Command and Conquer Generals- Zero Hour Expansion Pack Description:

Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour Expansion Pack review:
5 stars (pretty darn good) - This is a good expansion pack... the Challenge mode is very cool... you pick the personality of your general, then you pick the personality of the general you want to fight against. When then game begins, you can hear the general from the other team laughing at your mistakes, and he's usually right. Very interesting and fun to play. Don't play this game on a night before you have to go to work, because you will probably lose track of time by having such a blast.



But there is a downside...



The user interface is still the same old interface that takes up too much space on the screen. And perhaps most annoying: Any time you get a mission report, you have to wait and wait and wait to see the pop-up descriptions when you are trying to chose which unit(s) you want to build. And speaking of waiting... if you want to restart a mission, you have to sit through the introduction video, and you can't skip past it. Hopefully the next version of C&C will fix these oversights.
4 stars (Wonderful endeed but...) - Anyone who bought and enjoyed the original CandC: Generals won't go far wrong doing the same again with this expansion. Your money buys you another 15 single player missions all complete with new units, a `challenge' scenario where you can choose a general that suits your style of play and put him up against 8 others as well as the usual skirmish and multiplay modes.



The graphics and sound are excellent, as could be expected from a developer of this pedigree, with the cut scenes giving a truly professional feel to the whole experience. Explosions and animation are superb, I particularly like the way bodies fly through the air as a bunker is blown up, and the screams of anguish as troopers die a painful chemical death never fails to bring a smile (I know, I'm a sick git).



Gameplay is fluid, albeit a little slow in places, while it should also be noted that he who rules the skies, wins (99 times out of 100 anyway). The GLA missions are slightly harder to my mind as there is no air power at all, but more enjoyable due to the downright nastiness of the terrorists. Winning a skirmish against the USA with all the superior weaponry is particularly satisfying and being able to camouflage your units and buildings making them very hard to spot gives an edge that is hard to beat - lets face it, its damn hard to destroy something if you can't see it. Chinese forces are once again numerous and it seems to me that my favourite Overlord is now a tad more vulnerable to rocket toting troops, but the vision of Â# a dozen or so of these beasts lumbering through an enemy base camp, supported by a couple of the most excellent Dragons to clear those troublesome buildings is one I can't get enough of. As always, the USA tend to dominate, and the initial scenario is great for refreshing the memory banks and getting back to grips with all the controls.



The interface is, as usual, totally user friendly and it doesn't take much to get everything quickly set up to your liking. My son was not much impressed by the screen that appears after the loading scenes - unless a key is pressed or the mouse moved, it looks like the program has locked up and he sat there for ages before he realised this (heheheh - kids of today!!)



My only real gripe with this is that, once again, the game doesn't deliver what appears to be promised on the box. I was hoping and praying for the return of the naval units but no such luck - you get a carrier (USA) but can't actually do anything with it apart from launch air missions - most disappointing. Overall though, this certainly ranks as one of the better expansions and does improve the original - if only slightly.


5 stars (A must have for Generals Fans.) - Once you play Generals with this expansion you'll never play plain ol' gnerals again.