Tiberian Sun: Firestorm

Herald rating: ****

Westwood

PC

Review: Peter Eley

Firestorm is an expansion pack for Tiberian Sun, the third instalment of one of the longest-running computer game series: Command & Conquer.

While the original game and its successor Red Alert were ground-breaking, Tiberian Sun was more of the same. The two sides - good guys the Global Defense Initiative and bad guys the Brotherhood of Nod - were still slugging it out.

So you mined tiberium, built big tanks, and blasted the opposition. But the graphics were noticeably sharper than Red Alert and it wasn't at all bad, just a bit tired.

Firestorm freshens it up, without doing anything too radical. The biggest improvement is the addition of new units which separate the sides even more strategically.

GDI devotees get a new boss weapon, the Juggernaut, which allows for long-range bombardments, just like the cruisers in Red Alert. The Nod gets a multiple missile launcher, the Reaper, which is devastating against land and air targets.

Both sides get mobile war factories - useful when mounting attacks against enemy bases or for forcing opponents to divide air strikes.

Firestorm introduces nine new missions, which seem longer and more difficult than those in Tiberian Sun. It also enhances the random map generator, although there's still no Save option, and adds more multiplayer maps.

E-mail: peter_eley@herald.co.nz