I can’t say too much about Command & Conquer 3 until my review is finally written and uploaded, but I will say that it gives me more reasons to buy Supreme Commander.

I’ve written before about how science fiction strategy games leave me a little cold. Give me muskets. Give me swords. Give me tanks. Laser cannons and alien pod troopers do nothing for me.

But so far I am digging Tiberium Wars, even if a lot of the story doesn’t make a lot of sense. (I’ve skipped most of the other Command & Conquer games, so I may be missing something.) Not that plot really matters.

So add this revelation to my positive experience of Chris Taylor’s GDC speech, and my love of the Galactic Civilizations II games and maybe I’m coming around a little. Maybe I can relate to this weird world of weapons now.

But relate isn’t really the right word. The barrier between me and science fiction games is that the lack of intuitive unit matchups means that I have to go that extra mile to understand what is going on. This really hasn’t changed. In CnC3, the variety of units means that I have to actually read the description text to know what I need to build next. This is not what they are supposed to be talking about in “learning games”.

Part of my new appreciation is undoubtedly rooted in the pubescent male fantasy of blowing things up real good. Sure, a Panzer can do a lot of damage, but the swarming alien hordes that the Scrin have in Tiberium Wars is like a school of flying piranha.

Ancient Wars: Sparta won’t have that I suppose.