The GDI’s MARV is basically a huge tracked tank with a giant three barrelled gun that fires sonic shells. It can also be garrisoned by up to four infantry units, although you lose the unit when you do this and its weapon is then mounted on one of the corners of the vehicle. It also has the ability to harvest Tiberium by simply driving over it, converting it directly into credits.

The NOD have the Redeemer, which is a giant four legged warmech. It too can be garrisoned by two infantry units, with each unit becoming a new weapon on each of the Redeemer’s shoulder. The Redeemer can’t harvest like the MARV, but it does have a Rage Generation ability, this is a manually activated area affect ability which causes enemy units to open fire on each other, very handy if you’re getting attacked by a large enemy force.

The Scrin have a large six legged spider like warmech. Again you can garrison different units, this time three, which adds weapons to each pair of legs for each unit.

All these epic weapons are powerful to start with, but after upgrading by garrisoning, they become a one unit war machine and can be very difficult to bring down if you only have standard troops to throw at them.

Game play hasn’t been changed from C&C 3, with the interface and graphics remaining the same, but as this was already a good looking game and this is only an expansion, this isn’t a disappointment or requirement.

The single player campaign consists of thirteen missions, split across three acts. All the missions are played as the NOD. There are no additional missions for the GDI or Scrin.

The first act covers Kane’s supposed death at the end of the second Tiberium war and his fight to regain control of the NOD, without letting anyone outside the NOD know he’s still alive. The second act follows the preparation and destruction of the Philadelphia space station and the third Tiberium war. The third act follows on from the end of the third Tiberium war and Kane’s attempt to capture the Tacitus. I won’t go into further detail here, as I wouldn’t want to spoil the story for you, but you’re well advised to play the game and discover it for yourself.

The campaign missions start with the usual locked technology tree, with more advanced technologies becoming available the further into the campaign you go. Some of the missions have been taken directly from the C&C 3 Tiberium wars game, but expanded maps and with you playing from a different perspective than in the original game, basically filling in parts of the story from C&C 3.

There are the now expected high quality FMV cut scenes in between events, filling in the story line as they go and setting up your next mission. All the usual characters are back, Kane played by Joseph D. Kucan, Brother Marcion played by Carl Lumbly, Alexa Kovacs played by Natasha Henstridge (another good reason to check out the game in detail!).

Another new addition to keep people playing a bit longer is the introduction of an all new (for C&C anyway) Global Domination mode. This is a single player game and casts you trying to take over the world. You pick one of the three factions to play, and start the game with a number of bases dotted around the world. These bases produce income, which can then be spent on upgrading the bases, including special abilities such as the Ion Cannon if you playing GDI. You also spend money to purchasing armies, which can then be used to attack other armies or enemy bases. These battles can either be auto-resolved or played in the same way as a skirmish mission. If your army has an MVC, then you can also build new bases, gaining more ground and therefore more income. With the ultimate aim being to take over the world.

Multiplayer is the same as C&C3, with the addition of some new maps and of course you can now pick the sub-factions to play, which should make game play a bit more interesting.

A good addition to the C&C universe, this should keep any fans busy for some time to come. The new sub-factions add some welcome diversity to the game play in both skirmish and multiplayer games. Plus the new Global Domination game will give single players something new to try rather than just a skirmish game. All in all well worth the £20 pound asking price.