It’s 2020, or thereabouts, and a terrorist organisation called the Global Liberation Army is threatening world peace (whatever that is). No, forget all that and instead take my hand (nothing pervy you understand), and follow me into a new world - the world of C&C: Generals.

No more Stalin or Einstein, no more mad scientists with names that sound like bowel movements, and no more buxom Tanya flashing her cleavage gratuitously at the camera in a vain attempt to cover up her lack of acting ability. No more smudged-looking 2D isometric graphics which patronise your $300 graphics card. Which means, no more bald-headed paedophile-looking terrorist leaders.

No, in fact from what we’ve seen and heard so far, Generals couldn’t be further removed from the C&C universe if it tried. Neither will it be based on a power struggle between Communist Russia and the Allies, as envisioned by the Red Alert games. Possibly the most striking difference (other than the aesthetic one, which I’ll come to later) is that C&C: Generals will not be based in the C&C world we're all familiar with, where NOD and GDI forces battled for world supremacy. It’s all change on planet C&C, and if you’re hankering for more of the same then don’t bother. In fact, things couldn’t be more different, so forget everything you know about the previous games, lock it in a wooden casket and fire it into space, never to be seen again. But as you’re about to find out, that’s not the only change from this, the most famous RTS series. After almost ten years, four games, and innumerable add-on packs, the Command & Conquer franchise is finally moving into 3D, rejuvenated by developer EA Pacific (a branch of Westwood), who brought us the excellent Red Alert 2 addon pack Yuri’s Revenge.

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