Fast forward to the then not too distant future of the late 1990s. In response to the threat posed by Kane’s minions, the United Nations formally activates the Global Defense Initiative (or GDI), a multinational peacekeeping force tasked with stopping terrorism, and Nod in particular.
Through propaganda, terrorist attacks, front companies and seizing a virtual monopoly over the growing Tiberium deposits, almost overnight it becomes a superpower in all but name with more insidious plans for the world. That same year, however, a militant, cult-like organization calling itself the Brotherhood of Nod reveals itself to the public, led by an even more enigmatic figure known only as Kane. The story starts off in 1995, when a meteor lands near the Tiber River in Italy, bringing with it a strange crystalline material called “Tiberium” that soon becomes an immensely valuable resource. Albeit, one that would not only surpass its predecessors but set the stage for things to come. Even with the pedigree set by Dune II, it was an ambitious yet risky venture. The ensuing result, after over two years of work, was Command and Conquer – to this day known by its working title, Tiberian Dawn – which was released on September 1995 for the PC (MS-DOS), with a Macintosh port (done by Totally Hip Studios) released on December 1996 and a Windows 95 edition (known as Command and Conquer: Gold) coming out on March of the following year. Inspired by the Gulf War, the socio-political climate at the time and various other ideas, however, it soon followed down a path that was unique for a strategy title. But rather than rest on their laurels, as Westwood co-founder Brett Sperry recounted in a 2001 Gamespot feature by Bruce Geyrk, “it was time to build the ultimate RTS without the ‘leg up’ from a license like Dune.” The budding project was originally planned to be a high fantasy affair, similar to what a then-newly christened Blizzard Entertainment was conceiving, with 1994’s Warcraft: Orcs and Humans being the end product.
Inspired by and building upon gameplay mechanics introduced in the Genesis game Herzog Zwei(made in 1989 by Technosoft), the developers codified the foundations of RTS as it’s known today, such as mouse-and-keyboard controls and base building.
Its release of Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty in 1992, however, would bring it lasting fame in the history books. Westwood – founded in 1985 and acquired by Virgin Games (later, Virgin Interactive) seven years later – had already gained a solid reputation, having worked on RPGs such as DragonStrike in and the first two Eye of the Beholder titles, to name a few. To understand the game and its significance, one need only to turn the clock back to the early 1990s. Westwood Studio’s Command and Conquer is one of the most important games in the 1990s computer game landscape.
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