Tiberian Twilight

I've played all of the games in the Command & Conquer franchise at some point. Some I've played more than others but I've at least tried all of them, including Renegade. I was hooked from the beginning already being a fan of Westwood Studios after Dune 2. That was fifteen years ago and it's been a long road in between. Of the three sections of the franchise (Tiberian, Red Alert & Generals) I've played the most of Red Alert or perhaps actually Generals. With Generals I played a lot more multi player than the others which are more single player oriented, or at least they were. Commander & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight was released the same day as Dragon Age: Awakening so it hasn't really got a look in until now. I knew based on the previews that I was probably going to be disappointed but at some point I had to try the "Epic conclusion of the Tiberian saga". My first issue was with the installation. Nothing technically wrong but it look a very long time. I don't know if they're using heavy encryption or high compression but either way it's excessive and after all that I was forced to download and install a patch. My second issue is with the cast. One of the things the Command & Conquer series has always been known for is the live action cut scenes which tell the story in between missions. So much so that they've been able to get some fairly well known actors on board in recent years. Tiberian Wars has Billy Dee Williams, Michael Ironside, Josh Holloway, Jennifer Morrison, Tricia Helfer & Grace Park. Red Alert 3 has Tim Curry, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Stormare, George Takei, J.K. Simmons & Jenny McCarthy. The Uprising expansion adds Malcolm McDowell to that list. Even as far back as Tiberian Sun they had Michael Biehn & James Earl Jones. I suppose a lot of those people might be considered "genre" actors but they're all people I'm aware of. Tell me who on this list you've heard about? Iona Morris, Natacha Roi, Chris Wolfe, Tim DeZarn. It seems like they weren't willing to spend the money on some big names for the "epic conclusion" which feels a bit lame to me. The most known person in the cast is Joe Kucan and he's only famous for playing Kane in the Command & Conquer games! On the subject of Kane, he's working with the GDI now?! He's supposed to be their enemy. I've only played the first couple of missions so far but I can't help but feel there will be a "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal" moment at some point in the future, which is a bit of a cliché. Then on top of all of that they've completely changed the game play to the point that it doesn't feel like Command & Conquer anymore. Base building is gone and now you "level up" to get new units available from an MCV that walks about! Some of these changes might be interesting in their own right but under the Command & Conquer name just feel wrong. How do you justify making the final game in the saga completely different and ignore almost everything that came before? Sure the developers probably wanted to try something new, but I'm sure this is not what most people were expecting. I think this would have done much better if it were "Generals 2" rather than "CnC4". Generals always was the odd one out of the bunch. I did enjoy that fact the opening cut scene took place in Manchester (UK), as that's my hometown, also it was raining! So that's where GDI headquarters will be in the future. One last minor annoyance is the public chat channel on all the menu screens. That's totally unnecessary for someone like me who's just here to see how the story will end. I've got other games to play multi player with, that still have base building! Bring on Starcraft 2 I say.