Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars™

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars review

This is easy to recommend. Very similar in gameplay to Tiberian Dawn, the first in the series but with many QOL-added to it and way more features with upgrades that make units stronger.

Graphics are beautiful and for the most part there are little readability issues. Explosions are cinematic and kinetics of the game are great. Audio is strong as well. The singleplayer campaigns are enjoyable but not the best in the series.

The multiplayer is where it's at. Different factions have different strategies and the new faction especially is a powerhouse with many devastatingly effective units. But official servers have been down a long time. I haven't played the multiplayer for a good while though but you can still play it, just Google for more information on that.

I've always been a huge fan of Command and Conquer, and overall C&C 3 is a great game. However, the lack of support puts this one in the trash pile. This version of C&C 3 is plagued with crashes, and some of the skirmish maps don't work at all -- certain maps crash every time you try to start a game. That would be almost forgivable if the campaign didn't crash nearly as often. I don't recall seeing many of these issues with the Kane's Wrath standalone expansion, but that really shouldn't be a separate install and is probably the reason EA doesn't bother to fix this version. It's really disappointing to see a company with EA's resources allow such basic issues to go unfixed for so long (nearly 20 years at the time of this review!!!).

There's a lot of really frustrating path finding issues too -- some of which will cause units (I'm looking at you APCs!) to divert in random directions (usually into enemy fire) because they got in each others' way. Sometimes units will actively countermand your orders to engage an enemy, blow up a building, or to seek cover from enemy fire, especially when set to aggressive mode.

Also, the AI difficulty scaling in skirmish mode is completely ridiculous and doesn't match up with the standalone expansion at all. There are four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, Brutal. However, in this version it's more like Normal, Hard, Brutal, Insane. You can play the same maps with the same units and upgrades and Kane's Wrath is noticeably more feasible / balanced.

Don't know why I ignored this game initially, but I'm glad Jethild on YT made so many videos about it that I finally decided to try it more seriously :D And, yeah, turns out it's a great C&C game.

a great entry in the franchise, really enjoyed playing in through on all difficulties. shame the scrin campaign is so short. the DLC kanes wrath is OK/meh but the main game is pretty sweet

Good gameplay, graphics are 5 stars, story kind of sucks and generally c&c is 5\10 without klepacki.

♡ i wish i couldve gotten proper continuation of this its so good and i could play new campaigns and mods and such in this game forever, and i should know cus i have been playing it for like 2 decades now and im still not sick of it

scifi rts set in the (alternate) near future, with intense political / ecological / wartime storyline supported by deep worldbuilding lore, great addition to the c&c universe and worthy succesor of the tiberian sun. live-action cutscenes are making the whole war drama experience more believable and unforgettable.

You cannot reinforce the paper thin infantry once they've lost a model, the AI seemingly has infinite resources, and there's no way to remove the annoying announcer that will tell you if a tank is getting tickled by bullets.

Old game Not supported by EA anymore, unfortunatelly !

Epic, gray and wonderful game. Still feels some kind of depression atmosphere of tiberian universe.
Peace through power!

I really liked that you can choose different stories to go through without disrupting the main tale. You can play as Scrin, Nod, or GDI. I have been playing this with my family and friends using network play and the AI that is used is amazing with a good difficulty to fit all styles of play. When you do play network play beware as some maps do not work anymore. Also you will have to go into the registry editor to change the "CD key" as the game will think you have pirated it. I have attached the path for the registry below. This is one of the best and well made C&C games and I highly recommend it.

Registry path: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Electronic Arts\Electronic Arts\Command and Conquer 3 Kanes Wrath\ergc

My god...I have never seen such bad pathfinding AI as this game. The amount of times I click to move a group, and at least 2 just wander off at right angles to the route, normally straight into enemy fire. This is SHOCKINGLY BAD! Caused me to give up and uninstall this piece of trash game. Just awful.

this game has one huge flaw that the game is balanced for Multiplayer so the inability to mass static defenses makes hard mode into a dark souls RTS with how it plays.....Kane Lives in Death

I have mixed feelings about this game. While many missions offer fun, fast-paced action, several issues ultimately sour the experience. Like many RTS games of its era, “Tiberium Wars” opted for a 3D engine that sacrifices detail for lighting effects (despite “Warcraft 3” proving years earlier that a distinctive 3D style was possible with even fewer polygons). Though the sparse aesthetic fits C&C’s post-apocalyptic landscapes, this visual style hasn’t aged well. Story-wise, the series was at its best when sci-fi elements were minimal and added to the plot’s mystery. This title, however, goes full alien invasion. While that could still be compelling, the heavy-handed approach here results in something disappointingly average. C&C’s trademark full-motion video cutscenes return with some impressive actors, but their characters lack depth and their campy performances clash with the self-serious tone. While all of these issues might still be forgivable, the dealbreaker for me is that a previous patch broke the campaign, and the developers haven’t bothered to fix it—a red line for me and the main reason for this negative recommendation.

The best and last real Command and Conquer game. Just about perfect in every way.

Game lack a bit of old romantic atmosphere, it is a bit more "strategic", more slow in it's core. More options to consider, units have more special abilities and perks. I came from Red Alert where usual game duration is like 10-15 minutes for 1o1. Here it is more like 20-25 minutes. Due to more realistic graphics it takes more attention to figure out what you really see in the battlefield. It is much easier to lose your sniper squad just because you forgot where they are. But Still, this is a very interesting game with a lot of time and efforts invested. I really like Scrin race. Both NOD and GDI looked very default to me in the previous games (thats why I played more Red Alert 2 where there are more charismatic factions like USSR and Yuri). So here we finally have some interesting race with unique dynamics and tactics.

Cool graphics and its fun to play

this game was one of the best cnc i have ever played its so beatiful and you can see at least when ea cared about their games and not about money

C&C 3: Tiberium Wars is a pretty solid RTS game.

Some people have stated that the game is unplayable with v1.9 - or is it v1.09 - update. However, the game can still be beaten with the new balances and I think it can provide challenge for veterans.

Also, there is a guide available on Steam that gives simple instructions on how to install a mod that restores v1.0 balancing.

It's unfortunate that the game ends with a cliffhanger, since there will probably never be C&C 4.

Slight ache in the sack to get working but a minor fix. Quality game

This game will always have a place in my heart ever since I started playing it on my dad's laptop and having the CD version of it. The campaign is great and I enjoy playing the skirmish mode from time to time. Just some casual action simulation fun! It is a 10/10 for me.

It’s an amazing game, and it still has nice graphics despite its age.

The mid 2000s were a dark time for the old-school fans of the Command&Conquer franchise. The takeover of the franchise by E.A. fueled a lot of anxiety in a lot of people. 2001 they released C&C Renegade, a FPS, and then Generals, a Blizzard-style RTS wearing the skin of C&C. Was the era of the Westwood-flavored strategy game over for good?

Well, 2007's Tiberium Wars would prove these fears to be unjustified, at least for the time being. C&C3 is largely a return to the old ways. Construction yards are back, so are regrowing ressource fields. And the story line would continue the old Tiberian saga that started with C&C1.
What it didn't bring back, however, was all the jank those old games suffered from. Unit responsiveness is improved across the board. Gone are the days of unit pathfinding problems and long harvester queues in front of the refineries.
Unit controls are generally are mayor strength of this game, the best I have ever seen in the RTS space. The iconic C&C sidebar that let you build new units even while in active combat was always a main strength of the series but now you can use it to select units as well. Just hit Q, then simply pick them from the list that replaces the build menu, without having to sift thorugh the mass of ingame units. Very smooth!

The main attraction, however, is its impressive single player mode. The longest I have ever seen, 38 missions without any obvious fillers. Most of them have optional side objectives that are sometimes quite challenging to complete and reward you with world building snippets. The cutscenes have very high production value and the the writing and acting is just stellar.
The two primary campaigns are split in two parts, the first one taking after C&C1 in term of style and mission design and the second part, dealing mostly with the alien invasion, being something a tonal departure. The good writing, however, makes both of them cohere into a satifying whole. As a returning C&C fan I especially enjoyed the connections to the series' greater scope plot, with some events even helping some of the weirder wiriting decisions in the older games make more sense in retrospect, like the world altering mission in Tiberian Sun.

So all in all I consider this game the absolute high point of Command&Conquer history. Unfortunely it also ended up being something of a last hurrah for the series, as shortly after it died a fiery death with C&C4.
If you are looking to get into C&C now, however, there is no better entry point than this, as it offers the perfect compromise between the characteristic C&C gameplay and modern UI conveniences.

game corrupt's itself with this version of c&c after a few days

They've dropped all support for the game. They're selling it for pennies, when it should just be de-listed from the store. Maps just break the game when trying to load them. Campaign is imbalanced and extremely lame, skirmish doesn't work, online is crap. Don't give EA a penny for this crap game. It sucked then, and it's not even hardly a game anymore. Just a junk file taking up space on my hard drive.

Steam needs half of EA's library removed from this platform.

One of the best RTSs ever made, only worse than Kane's Wrath the expansion because it just improved on nearly everything in this game. Not been another RTS like this since. Fantastic campaign, multiplayer and skirmish vs AI.

the unit pathing and ai almost made me **** myself during the hard campaign especially on some of the no build missions 10/10 would reccommend

It may not be as awesome or influential as the earlier Westwood C&C games, but C&C3 was in 2007 a nice jumpstart to the RTS genre, and has ended up being maybe among the best RTSs of the 21st century. I recommend it, it's a fun time with AA casting and FMV production, a handsome and serviceable 3D engine (but occasionally wonky AI & pathfinding), and overall great balance and fun. Deserved a greater sequel.

The game was patched so hard that the campaign became unplayable even on easy.
take the early nod camaign for examlpe, in the Washington mission ur expected to dish out 5k on an MCV because the crane you start with can't build base defenses, and u'll need them since GDI will hunt you down.. on easy.

This was not an issue when i completed the game as a kid.
So unless the game gets another patch, TW should be awoided.

Not only one of the best C&C games but also one of the best RTS games ever. Install CnC-Online and have fun.

It was only in 2024 that I was able to play C&C Tiberium Wars again. It brought back many gaming memories. I can still feel the thrill and excitement. I'm gonna teach my kids how to play this when they grow older. Keep this game alive!

It's like Highschool all over again! Love it!

And I still suck at it!

Honestly though, I had forgotten how good this title was. I still prefer TibSun, but this is smooth, and a lot of fun.

What fun man. The atmosphere and the iconic cutscenes and the ridiculous amusing units. I wish C&C had a better publisher

Tiberium Wars plays surprisingly well in 2025. You will need to tweak the settings but overall I have no complaints. I hope EA releases the source code for this game too.. I'd love to update the camera so it zoomed further out.

Imo grab the CC series on sale.

One of the last best C&C games. Now waiting for its revival. A solid, brand new revival in Tiberian Sun franchise. Let's hope EA does something good like giving out a new trailer for C&C like they did with release of the source code. EA did not release Tiberian Sun and Firestorm source codes. So finger crossed for a remake or remaster perhaps?

CD Version is better. The update they put out for this nerfs you to oblivion in the campaign and gives the AI unlimited resources.

I loved this game, I know it's flawed and not as creative as the older titles but i think the graphics are cool and come back to this game for some east RTS chill playing

EA has disappointed for many reasons in recent years, however they have done one thing that is insanely good for gaming. GPL License sharing of the complete source code of many C&C games!

This deserves unlimited praise, if you haven't yet purchased this on Steam (maybe like me you had an original CD back in the day), please do to support this action by them!

Hopefully they do for Tiberium Wars soon too :)

great game but bit of a shame that EA got lazy and cut loads from this game that was in tiberian sun things like the life forms and that tiberian can spread across thhe hole map but cant in this one

When games were fun, developers you could tell where excited to develop, gamers actually enjoyed playing the games...
Minus the fact that those where the days BEFORE internet.... yes a world existed way before the WEB became main stream.... i miss those days

in some misions easy is way to hard , almost imposible

I hope they develope the modding community further so modders can bring their content to workshop completely. And i hope they do essential improvements and revisions to the base game, even strictly to generals, then these games may become completely stable when playing mods.

The game updated itself and now:
"Failed the initialize Steam! The game will now exit"

Game ran great as recently as yesterday.

Now fails with an error "Failed to Initialize Steam. Please start steam first, and then verify game installation."

I have tried verifying files and re-installing without improvement

it holds true to c&c, the scrin is awesome addition i would say equal to or slightly better than zero hour

pace of the game is really wacky, always on the rush, not my style

peak!
its sad that EA doesn't care about this masterpiece and they made a garbage sequel to make it a competitive game to attract new players and make a fortune out of it.
9/10

I have always loved this game. Truthfully one of the last greats before EA ruined the property beyond repair. If you played Tiberian Sun this sequel is great and for a perfect experience add the Tiberian Essence Mod.

Game validated by the Holy Ordos, free from the stain of heresy.

I've never been more dissuaded from playing a game due to dog shit keybind logic than this. To move K to F you first need to move F to somewhere else, except the somewhere else you're trying to move it to is already occupied too, so actually the first step is to move that key you're only moving to make room for another key to somewhere else. After ripping out 25% of your hair you've finally moved 1 key. It's time to redo this all over again until you decide to end your life right then and there. The real difficulty was the lives we tried to preserve rebinding the keys along the way.