Commandier & Conquerier

C&C was not aflush with the ruddy glow of good health until recently. Tiberian Sun seemed a passionless retread, Renegade bombed, Generals chucked all the characterful babies out with the Tiberium bathwater...

Somehow though, the RTS old hand seems to have a headful of steam all over again. C&C3 went down surprisingly smooth, and, while new FPS Tiberium looks pretty meatheaded, it's got Xbox Smash Hit written all over it. And there's to be yet more. Goodness. The latest Command & Conquer Battlecast, an official vodcast so cheese-laden I worry about developing a lactose allergy whenever I watch it, alludes to an upcoming announcement in two weeks time. "You will have one more reason to cheer," apparently. Whatever could it be?

With both Tiberium and a C&C3 expansion already on the way, this leaves two options, as far as I'm concerned. Generals 2 (ugh) or Red Alert 3 (woo!). My money'd be on the latter, as it's the glaring ommission in my glass-half-empty round up of early-21st-century C&C above.

Red Alert 2 was bags of silly fun and a reasonable success, see. They'd be mad not to come back to it and its giant squids, tesla troopers et al - especially as the humour is gradually dribbling away from core C&C these days.

There's just one problem - won't having Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 on sale at the same time really bewilder the uninitiated? That it's a Red Alert game is almost a no-brainer, but I won't be shocked if the name or numeration changes.

(Thanks, Evo).