Command & Conquer 3:
Kane’s Wrath

Kane won’t let his defeat at the end of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars keep him down. The bald favorite of sofa commanders everywhere returns to chew the scenery in a fresh collection of hammy cut-scenes, and he’ll lead you on a 13-mission tale of global menace.

How much you’ll enjoy this standalone continuation’s campaign depends on your tolerance for encounters that favor spring-loaded ambushes and canny hidden traps over less predetermined developments. Scripted elements like the sudden appearance of new objectives certainly help inject some narrative flow into a string of missions that otherwise doesn’t hang together terribly well, but they also keep each battlefield from feeling like a naturally evolving tactical arena. Meanwhile, Kane’s Challenge Mode contains 90 engagements, but every one is basically a preset scenario stripped of A.I.-adjustment options.

On the other hand, Kane’s Wrath markedly improves on Tiberium Wars’ control scheme. Hold down the right trigger, and you’ll summon an elegant selection-sensitive radial interface that can manipulate build queues, special powers, groups, and unit stances from anywhere on the battlefield. And with unprecedented speed, too.

The timing of this new flexibility couldn’t be better. The three main armies — GDI, Brotherhood of Nod, and Scrin — have been broken into three factions, and each boasts its own small collection of differentiating units. Newcomers might find themselves initially overwhelmed, especially when vital contextual tips still take an absurdly long time to appear, but the learning curve is easily surmounted, and veterans will quickly find room in their battle-scarred hearts for effective new allies like ZOCOM Zone Shatterers and Black Hand Purifiers.

Unfortunately, the most powerful and exciting units are just about useless under most circumstances. As perversely satisfying as it is to trundle over a crippled foe in a tank the size of a supermarket, such “epic” forces are so prohibitively expensive and grossly impractical that you’ll only see them thunder around in the most one-sided of smack-downs.

The game’s force variations and library of over 50 maps make it a solid online contender, assuming you can forgive the fact that major battles still reduce an otherwise attractive presentation to a slow and unresponsive slideshow. As long as that nagging nuisance doesn’t send you screaming for the hills, the expanded roster, improved interface, long list of challenges, and $40 price tag might just make up for a disappointing solo experience and lingering, unaddressed flaws.