Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight Preview

VideoGamer.com: Is there a feeling among the RTS development community that the RTS genre has to evolve or die?

MO: That's an interesting question. Games are constantly evolving. I agree that we've done a lot more innovation in this game than we have in the past games. Honestly, we were deliberating with these ideas for a long time. They've probably been in our DNA for about three years now. Not that we've been developing the game for that long, but just ideas that we've been bouncing around within our development team and our studio: Class-based gameplay, persistent experience akin to what you might see in an MMO where you're levelling up as you go, the crawler mobile base instead of traditional base building. I wouldn't say any of these are reactionary. I wouldn't say they're based on trends in the gaming market. Obviously other games affect us and we take all that into consideration. But these are some ideas we've been playing with for a while, and we're finally able to put them into a game and show them to people.

VideoGamer.com: My question was more related to the feeling that if the RTS genre didn't see any innovation, it would become more and more niche, perhaps so niche it would become even less of a priority for publishers. Was there ever a danger of that happening?

MO: That's an interesting point. I certainly hope that this game blows it up and breaks out of that niche, and more casual people are able to join. But I wouldn't say we're turning our back on our roots, either. We do have a lot of the same gameplay. When you break it down to a unit on unit basis, you're building a custom army and you're attacking your opponent. So I don't know about that to be honest. I think we're doing our best to stay true to our roots here. That probably wasn't a factor in our development.

VideoGamer.com: Relic has made some big changes to Dawn of War with Dawn of War II. A lot of them incorporate elements from the MMO genre. You mentioned you've had these ideas for a few years know. When Dawn of War II was released, did you think, oh shit, they're first!

MO: [Laughs] I don't know to be honest! Our game still feels pretty different. I do agree. Obviously they've got a lot of similar innovations. But we have a lot else going for us as well. I don't know. They play differently to me. You have much more unit control in our game. In our game you're controlling an entire army and dozens of units at a time, a very diverse group. Most units only have one to two abilities, so it's much more of a collective thing. It's not focused on heroes. There are no heroes in our game or anything like that. The levelling up, there's obviously a parallel, although you don't level up your units. As a commander you level up and you get access to a more unique army. They feel pretty different to me.

VideoGamer.com: What's your assessment of brand Command & Conquer? Is it as powerful now as it was in the Nineties? Are people as aware of it as they used to be? Are you trying to address a decline with the release of this game?

MO: That's a tough question; I've got to compose myself. We're taking this game seriously. We're doubling down on the conclusion of the Tiberium saga. A lot of the gameplay mechanics are a diversion from our previous games, but a lot of the story elements and the basic struggle between GDI and NOD is a return to our roots. We're focusing on Kane. GDI, NOD, their struggle, Tiberium, the planet. So in that sense we're trying to make more of an impact with this game. We're trying to make it more pronounced. But at the same time, we've had a number of other successful games in the Tiberium franchise, and in the other Command & Conquer universes, with Red Alert 3, Command & Conquer 3 and Kane's Wrath, in recent times. And there's a lot of buzz around our game right now. We've got a lot of people anxious to get into our beta when it opens up. We've got a great community. They're so passionate. It's one of the most inspiring and in some ways frightening parts of my job. These guys love the franchise, the characters and the story so much; we've got this great power and responsibility to take care of it. We're trying to make a big impact with this game. I hope it's one of the most successful and memorable games in recent memory in our franchise.

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight will be released across Europe on March 19, 2010 only on PC.