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Tiberium Wars
-In-depth faction stats and descriptions reveal health, attacks, damage, and defensive values for all units and structures, with data on unit special abilities-Comprehensive control scheme analysis teaches the fundamentals of commanding forces with speed and mastery on both PC and Xbox 360-Step-by-step walkthroughs for all 27 Campaign missions, complete with labeled battlefield maps for each stage-Dedicated multiplayer section provides introductory strategies for C&C beginners and advanced faction-specific tactics for veterans-Quick-reference appendix tables for swift cross-faction unit and structure comparisons-Covers both PC and Xbox 360 versions of Red Alert 3
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 21, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 18, 2020
Contrary to the description shown on Good Reads, this is not a strategy guide for the game. This is a novelization of Command & Conquer 3. And sadly, in spite of it being shown as "Command & Conquer, #1", it was received so very poorly that it seems there was never a sequel penned...and something tells me that this was something that was known at the time of the writing of this book as the last few pages wrap up the entire story in a way that should have been covered by at least two or three more novels...but, allow me to expand.
Full disclosure, I have never played Command & Conquer 3, nor beyond it. All of my in-game knowledge comes from playing the first two games...repeatedly. And, again I am a fan of the Brotherhood of Nod (and quite often sympathetic to the villain of the piece), so if my review comes across at all as uninformed or biased, these would be the reasons why.
Firstly, it seems that many of the complaints about this story are centered around the fact that the characters are different in the novel than they are in the game, and that the canon of the novel does not sync with that of the game. This is something that I can not speak to (see above caveat), however, I found the characters to be generally interesting and fitting for the story, if not somewhat one-dimensional. But I can easily forgive this as this is the novelization of a video game where the main character is none other than the player themselves. The idea of a fleshed-out main character runs contrary to that fantasy, and thusly I can forgive and overlook said failing...although, I didn't perceive there to be as such.
There is one glaring exception to this however, and that is the way that Kane himself is portrayed. Anyone familiar with this game series can attest to how absolutely pivotal Kane is. For the layperson, simply stated, without Kane, there is no Command & Conquer. And, in this particular novel, Kane appears for a cameo or three where he states some cryptic line or another and then disappears again for another hundred pages or so. This lends credence to my hypothesis that there was a much more in-depth story planned for these novels that was ditched at the last minute.
The novel is also told from the perspective of the Global Defense Initiative only. The Brotherhood of Nod are the mustache-twirling villains in the background who's motivation is only to destroy, be bad guys, and eat babies, etc. Again, I can only attribute this to a possible cancellation of the novels, as anyone who has played the games knows that the Brotherhood has a deep backstory, a storied culture, and complex motivations. However, for this novel it seems to have been simplified to "tiberium good - rawr!" I can easily see this being expanded upon to allow the reader to make the determination as to their chosen philosophy and or sympathies rather than being spoon-fed what to think, as this novel seems wont to do.
All that being said, I really enjoyed this novel, much more than I thought I would for a video game novelization, and in spite of what some may consider failings that I have pointed out above. Although, I would disagree with that assessment. I definitely feel that, if you were to cut out the last few bits, leaving them to be heavily expanded upon in follow-up novels, this would be a most worthy addition to the Command & Conquer universe.
Full disclosure, I have never played Command & Conquer 3, nor beyond it. All of my in-game knowledge comes from playing the first two games...repeatedly. And, again I am a fan of the Brotherhood of Nod (and quite often sympathetic to the villain of the piece), so if my review comes across at all as uninformed or biased, these would be the reasons why.
Firstly, it seems that many of the complaints about this story are centered around the fact that the characters are different in the novel than they are in the game, and that the canon of the novel does not sync with that of the game. This is something that I can not speak to (see above caveat), however, I found the characters to be generally interesting and fitting for the story, if not somewhat one-dimensional. But I can easily forgive this as this is the novelization of a video game where the main character is none other than the player themselves. The idea of a fleshed-out main character runs contrary to that fantasy, and thusly I can forgive and overlook said failing...although, I didn't perceive there to be as such.
There is one glaring exception to this however, and that is the way that Kane himself is portrayed. Anyone familiar with this game series can attest to how absolutely pivotal Kane is. For the layperson, simply stated, without Kane, there is no Command & Conquer. And, in this particular novel, Kane appears for a cameo or three where he states some cryptic line or another and then disappears again for another hundred pages or so. This lends credence to my hypothesis that there was a much more in-depth story planned for these novels that was ditched at the last minute.
The novel is also told from the perspective of the Global Defense Initiative only. The Brotherhood of Nod are the mustache-twirling villains in the background who's motivation is only to destroy, be bad guys, and eat babies, etc. Again, I can only attribute this to a possible cancellation of the novels, as anyone who has played the games knows that the Brotherhood has a deep backstory, a storied culture, and complex motivations. However, for this novel it seems to have been simplified to "tiberium good - rawr!" I can easily see this being expanded upon to allow the reader to make the determination as to their chosen philosophy and or sympathies rather than being spoon-fed what to think, as this novel seems wont to do.
All that being said, I really enjoyed this novel, much more than I thought I would for a video game novelization, and in spite of what some may consider failings that I have pointed out above. Although, I would disagree with that assessment. I definitely feel that, if you were to cut out the last few bits, leaving them to be heavily expanded upon in follow-up novels, this would be a most worthy addition to the Command & Conquer universe.
October 19, 2022
Command And Conquer: Tiberium Wars’ By Keith R. A. DeCanido, is the official companion tie-in novel based on the popular real time strategy game of the same name.
Having played the game, I was interested to see what additional background information the novel contained. For those not familiar with the game, a strange and deadly alien substance was discovered in the river Tiber from where it got its name. Unfortunately, the Tiberium quickly spread throughout regions of the globe, bringing death and devastation. The surviving population of Earth split into two factions; Global Defense Initiative (GDI) who want to defend and maintain the old world order and the Brotherhood of NOD who idolise Tiberium. The Brotherhood of NOD is led by the mysterious cult leader Kane, a man who has an uncanny knack of avoiding almost certain death.
As the third Tiberium War progresses, GDI Infantrymen Ricardo Vega progresses through the military ranks and meets W3N news reporter Annabella Wu when she is assigned to cover the exploits of the 22nd Division. In terms of story, that’s about all there is to it, although some unwanted alien visitors do arrive on Earth towards the end of the book.
I was hoping to read about some of the epic battles played through in the game, more emphasis on the tech and equipment, more to do with Kane's mysterious ways and The Brotherhood Of Nod's motives or at least some backstory of the game itself. Instead, the book seems to focus more on people and personal relationships (the reporter's parts, which sometimes serve as a window to the C&C universe) and giving a grunt's view of the few battles (seen from a private who is quickly promoted by default when his buddies die and he gets lucky). The battle scenes are also underwhelming.
Most of the book seems to be bogged down by aforementioned personal moments and the battles seem rushed and not very fleshed out. There are also large holes in between some sections. At the end of one chapter, there is talk of a battle and the next chapter picks up right in the middle of a battle. I wouldnt say it's hard to follow, it just seems poorly put together.
And then there are the percieved inconsistencies in unit types and certain events. It's been a while since i played C&C 3, but i never remeber Juggernauts (artillery units?) with rail guns and infantry with tiberium beam weapons. A few battle scenes are reminiscent of what the player experienced but credit is being given to other characters which just doesnt sit right with me. I suppose it could be looked at as the view from one commander's experience alongside the game's player commander where some things line up but others still don't.
Overall, I just feel the book focused too much on little things but at the same time missed the mark on said little things. I realize it would be hard to write a novel on the same scale as an RTS game, especially with how the player was put into the game, but i feel it could have been done better.
Having played the game, I was interested to see what additional background information the novel contained. For those not familiar with the game, a strange and deadly alien substance was discovered in the river Tiber from where it got its name. Unfortunately, the Tiberium quickly spread throughout regions of the globe, bringing death and devastation. The surviving population of Earth split into two factions; Global Defense Initiative (GDI) who want to defend and maintain the old world order and the Brotherhood of NOD who idolise Tiberium. The Brotherhood of NOD is led by the mysterious cult leader Kane, a man who has an uncanny knack of avoiding almost certain death.
As the third Tiberium War progresses, GDI Infantrymen Ricardo Vega progresses through the military ranks and meets W3N news reporter Annabella Wu when she is assigned to cover the exploits of the 22nd Division. In terms of story, that’s about all there is to it, although some unwanted alien visitors do arrive on Earth towards the end of the book.
I was hoping to read about some of the epic battles played through in the game, more emphasis on the tech and equipment, more to do with Kane's mysterious ways and The Brotherhood Of Nod's motives or at least some backstory of the game itself. Instead, the book seems to focus more on people and personal relationships (the reporter's parts, which sometimes serve as a window to the C&C universe) and giving a grunt's view of the few battles (seen from a private who is quickly promoted by default when his buddies die and he gets lucky). The battle scenes are also underwhelming.
Most of the book seems to be bogged down by aforementioned personal moments and the battles seem rushed and not very fleshed out. There are also large holes in between some sections. At the end of one chapter, there is talk of a battle and the next chapter picks up right in the middle of a battle. I wouldnt say it's hard to follow, it just seems poorly put together.
And then there are the percieved inconsistencies in unit types and certain events. It's been a while since i played C&C 3, but i never remeber Juggernauts (artillery units?) with rail guns and infantry with tiberium beam weapons. A few battle scenes are reminiscent of what the player experienced but credit is being given to other characters which just doesnt sit right with me. I suppose it could be looked at as the view from one commander's experience alongside the game's player commander where some things line up but others still don't.
Overall, I just feel the book focused too much on little things but at the same time missed the mark on said little things. I realize it would be hard to write a novel on the same scale as an RTS game, especially with how the player was put into the game, but i feel it could have been done better.
June 30, 2022
This book seriously blows.
Taking place during the events of Tiberium Wars 3, (both the game and the period in the franchises timeline) Tiberium Wars by Keith R.A DeCandido is one of the worst sci Fi books I've ever read...
The cast is made entirely of generic cliches. Not a single character is even remotely interesting. The book is filled with all sorts of completely nonsensical slang and vernacular to try to make the bland characters seem more human but the reality is if you took away the names you wouldn't be able to tell which character is talking. As for the slang it's filled with stuff like "noddies", "fotze" (it's said like once a page, feel free to look up what it means), "FICKEN", "shite", "bat" and "CRANY". Jesus, who the hell edited this?
The exposition is brutal in how poorly it is delivered. Early on there's a 3 paragraph exposition dump about tea with the character intermittently remembering a bunch of people (including a co worker) just died, and the whole thing feels so alien. Anna is an awful character with zero redeeming qualities and her chapters are the worst: the plot doesn't move and we get page after page of nonsense like her morning routines.
Ricardo or Ricky or whatever the hell his name is Vega is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Ohhh, your dad is a hero don't count on any favours routine for the whole book. Wooooow, really scrapped the bottom of the barrel for this one.
I came into this book with low expectations. In fact, I didn't possibly think this book could disappoint me: because I just didn't expect it to be competently written. Each page grew more agonizing to read. Oh this book disappointed me by somehow exceeding the absurdly low expectations I had for it: it was actually worse than I imagined it could be.
You're better off walking naked through a Tiberium field than you are reading this literary diarrhea.
Taking place during the events of Tiberium Wars 3, (both the game and the period in the franchises timeline) Tiberium Wars by Keith R.A DeCandido is one of the worst sci Fi books I've ever read...
The cast is made entirely of generic cliches. Not a single character is even remotely interesting. The book is filled with all sorts of completely nonsensical slang and vernacular to try to make the bland characters seem more human but the reality is if you took away the names you wouldn't be able to tell which character is talking. As for the slang it's filled with stuff like "noddies", "fotze" (it's said like once a page, feel free to look up what it means), "FICKEN", "shite", "bat" and "CRANY". Jesus, who the hell edited this?
The exposition is brutal in how poorly it is delivered. Early on there's a 3 paragraph exposition dump about tea with the character intermittently remembering a bunch of people (including a co worker) just died, and the whole thing feels so alien. Anna is an awful character with zero redeeming qualities and her chapters are the worst: the plot doesn't move and we get page after page of nonsense like her morning routines.
Ricardo or Ricky or whatever the hell his name is Vega is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Ohhh, your dad is a hero don't count on any favours routine for the whole book. Wooooow, really scrapped the bottom of the barrel for this one.
I came into this book with low expectations. In fact, I didn't possibly think this book could disappoint me: because I just didn't expect it to be competently written. Each page grew more agonizing to read. Oh this book disappointed me by somehow exceeding the absurdly low expectations I had for it: it was actually worse than I imagined it could be.
You're better off walking naked through a Tiberium field than you are reading this literary diarrhea.
August 20, 2023
Truly just a complete waste of a book. Where as most trashy books of its ilk have the high points be the action, this book was the complete opposite. The action is bogged down with a tedious overuse of military terms and breakdown of unit compositions, leading you to become detached to the story. The non-action bits at least have the benefit of introducing some interesting ideas but the book doesn't really play with them in any meaningful way.
A switch in perspective to the NOD side would have REALLY helped this book as we get RANDOM aliens in the last 50 pages and it just felt like a complete waste of a much more interesting plot (Nod and the GDI teaming up).
I've never played the games so maybe for fans of the series this would work but as a book it was mindnumbingly boring.
A switch in perspective to the NOD side would have REALLY helped this book as we get RANDOM aliens in the last 50 pages and it just felt like a complete waste of a much more interesting plot (Nod and the GDI teaming up).
I've never played the games so maybe for fans of the series this would work but as a book it was mindnumbingly boring.
February 22, 2015
Its not a bad book, as in a waste of time; but its not very good either. The guy uses a LOT of abbreviations, that he never explains, so half of the time, you do not know what he is talking about. Then you need reasonable knowledge of how military structures work; companies, units, squads, battalions etc and ranks, because he refers to them like crazy, without explaining. Then he makes a lot of technical errors, that frustrated me a lot.
I just feel like the book does not really have a point to it. It is a nice story, but really nothing special. It was like he thought he had nice characters, so he wrote a story, but it does not add any value to the C&C story.
I am disappointed.
I just feel like the book does not really have a point to it. It is a nice story, but really nothing special. It was like he thought he had nice characters, so he wrote a story, but it does not add any value to the C&C story.
I am disappointed.
July 25, 2023
Ha ha ha this book was an endurance test for fans of the game. If you've played C&C3 don't bother.
September 9, 2018
In honesty another book I can't wholly recall buying...I suspect it was from some multi deal at a charity shop or I had some spare change and thought I'd give it a go.
First off I understand much of the source material is taken from a videogame...however regardless of that it does have some substance..it kind of reads as a troop lead modern warfare book..a book say set to the backdrop of Vietnam or the Gulf but with accelerated technology.
More Starship troopers than Star Wars then and a story of Tiberium which is a radiation type energy product which could be humanity's salvation or curse...much as oil and the quest for it plays the same role in lots of today's skirmishes.
Anyhow good fun and far better than I was expecting...which is kind of a backhanded thing as I wasn't expecting much.
First off I understand much of the source material is taken from a videogame...however regardless of that it does have some substance..it kind of reads as a troop lead modern warfare book..a book say set to the backdrop of Vietnam or the Gulf but with accelerated technology.
More Starship troopers than Star Wars then and a story of Tiberium which is a radiation type energy product which could be humanity's salvation or curse...much as oil and the quest for it plays the same role in lots of today's skirmishes.
Anyhow good fun and far better than I was expecting...which is kind of a backhanded thing as I wasn't expecting much.
May 18, 2021
Longtime Command & Conquer fan, always thought it could make an interesting novel, and uh... well there is one! Only the one unfortunately and maybe it wasn't quite the one I was hoping for, but it's at least faithful to the lore. There's far too much character building, especially for what little actually happens during the novel itself. The effects of the Tiberium on the populated areas and the environment are certainly interesting, but too much time is spent on it. The writing itself is rather juvenile, drinking game for you when GDI say "shite" no way they are the good guys... at least NOD are well mannered. Ending also I could see coming from a mile off and is kind of up in the air. All in all a poor book, might also be a good idea to actually play the game this is based on first to familiarise yourself beforehand.
October 11, 2023
Decently fun, pulpy sci-fi read based on on of the best video game franchises of all time. The book alternates between following a soldier and a reporter, and generally holds interest. What this book does even better than the game is show the fear on the battlefield, particularly when the aliens invade - which is hard to do when you are controlling characters from the top down in the game series.
The book uses made-up profanity, which I found a bit silly, but overall, it was a fun and quick read. Recommended for those who love the game series.
The book uses made-up profanity, which I found a bit silly, but overall, it was a fun and quick read. Recommended for those who love the game series.
January 30, 2018
As a fan of the Command and Conquer series, I absolutely love this book for giving fans an in-depth look at the world of CnC, going through details like transport and contamination avoidance between zones, the effects of the Tiberium crystal on humans and the planet, and adding a bit of gravitas to an extremely hammy universe.
November 18, 2021
A thought occured to me while reading this: "This book and the game are completely opposite. While playing the game I really don't give a shit about all the cannon fodder regular troopers. And this book really makes that style of gameplay a real liability.". LOL.
June 16, 2023
I thought this was an excellent addition to the c&c universe. I just wish there were more books to add to the lore!
Everything tied very nicely into the games.
Everything tied very nicely into the games.
December 30, 2024
DeCandido had expanded ideas for the licensed IP. Perhaps the later books may have made this interesting to those that know the IP. Otherwise, a typical YA military romp with C&C flourishes.
March 15, 2009
For some reason video-game based books have high appeal with me, even though they have to follow a story line. they can be great books. This one is no exception following the main plot line of the third command and conquer game, but i did notice that there is a huge hole in the story. there are files in the game you can earn and i read one saying, one of the greatest science minds in this universe died by an ion storm (super powered lightning storm). but in this book it says he died on a space station with the rest of gdis high command (play the game youll know what im talking about).
September 8, 2008
This was a great book, if you have played the game you may understand the background story a bit better. 2 warring factions fight over the use of Tiberium, a similar substance to modern day uranium. This is quite a technical book but the ending was great.
January 21, 2013
I did want to read because of I used to play all of these great C&C games (so it was an nostalgic MUST for me), but actually is it quite good, easy reading book - something like Robert Fabian's "Mariňáci" or Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
August 15, 2008
Though many video games based books failed, this one wasn't that bad. I rated it compared to other video games based books, and this story is done pretty well.
April 3, 2010
A decent realization of the Command & Conquer video game world. Well enough written, but I wasn't really grabbed by it.
April 11, 2015
Good, I liked this. Also it made me want to play the games again.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews