With the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection, developer Petroglyph looks to bring the original game and its 1996 prequel, Red Alert, into the modern era with updated visuals, music, and quality of life changes. However, the collection retains too much of its mid-90s DNA to truly be a definitive experience.

The first game, now subtitled Tiberian Dawn, had a simple premise: An alien mineral, Tiberium, arrives on Earth through a meteor and begins spreading across Europe, sparking a global conflict between the mysterious Brotherhood of Nod and a United Nations-sanctioned army called the Global Defense Initiative (GDI). One of the reasons Tiberian Dawn stood out in its heyday is obvious, as players can choose a side to unlock completely different stories and missions.

RELATED: Command and Conquer Remastered Collection Interview

In fact, the amount of content available in Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, and their DLC packs (plus hidden bonus missions, such as a homage to Jurassic Park) make the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection something to behold, more so thanks to Petroglyph adding an option to replay missions or try branching paths without having to re-do the entire campaign. There's even online play, featuring 1-on-1 matches for leaderboard bragging rights.

gdi brotherhood of nod game review

EA has also released the games' source codes so fans can create, modify, upload, and play community content. The actual editing software is a little unwieldy and may be too menu-heavy for casual players to appreciate, but it's clear anything is possible for those who learn it, especially with Steam Workshop support.

Player choice extends to almost every element implemented by Petroglyph. The visuals have been updated and are capable of running in 4K, but can be swapped to the original style at any time (though only nostalgic fans would probably prefer this). There is over seven hours of remastered music by original series composer Frank Klepacki available in high quality for the first time, and players can swap to any track at any time. Every button can also be remapped on the fly.

If the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection is worth its $19.99 price tag for anything, it's the love and care that went into making an otherwise archaic, but historic experience as accessible as possible. But where many modern gamers might be more hesitant is in the lack of updates given to the collection's in-game mechanics and AI.

frank klepacki petroglyph games interview

The gameplay loop of Command and Conquer involves players establishing a base, collecting resources, and using them to create infantry, vehicle, or air units. Another success of these games going back to their roots is the diversity of goals and strategies that they require. Sometimes a mission will involve a limited band traveling to a checkpoint rather than simply building an army to destroy everything, and the game naturally pushes players toward alternate paths they can use to gain a clever strategic foothold rather than attempting a war of attrition.

RELATED: Command and Conquer Returns as a Mobile Game

Westwood Studios also excelled at in-engine storytelling. One GDI map in Tiberian Dawn utilized a single unit to teach players how to safely break into a Nod base, which they then immediately have to use in a scaled-up version of the map for an army siege mission. Unfortunately, the way units operate makes this feel like a strategy game with unreliable pieces. Units often refuse to fight without instruction even if this means they'll be torn to shreds while focused on moving, and sometimes they ignore orders entirely if the path is obstructed by another unit.

Some mechanics, such as vehicles trampling infantry, are precise killing arts for the computer but are nearly impossible for the user to replicate because of bad pathing or unreliable reactions. Without more contemporary RTS features seen in titles like FTL: Faster Than Light, such as an active pause that allows for setting new goals without losing time, it can be easy to waste limited budgets.

allied forces soviet union game review

In one of Tiberian Dawn's particularly egregious cases, some provided units' refusal to attack a structure in an otherwise unreachable location led to a softlock. Westwood clearly recognized its system's pitfalls, and Red Alert fixes some of its predecessor's issues with added units such as infantry medics that help each piece of an army feel less like fodder. But they weren't able to change the AI, and Red Alert deals some unfair losses as a result. A few bugs, such as rapid, automatic screen scrolling, also contribute to some of these issues.

Another facet that doesn't age particularly well is the full-motion video (FMV) cutscenes before and after every battle, which have been upscaled but are often only entertaining in a cheesy 90s kind of way. They, alongside admittedly cute cutscenes added to "canonize" Petroglyph's quality of life updates, overstay their welcome. This is particularly true in Tiberian Dawn, where cutscenes lack some of Red Alert's production value. To be fair, that game's story was more engaging solely due to its premise of Albert Einstein going back in time to assassinate Hitler, and turning the Cold War into an active conflict as a result.

The Command and Conquer Remastered Collection looks great, it sounds great, and there's so much polished content to enjoy, including never-before-seen bonuses. But the dated core mechanics turn an otherwise intriguing strategy game into a sometimes unfair slog against a computer that will inherently have an easier time working around its own limitations. It's worth a play for fans of the franchise or RTS games in general, but newcomers might find there are a few too many cobwebs to overcome compared to contemporary offerings.

Command and Conquer Remastered Collection is available now for PC. Game Rant was provided a Steam code for this review.

MORE: The Last of Us Part 2 Review