thousands of most loyal followers. She eventually does take the shot and Kane falls to the floor. No confirmed kill. He could still be alive!

James wants you to go in there and finish off Kane yourself. A conflict between your GDI pals and Kane’s forces brews up. I guess the TCN’s treaties go on ignored here. Also, Kane has been killed three times in this series. Keep that in mind.

GDI Scene Eleven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf4cLJ0KtkE

The game leads you into the Threshold 19. Here, Kane appears to you in an all-white environment, which we are lead to believe is the mysterious, alien tower. We’ve never seen the inside before, but if it really did exist I could promise you it wouldn’t look like the inside of a Wii console.

Kane tells you that Lilly was killed not by Nod’s hands, but by friendly fire in the chaos of battle. Apparently, James altered the incident report to convince the player to blame Nod for Lilly’s death. But didn’t James blame the Separatist Gideon for Lilly? Not Kane.

Okay, so James lied to you to bring you to her anti-Nod stance. The next reveal is that Kane designed the optical implants himself! He and his scientists created them using a plot device from earlier games. 5 sets of implants were made, but the pair in your head is the only set left! Turns out that these implants were made to activate a portal within the Threshold towers. The camera pans over to a dinky cardboard cut-out. An alien portal appears as you step closer.

Colonel James appears with a gun and…you know what? I can’t begin to summarize this final scene. I’ve watched it a dozen times and I still have no idea what happens. I think James is killed at some point. Kane enters the portal, too, but beyond that it’s a mess. You know a narrative is doing something wrong when the climax is incoherent like this.

And the campaign ends there. Kane and all his Nod followers enter the portal and leave Earth. GDI, the TCN, and all of humanity can live forever in peace as Tiberium continues to fade from the Earth. Fifteen years of excellent RTS action and unique story-telling is finally over. One of the trend-setters in the genre has reached in finale. The epic conclusion to this series beloved by fans and the industry has been set in stone.

Folks, I’m not even sure what to say at this point. I don’t play a lot of story-heavy games, but as a story-teller myself, the campaign that I summarized here is without question the worst plot I’ve ever witnessed in a video game. Lilly is a horrible and 2-dimensional character who fails at her very simple task of being worthy of our love. Colonel James is so poorly-handled that it’s embarrassing. Kane is a reasonable and thoughtful person, which goes against everything we’ve ever known about him. Gideon is like a twelve-year-old girl screaming into her web cam. Everything from the tiny sets to the crappy green screens doesn’t begin to hide how shoddy the cinematics are. The dialogue is laughable, and the overall story is nearly impossible to make sense of. And the saddest part of all?

This is the first half. There is an entire Nod campaign, too. I’m not even sure that I have the patience to go through this atrocity of a plot from a different angle. I just want to roll up with a well-done video game story like Ace Attorney or Catherine right now. But I can’t. I can’t let this God-awful disease fester any longer. I have to go through it. For myself. To put this behind me and move on.

Wish me luck.

The Nod Campaign of C&C 4

The alternate campaign starts of after the third cut scene. It’s mostly the same story, but a few things happen differently, as is typical for this series. Usually, there are separate modes entirely, not a fork-in-the-road decision. Ah well.

Nod Scene One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Ucgn52dw

After your character switches banners and takes the side of the Brotherhood of Nod, Kane welcomes you to his command bay. It looks suspiciously like the GDI control room under Colonel James, just darker and with different lieutenants at the monitors.

Dr. Pascal comes in and says that he developed the optical implants with Kane. These eyes can sync with the Threshold or something. So what was the point of this reveal? That Pascal was working with Nod this whole time, under GDI’s noses? He just strolls in and everyone seems so casual about it. You’d think a significant reveal that someone was a traitor to your cause would be introduced with more flair than this.

Kane declares that Gideon and his Separatist thugs are targeting the individuals who have the optical implants. So why is he doing this? Does Gideon know that the implants can activate the Threshold? How would an outsider figure that robotic eyeballs could create an interstellar portal? Does Gideon want to stop Kane from opening the portal? If so, why? How does Gideon know who the implants recipients are? Why don’t you just round up all five of them and hide them away so Gideon can’t find them? Good God! This had more plot holes than Prometheus and THIS IS JUST THE FIRST DAMN CUT SCENE! THIS GAME MAKES ME WANT TO PULL MY BRAINS OUT!!!

Nod Scene Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d9mK0aqYv4

There’s one problem with this scene and it’s not the plot. It’s Kane. Before C&C 4, Kane was a maniacal religious fanatic. His moral standards were as questionable as his sanity. He would infect entire populations with Tiberium out of curiosity. He would send nukes at GDI command satellites for a laugh. His methods and origins were dubious, and everyone respected him as much as they feared him.

In this scene, we see a calm, logical, and down-to-Earth Kane. Teaming up with GDI (his long-time enemies) was no evil plot hiding in the shadows. He really wants to do good and save humanity. Why this shift in personality? What caused a crazed military cult leader to suddenly come around? Kane is like an entirely different character!

Nod Scene Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa-clV3gng

Kane reveals that your wife Lilly is alive! In this campaign, Lilly was rescued by Kane in the chaos in New Adana. Yippee! We get to see her again! So why does Kane care about one woman? Did Kane know that Lilly was your wife? Did he know she was in New Adana? Why save her? If I killed myself now, would it be considered suicide or euthanasia? I think I have Dr. Kevorkian on speed dial.

Nod Scene Four: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEnMNdAifd

After the previous scene, you are falling in and out of consciousness in Kane’s command bay. Kane is lying down on a stretcher next to you, and some people are putting needles in his arms. Some sort of blood transfusion is going on. Although, by Kane’s reaction, it looks pretty painful.

When you come to, Kane holds up a mirror. You were transformed to look just like him! You are a Kane clone! Kane wants to make you his decoy so that nobody will suspect that you are the commander with the optical implants. You could have disguised as anyone from Nod’s ranks of millions, but I suppose a world-famous military/religious leader works, too. Disguising as someone that most of the world hates? Sounds legit.

Come to think of it, how did you take Kane’s form? Can a blood transfusion alter your physical appearance into his? If it wasn’t blood, then what was it? What is going on here? Who’s been screwing with my medicine? Who wants some pizza rolls?

Nod Scene Six: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D3mEP0TbPE

The player, disguised as the Messiah Kane, has been placed on stage at the grand Nod rally near the Threshold 19. So that whole speech was actually given by a clone! Cuh-razy!

Wait a second. Hold on. So think back to the GDI campaign. You watched on a screen from the GDI transport as Colonel James sniped at Kane on stage. Was that a clone, too? So if your Commander Parker was with GDI, then who was the clone on stage? Did Kane find someone else to be the decoy?

While you are on stage, you (as Kane) reveal through some stolen footage a shocking discovery! Colonel James was meeting with Gideon! James hands over Dr. Pascal in exchange for some device that we can’t see clearly. What did Gideon give her? It looks like a Rubik’s cube.  Whatever it is, we never see it again. I wonder how Kane acquired this security footage of a GDI atmospheric transport in the first place. Why did Kane want to reveal James’ dealings with the Separatists to all his loyal Nod followers? Why am I playing this game? Did I really blow fifty dollars on this?

Like in the GDI campaign, Kane (who is secretly you) gets sniped on stage in front of everyone.

Nod Scene Seven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S538k7ew8c4

Luckily your disguised form was recovered safely from the scene. You wake up in the Nod command bay, and Lilly is glad to see you alive (I prefer the storyline where she dies, personally). Sure, you look like Kane, but she can still tell it’s you on the inside. She can “see it in your eyes”. Barf.

Lilly also talks back to Kane. Girl, you don’t talk back to Kane. That’s like talking back to the Pope.

“Tell me, Kane. I am the only one left with the robot eyes needed for your plan to open the Scrin portal. If I am so precious to you, then why did you put me in danger? You clearly thought that someone was going to try at your life at the rally, so why choose your most important follower as your decoy? You have millions of sheep who would sacrifice their life for you without hesitation. Really? Me?”

Kane sits down next to you for a heart-to-heart chat. He lets rip how he has been on Earth for thousands of years. He watched humans evolve into cave-dwellers, and has led us to become intelligent and organized. This was all part of his plan to call the aliens here who would build the towers which he could use to escape the Earth and travel elsewhere. Also, he’s an alien. Just icing on the cake, really.

Nod Scene Eight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89X1gUS0KYo

Kane leads you and Lilly into the Threshold. Why did Lilly tag along? Maybe she was bored. Maybe she left her purse in there.

Lilly runs off like Natalya in the Soviet Archives. Kane goes to find her. That can’t be hard; it’s all one giant, white room. He wants you to reach the portal and activate it. There it is! Next to the white wall! Oh no! Colonel James appears! She calls you Kane (since she doesn’t know that you’re his decoy). James shoots you down! Pow!

Out of bloody nowhere, Kane emerges and begins choking her. Like an idiot, she drops her pistol. Your vision fades before you see Kane kill James. You fade in and out like you’re running Windows Vista. In your final moments, Lilly is crying over your dying body. Kane steps into the portal and “ascends”.

The same ending cut scene plays for both campaigns. Nod followers disappeared into the Threshold. The TCN is left to reclaim more of the Earth unchallenged, and every problem that plagued this world is now resolved effortlessly, and at no cost to anyone. Everyone is content and they lived happily ever after. The end.

Conclusion

There. I did it. It’s over.

Let’s take an inventory here. Lilly, the wife whose death passes without mourning. Colonel James, a rebellious officer with a lame back story. Kane, a vicious antagonist reduced to normalcy. Gideon, the Separatist who somehow knew everything about the optical implants. Dr. Pascal, the most casual two-face in the game series. Blood transfusions that can make clones out of anybody. Missiles with the attention span of squirrels. Combine all this with cringe-inducing dialogue and pathetic special effects, and you’ve got Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight!

I’m not sure on what plane of existence EA thought that making a game like this is acceptable. Just by watching a few videos, you can see how cheap and quick this whole project was put together. Sets are tiny and simple. The game play maps are either field, city, or snow. Unit designs are ugly and bulky. Actors don’t look like they had much time to prepare for these lines. Costumes and set pieces don’t match the universe or time period. It seems like this whole game was made with no attention to the history of the series, the logic of these characters and factions, or just the basic rules of story-telling. Rumors online are that this game was put together in a few months on a tiny budget to pump out a cheap product and gain a high profit thanks to this series’ name. I can’t verify this, but from what I have watched and played, this appears to be the case.

So is this the Paranormal Activity of video games? Quite possibly. It makes me angry that EA could take a well-known title like Command & Conquer and exploit its popularity for a secure profit. In an era in which games are becoming far more expensive to produce, it’s understandable that developers and producers would cut corners to ensure that they can stay in business. With this global economy, consumers are buying less games and consoles, so companies need to pick up the pace to keep revenue in the years to come. This brings us Digital Rights Management, on-disc DLC, and online subscriptions and packages to sell us in addition to our games.

But to use a game series to your advantage and turn a quick buck like this? If that’s truly the case, then that’s just totally unacceptable. No consumer wants to pay full price for a half-baked product. How odd is it that game makers’ methods of making sure that gamers are still buying their games are the same methods that can also turn gamers away from that company? People rant about DLC, DRM, and exploited series non-stop on forums and comment sections everywhere. Haven’t game companies figured out that this only alienates players instead of attracting them?

In any case, I hoped you’ve learned from EA’s example here. This is your guide on how to NOT write a story in your video game. Don’t push a woman in front of our faces and expect us to fall in love. Don’t hand out silly back stories like they’re unemployment checks. Don’t screw up main characters and for the love of God learn how to animate a missile!

Congratulations, cadet! You survived Command & Conquer 4! I mean, you probably didn’t play it. You just sat through me talking about it. Still impressive, though! Share your war stories and other thoughts in our forums!

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