Game Plot

The storylines of the game's three factions are closely interwoven in the same fashion seen previously in the Firestorm expansion pack of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. In any one faction's campaign, references are made to the events and missions that occur in the campaigns of the other two factions.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars begins roughly sixteen to seventeen years after the events of Tiberian Sun: Firestorm. While the conflict between the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod appears to have subsided substantially ever since, Tiberium infestation has begun to reach critical levels and continues to destroy the Earth's ecosystems at an alarming rate, prompting GDI to divide the world into three different geographical zones based on the levels of local infestation[6]. 30% of the world's surface has been designated as "Red Zones", which have suffered the worst contamination and can no longer support human or otherwise carbon-based life. 50% of the regions in the world have been designated as "Yellow Zones", which are dangerously contaminated yet contain most of the world's population. Decades of war and civil unrest have left these regions in a state of social collapse and have continued to provide the Brotherhood of Nod with opportunity for concealment as well as large-scale recruitment over the years. The remaining 20% of the Earth's surface is unscarred by Tiberium outbreak and is relatively untouched by war. These "Blue Zones" are considered the last refuge and hope of the human civilized world and have been placed under the direct protection of the Global Defense Initiative.

In March of 2047 the Brotherhood of Nod suddenly fires a nuclear missile at GDI's orbiting command station GDSS Philadelphia, destroying the fulcrum of GDI's senior command structure in a single major blow. Since the end of the Second Tiberium War, Nod has silently built up its influence and its military potential into the status of a true superpower, and by providing enforcement of stability, strategically placed medical aid and hate-mongering against GDI and the Blue Zone populations from within the Yellow Zone territories, the Brotherhood is now supported by a significant percentage of the world's population. Unprepared to handle the coordinated offensives led by Black Hand shock troops across the entire globe, the remainder of the Global Defense Initiative's top military and political officials take charge and begin rallying all of their standing forces, determined to turn the tide and achieve a new victory over Nod.

As the conflict unfolds however, extraterrestrial forces known only as the "Scrin" suddenly enter in the battle, and alter the nature of the Third Tiberium War entirely.

Campaigns

After driving the invading Brotherhood of Nod forces out of a number of the world's Blue Zones, GDI's General Granger, acting on intelligence gathered from Nod POWs, begins to fear that the Brotherhood may be preparing to use WMD's and orders a pre-emptive strike on a Nod chemical weapons facility near Cairo, Egypt. Once there, GDI discovers that Nod not only was preparing to deploy their full nuclear arsenal on them, but that they are also in the process of manufacturing a liquid Tiberium bomb of unprecedented destructive power. The swiftness of GDI's response prevents a pending nuclear strike from Nod, but Kane continues the construction of the liquid Tiberium device unabated within his newly erected "Temple Prime" in Sarajevo.

Temple Prime subsequently comes under siege by GDI forces. General Granger plans to lay siege to the site until Kane and his Inner Circle would surrender, but Director Redmond Boyle orders the use of the ion cannon upon Temple Prime to eliminate Kane's threat "once and for all". When the ion cannon is fired over Granger's strenuous objections, it detonates a deposit of the liquid Tiberium stored underneath the temple, creating a massively destructive explosion that reaches out into space and kills millions of people in Eastern Europe's Yellow zones, Kane and his Inner Circle are believed to be among the casualties.

Shortly after these disastrous events, GDI's deep space surveillance network suddenly begins to detect multiple large unidentified objects rapidly closing in on Earth. Director Boyle orders the ion cannon network to be turned against the vessels, but the craft are unfazed by the attack and alien forces, known only as the Scrin, land on Earth and begin to swarm throughout the world's Red Zones, soon after launching massive assaults on all major cities across the globe. GDI central command eventually becomes aware that the invaders' agenda was to commit a series of large-scale diversionary strikes, in order to divert human attention away from several colossal towers that were being constructed within the world's Red Zones.

At the same time, the Scrin themselves have become aware of Kane's entire premeditated plan; that the man had provoked the preceding world war with GDI in order to deliberately lure them into using their ion cannon upon Temple Prime, which was the only weapon that could create a large enough detonation of liquid Tiberium to prematurely awaken the Scrin and bring them to Earth, so that Kane could complete the last stage of his plans; to capture one of the Scrin's "Threshold" towers.

GDI eventually succeeds in destroying all but one of these towers, which is protected from their assault by elite Nod forces, and the Scrin are able to finish the tower's construction just before GDI destroys a mysterious central control node located in Italy. With the tower completed, it becomes impregnable to all known forms of human weaponry and GDI is left with no option but to leave it standing under close observation, as it is completely inert following the destruction of the control node entity. Kane, meanwhile, prepares to enter the tower using the key codes Nod forcefully obtained from the Scrin forces, while the Scrin themselves are preparing a "full invasion force" with the intention of obtaining all possible knowledge on the being of "Kane", and to then annihilate the human race. In the end of the Nod campaign, Kane welcomes the player to his Inner Circle and then disappears into a mysterious light.

Gameplay

Electronic Arts Los Angeles designed Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars with the intention to return the Command & Conquer RTS series to its roots, as originally established by creator Westwood Studios. As such, numerous features that were characteristic of the Command & Conquer games prior to the release of Command & Conquer: Generals in 2003 define the gameplay of Tiberium Wars;

• 
  The return of full motion video cutscene between single player missions.
  
• The return of the Tiberium substance as the game's sole and hazardous resource, and all the in-game economics traditionally associated with it.
  
• Return of the classic two factions of the C&C series; the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod.
  
• Return of the pre-Generals "right-sidebar" user interface, a feature announced early on in an interview with IGN[7].
  
• Destroyable and repairable bridges, destroyable civilian buildings, etc.
  
• Forward-base construction through "mobile construction vehicles" (or "MCVs"), and "construction yard" buildings.
  
• From version 1.05 and onward, a "Classic C&C Mouse Setup" option was added to the game's configuration menu, allowing the player to issue commands to units and structures with the left mouse button, in an identical fashion to the C&C games produced by Westwood Studios[8].

Command & Conquer 3's gameplay typically requires the player to construct a base and acquire resources, in order to fund the ongoing production of various types of forces to assault and conquer the opponent's base with. All available structures of the faction chosen by the player are constructed on-site at so-called "construction yard" or "drone platform" buildings - which typically begin as large-sized vehicles or aircraft capable of deploying themselves into the aforementioned construction yards or drone platforms - or alternatively at the supporting "crane" and "foundry" structures. When a construction yard, drone platform, crane or foundry has finished building a new structure, the player can select a spot near to a pre-existing structure in order to place it, where the prefabricated building will then rapidly unfold in a distinctive manner.

Tiberium, the game's sole resource (except for the optional "Tiberium Spikes" and occasional "money crates"), is acquired by specialized "harvester" units which bring their cargo to a "refinery" structure. This in turn will convert the Tiberium crystals into usable resources, expressed as credits. The Tiberium itself requires storage space in the form of refineries and, in the case of excess when playing as the Global Defense Initiative or Brotherhood of Nod factions, "storage silo" structures.

Virtually every type of structure in the game acts as a tech tree node, and additional units, structures and faction-specific abilities will become available as new structures are built and placed. Access to advanced units and abilities may be temporarily blocked if the required structures are destroyed, or if they are not being provided with adequate power by the supporting "power plant" structures.

Base defense is provided by specialized defensive towers. Later on in the game, the player can begin to build lethal defensive structures such as the Global Defense Initiative's "Sonic Emitters", the Scrin's "Storm Columns" or the iconic "Obelisk of Light" of the Brotherhood of Nod.

Single Player

The story driven single player mode of Command & Conquer 3 consists of 38 missions[9], spread over three campaigns. Each campaign depicts the view of its respective faction on the globalized "Third Tiberium War", with the portrayed story being furthered by full motion video cutscenes which play in between each of the individual campaign missions. Players can select to start with either the Global Defense Initiative or the Brotherhood of Nod campaign. However, both campaigns of the traditional two factions are required to be completed before the bonus campaign of the new third Scrin faction is unlocked and becomes playable.

Each campaign mission features main objectives, the completion of which will instantly end the mission successfully. Several optional bonus objectives are additionally present, which can, when completed, make it easier for the main objectives to be completed. All campaign missions can separately be given a difficulty rating on the "theatre" screen before they are started; the available difficulty settings range from "Easy" to "Normal" to "Hard".

As the player progresses through one of the campaigns, new entries in the game's "Intelligence Database" become unlocked, providing the player with additional background information on the storyline, the factions, as well as their units and structures. Several of these database entries require the player to complete the bonus objectives of the various missions before they can be accessed. However, due to bugs in the game's code two entries cannot be collected without the use of a downloaded mod. All cutscenes which the player has unlocked by progressing through the campaigns are made available for viewing at any time within the game's "Transmission Log" menu.

The skirmish mode in Tiberium Wars features numerous AI settings which each embody a type - or a combination of types - of classic RTS strategies[10], such as "turtler", "rusher" and "steamroller". These behavioral settings can additionally be given a difficulty rating ranging from "Easy" to "Medium" to "Hard" to "Brutal", along with "handicap" settings that can be applied to either the AI, the player, or both. Whenever a skirmish mission is successfully completed, a star is placed next to the map in the skirmish menu, showing that the player has successfully won the skirmish on a certain difficulty level.

Multiplayer

Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars supports multiplayer games over LAN, and online play over Gamespy servers[11]. Players can participate in "1v1", "2v2", and clan-based "1v1" and "2v2" ladders - each using separate Elo rating systems - or they can elect to play unranked. In addition to the official ladders, a number of independent ladders have been set up, the most prominent of which currently is "clanwars.cc[1]".

Broadband-based multiplayer features VoIP support[5].

Battlecast

Electronic Arts is making an attempt through Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars to market "RTS as a sport"[11], through a project entitled "BattleCast". A service centred on the game's official website, "BattleCast" is designed to allow for players to schedule upcoming games with others, to spectate in games that are currently being played, and to serve as a centralized replay archive of previously played matches. "BattleCast" additionally allows for players to function as commentators in a game, providing a running description of the match as it unfolds. Commentators can talk to other observers of a game through "BattleCast", and use a Paint-style brush to draw onto the screen.

A free "BattleCast Viewer" is available for download from the official C&C website[2]. This viewer will allow for people who do not own the game to watch others playing[12].

Factions

Gobal Defense Initiative
Main article: Global Defense Initiative

GDI's faction symbol.

The Global Defense Initiative's internal structure and organization is quite similar to a supranational and large-scale integration of all of the world's major modern day conventional armies into a single globalized military force[13]. GDI is capable of instantly deploying vast quantities of well-trained and well-equipped soldiers backed by powerful ground, air and naval assets to any point on the globe, and this in ways that are considerably more organized, advanced, as well as on a much greater scale than any conventional real-life military force of today possibly could[13]. Global Defense Initiative troops utilize both superior armor and firepower, making them typically much more powerful than Nod forces in direct open confrontations, but also more cumbersome and less flexible, the exploitation of which the Brotherhood is notoriously adept at through its combinations of futuristic guerrilla warfare with uniquely advanced Tiberium-based technologies[14]. By the year of 2047 GDI's forces were restructured to allow for decentralized operations in multiple theatres of war, through the establishment of forward-operating bases in all types of terrain[13], and the deployment of proven, specialized and cost-effective ground and air forces supported by the most advanced network of orbital artillery satellites in history. In-game, their units are unit-for-unit more powerful than those of Nod and the Scrin. Their superweapon is the quintessential ion cannon, an orbital weapon that has appeared in every Tiberium title to date; previously capable of destroying only a single building at a time, the ion cannon can now devastate a large area, through 8 small ion beams forming up into the center before the larger, more destructive main blast. [15].

Brotherhood of Nod
Main article: Brotherhood of Nod

Nod's faction symbol.

The Brotherhood of Nod is a mysterious and highly militant Abrahamic society of allegedly ancient origins[16], which in modern times began showing the combined characteristics of a vast religious movement, a multinational corporation and a decentralized nation-state, while being none of the three in itself[16]. The globalized brotherhood is led by a mysterious man who is known only as Kane[17], and its influence in the world at the advent of the events in which Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars takes place reached nothing short of the status of an unconventional superpower[16]. The Brotherhood of Nod represents a flexible, elusive and worldwide cultic army which thrives on the sophisticated synergy between low-tech guerrilla warfare and highly-trained forces that are equipped with state-of-the-art communications gear and the most advanced weapon systems available, which have been derived from the Brotherhood's uniquely adept understanding of Tiberium-based military technologies[16]. Nod tactics are highly radical and appear more cruel than GDI's, often showing little to no regard for human life, and their religious fascination with Tiberium also leads them to use the dangerous and toxic substance offensively whenever possible. In-game, Nod forces typically are weaker than GDI's or the Scrin in a head-on engagement, yet are able to use flexible strategies and advanced hit-and-run tactics to their advantage to control the pacing of the battle, as well as sabotage an opponent's momentum. Like in the original C&C game, their in-game superweapon is a nuclear missile[17], which replaces the cluster and chemical missiles deployed during Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

Scrin
Main article: Scrin

The Scrin's faction symbol.

The third faction featured in Tiberium Wars is an extraterrestrial force known only as the Scrin, who has come to harvest all of the Earth's Tiberium deposits[18]. They have remained dormant along the edge of our Solar System for millennia, until awakened by the massive detonation of liquid Tiberium beneath the Brotherhood of Nod's "Temple Prime". Upon approaching Earth, they are surprised to encounter a heavily militarized native population still coping with Tiberium's spread, and swiftly proceed to launch an assault on Earth's cities, wreaking havoc on GDI and Nod alike. This is done mainly for intimidation purposes because the real objective of the Scrin is to collect the Tiberium in the Red Zones. Scrin units and structures show a distinctly bio-mechanical and insect-like appearance, and possess several economic and military advantages related directly to Tiberium[18], including the ability to promote the growth of the substance, store it in infinite amounts, and to use it to enhance the performance of their units and weaponry in a multitude of ways. Scrin forces possess a powerful aerial fleet[18], able of constructing fast "Stormrider" fighters, hovering "Devastator" warships and the versatile "Planetary Assault Carriers", which are capable of generating localized ion storms. The faction also features the ability to create wormholes and to instantly teleport units around the battlefield through various means. The Scrin are additionally able to deploy a large aerial unit known as the "Mothership", which features a massively powerful energy weapon that can devastate all structures in a large radius beneath it by initiating a chain reaction upon them however the "Mothership" is extremely slow and open to attack. Their in-game superweapon is the "rift generator", which creates a rip in space-time in the targeted area, drawing everything near to it into deep space[19].

Casting

oseph D. Kucan would indeed return to reprise his role as the leader of the Brotherhood of Nod. The cutscenes of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars were directed by EA in-house cinematic director Richard Taylor[20].

A number of well known actors were cast in the full motion videos of Tiberium Wars[21];

• 
  Josh Holloway (Lost) appears as a Nod intelligence officer by the name of Ajay.
  
• Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) portrays the Nod General Kilian Qatar.
  
• Michael Ironside (Top Gun, Starship Troopers, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell video game series, SeaQuest DSV) appears as the Global Defense Initiative's General Jack Granger.
  
• Billy Dee Williams (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars
• Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi, Batman) plays GDI Director Redmond Boyle.
  
• Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica) as GDI Lt. Sandra Telfair.
  
• Jennifer Morrison (House, M.D.) portrays GDI Lt. Kirce James.

Electronic Arts Los Angeles also employed the talents of several real-world newscasters to deliver TV-style reports of the Tiberium Wars within the game's cutscenes[22];

• Freelance CNN news reporter Shanon Cook (Robin & Company) plays the character of Cassandra Blair.
  
• Las Vegas Fox News anchor John Huck appears as William Frank.
  
• Shauntay Hinton (Miss USA 2002) was cast as the reporter Brittany Murphy.