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I Got a Present For Ya!

The original Renegade, Command & Conquer’s one and only foray into the world of FPS action, was a controversial development. The game was derided by many and won little praise, but as one of the few who finished and actually enjoyed that flawed little diamond, I downloaded this latest indie effort with eager anticipation.

Renegade X was originally conceived in 2007 as a UT3 mod. Since then the game has been given a lot of attention by independent studio, Totem Arts, and in a few short years it has come a long way. This latest demo release is a single player, campaign-driven game focusing on GDI’s never ending war with the Brotherhood of NOD.

The game kicks off with a reasonably slick intro. Macho maniac Nick ‘Havok’ Parker is packing his weapons and we overhear that he is being sent into battle to aid an assault on a hidden NOD base. The commander is reassuring his men that the mission should be straightforward, but naturally we know otherwise. We then pan to see Havok and his comrades from the original game aboard a landing craft as GDI assaults the beaches.

You begin playing as the shoreline is reached and NOD open up with everything they have. This part of the game is pretty simple as you get to grips with the weapons and aiming system. There is feeble opposition and you can cruise about and take your time as the game introduces you to the sniper rifle, flame thrower and trusty C4 explosives packs in quick succession.

Spit and Polish

Renegade X isn't a bad looking production at all, even if it is also not what you'd call bleeding edge. The visuals clearly eclipse the original, but then they should as the initial release is over a decade old. There are decent tracer and smoke effects and many of the planes and tanks look cool too. There is even luscious looking jungle foliage. That said, the game is clearly a work in progress as there are plenty of graphical glitches. Objects sometimes flash in and out of view and at times the ground itself disappears!

There is a lot of waypoint driven combat, with plenty of options to experiment with the various weapons on offer. You had better stick to The Path though, as you will be killed off in a mere matter of seconds if you stray from the mission area. This is at times unforgiving as the objective scripting sometimes sends you into no man’s land in the first place!

Where the level of polish disappoints, the amount of guns pleases. The standard machine gun is pretty decent, but the sniper rifle is the weapon of choice as it enables simple kills from extreme range. That said the game tends to hurl obstacles and enemy troops at you in a way that makes it hard to easily hang back and pick off enemies from the edge of a battlefield area. As the narrative continues you will get a Tesla gun, and even an Ion Cannon fire designator too!

You also get to control GDI tanks including the mighty Mammoth. These babies are heavy hitters, even if they are also slow and at times seem to do weird things on the battlefield, defying more than a few of Newton's laws. Not only can your tanks sometimes fly, but the AFVs controlled by your allies will also sometimes have a bizarre navigational hissy fit and crash into you incessantly, making forward progress near impossible - although these glitches will hopefully be remedied in the final version of the game. They aren’t that serious either, and provide a laugh more than anything else.

Artificial Stupidity

The one area where the game needs a total overhaul is the AI. NOD soldiers are clearly trying to sweep the Darwin Awards, as they continue to blunder forward into deadly fire, or even worse stand there like statues as you pump them full of buckshot. This applies to grunts and officers equally, as their lemming-like desire to shuffle off their respective mortal coils moves from simply laughable to completely annoying. Enemies will sometimes appear clever, trying to rush you, or maybe flank your position, or try and take you out from a distance. Other times, however, you can saunter up to them and examine their nostril hairs (and the wind direction, by observing how said hairs sway!) before blasting them back to their maker. No doubt this is something Totem Arts will be working feverishly on for the full release.

It was also mighty annoying to note that the menus appeared to be missing some significant options. Inverting your mouse view is possible, but only after you have learnt the command console info by scouring the forums! Movement feels a little restrictive too. You cannot shoot while prone and the game will not support in cockpit views when driving tanks or give you the opportunity to look around corners while taking cover. This makes the game more of a ‘run and gun’ experience which is more in line with the flavour of the original, but still somewhat frustrating.

It’s the vibe of the thing

The missions are for the most part exciting and satisfying, if too short. However there is at least one convoy protection mission that is (as is so often the case with ‘protect missions’) a tad tedious. Losing a mission just because the stupid MLRS tanks you are protecting are too slow and vulnerable is excruciating.

There are nice touches too though. Your old crew from the first game are back, and the wisecracking that was a fun part of the original returns. Also hard core C&C fans will be pleased to note that the original voice of the E.V.A mission computer (Kim Huntzinger) has returned and this certainly helps lend an air of authenticity to the production. Even better is that Havoc’s voice is brought to life by Wally Wingert, whose wisecracking is almost as consistently good as it was when he worked on the original game.

Renegade X is all about flavour and style and the game delivers some great cinematic moments. Events like A10s blasting NOD positions, MLRS launchers firing on the enemy and plenty of decent base shattering explosions are common. The Ion Cannon moments are just brilliant. The game is exciting at points and in keeping with the monumental struggle that has played out between GDI and NOD. You really get the feeling that you are battling your way through what is an epic struggle and this sense makes the game more exciting.

For these reasons alone it is a worthy romp for fans of the milieu - but at the low, low price of free, there’s reason enough for even those who aren’t C&C fans to give it a try.