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Led by C&C veterans Mark Skaggs (executive in charge of production) and Harvard Bonin (producer), Generals moves the series from the slightly campy to the pseudo-realistic. The cliches that had previously made us smirk have been replaced by terrorist saber rattling with the muscle to wake and shake a superpower.

"We wanted to make this a modern war," Skaggs said. "We wanted to make this a metaphor for the world today, while staying away from the gruesome realism."

As a new wave of U.S. Crusader tanks move through town, villagers scream and scatter, but it isn`t long before the tanks are under heavy fire from Quad-Cannons mounted in the back of flatbed pickup trucks. As several helicopter gunships respond to the radio cry for air support, one is shot down. The pilot safely ejects, and now becomes a unit that can transfer its veteran status to any vehicle it enters or commandeers.



And with that cue, Bonin called up a dune map that allows the designers to test game play. This was the perfect showcase for the GLA rocket buggy. Even in the early stages of development, the physics of the game are tremendous. As a buggy races over the top of a dune, it gets amazing air and shakes hard as it lands, but bouyed by four independently animated tires equipped with shock-absorbers. The independent tire animation is even more evident as the buggy goes over uneven ground or roars over parked civilian vehicles, destroying them as their car alarms go off.



The final test map we saw showed the tremendous firepower that could be on the screen at one time and the punch that the GLA forces can pack. About 30 Crusader tanks came upon 30 rocket buggies, with only the buggies firing. The 30 tanks were gone in less than 10 seconds. Bonin scrolled over as a batch of 30 helicopter gunships approached 30 Quad-Cannon trucks. Again, the helicopters didn`t stand a chance.



"You can play the game without moving the 3D camera," Skaggs said, but to fully appreciate the engine`s capabilities, the player should give it a try. "We are using so many polygons on the screen now, that this game could not have been made two years ago."

The philosophy is that a player is going to be so focused on the battle and whether the units live or die, they aren`t going to care if a puff of smoke or other effects are missing, he said.



As with previous C&C games, multiplayer will play a big part. Not only will there be a cooperative mode with some scripted missions, but there will be a map editor available to create maps and missions for the game.

"The community plays a big part in the success fo these games," Skaggs said. "And we have created a whole new scenario and map editor. The editor will allow players to create their own scripted missions as well as their own cutscenes."



Skaggs said they want to release the editor before the game comes out to give the community a chance to play with it and learn how to use it so that by the time the game does come out, there will be plenty of quality mods available.

"We want players to mod up the game the way they want ahead of time," he said. "It just build excitement for the game."

From a gameplay end, Generals looks extremely polished. And Skaggs said more will be revealed at this year`s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles next week.

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