The expansion adds a new campaign for each side, with about 5 missions each. The campaign is interesting, and adds a few new elements, but is actually not the best part of the expansion. There are full motion video cutscenes (reporters talking about what's going on) to add some depth to the story, which is pretty straightforward stuff that could happen sometime in the near future (though we hope not). The missions add unique buildings and locations, all well done, as well as objectives that are pretty fun to carry out. Some of them are quite difficult, and there are a few stealth commando missions that Generals sadly lacked. There's also some campaign-only powers, such as the ability to call in battleship artillery and carrier strikes in one of the USA missions.
The real meat of the expansion starts with the new units and upgrades. Each side has new things, some of which go a long way toward filling holes in the armies' capabilities. China, for example, gets some much-needed surveillance by way of the Internet Center, and a worthwhile stealth detector in the Listening Post. Frenzy, a new general power, increases the firepower and armor of units for a brief time. China also gets added airborne firepower with the Helix and the ability to carpet bomb. The GLA gets several low-tech solutions, most of which are still geared toward outmaneuvering rather than outgunning the opposition. The Battle Bus, however, can pack quite a punch in a frontline role. Fake structures, a sometimes-useful throwback from Red Alert, can also be purchased. More interestingly, they can be upgraded into real ones, which is a nice way to play with an opponent's mind. The USA gets a powerful base defense with the Fire Base, which is garrisonable, effective against infantry, and doesn't need power to shoot. They also get a mobile anti-air unit in the Avenger, making it unnecessary for you to bring weak Missile Defender-packed Humvees along in future battles. Three new tech structures are also addedthe Repair Bay (repairs all your ground units), Artillery Platform (shoots at enemies with a howitzer), and Reinforcement Pad (produces a tank on a countdown).
The upgrades and units are standard expansion fare, but Zero Hour adds something elsenew generals, each with their own combat styles, units and powers, and personalities. There are three for each sideAir Force, Lasers, and Superweapons for the USA; Toxins, Camouflage, and Demolitions for the GLA; and Nukes, Tanks, and Infantry for China. Each of these has a doctrine that you must adhere to if you wish to use them effectively, and have weaknesses that hold you to it. For example, the US Air Force general cannot make tanks, but has aircraft cost reduced, unique and better air units, and a point defense laser on all airplanes that along with the standard countermeasures upgrade makes them practically immune to missile fire. China's tank general can build the Emperor Overlord, which is the newest and baddest vehicle on the ground. The GLA camouflage general can make literally everything invisible to the unaided eye, and turns the GLA into a real guerilla army (his Scud Storms are especially scary). All of these generals can be used in skirmish or multiplay, and there is a special 'generals challenge' campaign in which you pick one and play against all others. Your opponent is always on territory that favors their doctrine, and it can get pretty tough. This is a great way to accustom yourself to the various generals and pick your favorite, and is also quite fun since your opponents continuously taunt you during the games.
It's worth mentioning that several nice tweaks have been added to the engine. For example, fighters on an airbase will automatically attack nearby enemies, and both superweapons and scouting powers (e.g. radar van scans) appear as a sidebar icon with a number indicating how many are ready, if it's more than one. This makes it no longer necessary to separately hotkey practically every unit you have. Multiplayer options have been added, such as how much cash to start with, and no superweapons. The already excellent graphics have been improved, with even more fantastic fireballs, flotsam and jetsam, and better water effects. The result is undoubtedly the most graphically appealing RTS out there, though you might need a new video card if you want to run at max detail.
In summary, Zero Hour is for all intents and purposes a completely new game. Some have argued that it is what Generals should have been from the start, but I'm glad EA took the time to do a good job on this rather than rushing it for release. I honestly have no complaints about the expansionit's one of the best ones I've seen for any game. It's a definite must for any Generals fan, and even if you weren't overly impressed with Generals, Zero Hour might just change your opinion.
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Very often expansion packs are mere repackaging of games with few novel features not so with Zero Hour. This expansion pack is jam packed with worthwhile new features.Each faction now has several different specialized generals, primarily for multi-player use, which is what the expansion pack seems geared towards anyway. The "basic" version of each faction is still available. Each general has certain advantages and disadvantages over the other generals within the same faction. There is for instance a China Tank General, which have tanks as his advantage, but don't think you're going to win just because of that other capabilities have been taken away. It's all quite carefully balanced, although the online multiplayer statistics show that most GLA generals are currently at a slight advantage. I'm sure this will be corrected in a future patch though.
PROS:
* A naval "presence" has been introduced, although you can't directly control the naval units yourself. There is a carrier and a battleship were you can do aerial bombardment and artillery bombardment respectively.
* Greatly increased variety due to multiple new units and capabilities, and new specialized generals.
* Even better online multiplayer capabilities.
* 3 new single-player campaigns (1 per faction Total of 15 new missions)
* Subtle enhancements to game engine e.g. Aircraft will automatically defend the area nearby the airbase.
* Superweapons now appear on the right side of the screen with the other general abilities, so you don't actually have to locate your superweapon to fire. If you have several superweapons ready to fire, a number inside the superweapon icon will show the number of superweapons that are ready to fire.
CONS:
* Still no real naval units. I really miss this from Red Alert 2.
* You can no longer do ladder-play or ranked play with any user-created maps. Ranked play is only possible for certain maps distributed with the game. Ranked games are clearly marked before you join though.
* Same problem with difficulty level as C&C Generals. Easy is way too easy, Normal is even easier than Generals, and Hard is too hard.
* Still not possible to skip the "cut-scenes" at the start of each mission.
I give this expansion 5 stars!!! It's a great enhancement, and if you loved C&C Generals, you'll probably love the expansion pack even more. It greatly enhances online play. This expansion pack pretty much makes it a new game.
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I Just got done playing this with 3 other people at a LAN party, and I can safely say that this expansion is worth the money if you enjoy the C&C multiplayer experience. The new campaigns are ok, but Zero Hour definetely seems to have a much stronger focus on the multiplay aspect, which really is well done. It also has a nifty solo-player matchup mode called "challenge," where you're pitted against a specific general who's army has certain unique abilities.The ability to pick different generals is awesome; each general gets certain privledges along with special units. There are 3 generals for each army that you can choose, and each requires a completely different strategy for success. While each general has access to certain unique weapons, they also in most cases have restrictions on some vehicles, including the arsenal they can choose from and how much each vehicle costs. The general-specific weapons are very cool as well; they include a souped up Aurora bomber that drops fuel bombs (my Fave), EMP patriot missles, the Emperor Overlord tank (has a scary amount of firepower), a "nuclear" mig upgrade, the classic C&C lazer turret, a carpet bombing general ability, and a nasty little chinese mini gunner (very effective in large numbers). There also are several units that have been added to each army regardless of which general you choose. I've found that using different generals can drastically change gameplay and adds quite a bit of replayability to the game.
I highly recommend picking this up if you're a C&C nut (like I am). It's not too pricy and has pretty good replayability. If you play C&C multiplayer online or through LAN's, then this X-pack is definetely right up your alley.
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When you make a new C&C game, you have quite a reputation to adhere to. The expansion pack to Generals follows up a very successful game with a finely tuned and rock solid expansion.The new units are perfectly balanced. Each side has been given new units and structures to help turn the tide of the game. The United States finally has some decent base defenses against approaching ranks of infantry. The GLA have even more stealth abilities that make sneak attacks and sabotages more deadly. The Chinese benefit from more anti-personnel attacks and defenses, now capable of killing drivers and allowing the Chinese to steal enemy vehicles (a la Jarmen Kell with his one-shot sniping of drivers). This is accomplished via neutron technology.
I will say that you need a whale of a machine to play this game, but those who play Generals already know this. Play at the minimum requirements and you'll be sorely disappointed. I would recommend playing at least with a 1.7 ghz machine with 256 megs of memory, preferably 512.
I'm sure that in the coming days and weeks and months that EA will unleash patches that will further help balancing, though I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary yet.
One complaint that I do have: After seeing the trailers and the short clips and screenshots, I was for sure that naval units would be incorporated into the game. Sadly, this still isn't the case. Perhaps EA is going to make a second expansion (unlikely, most games don't have 2 expansions unless you're Will Wright...but I digress) that will include naval units. It just doesn't seem to be the full picture without the ability to create seafaring units.
Other than that one complaint, I am thoroughly enjoying this game and anyone who likes C&C games or strategy games in general (ha! No pun intended!) would have a blast with this installment.
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...that may be something of an exgaggeration, but this statement isn't: If you loved Generals and haven't played Zero Hour, you have cause for celebration. At the time of this writing, Zero Hour has been out roughly 1.5 years (games live in "dog years" compared to other media), and as far as Real Time Strategy Games go, I put this at, or very near the top of my list, ahead of most every contemporary RTS.Why?
To many reasons to list, but basically because Zero Hour completely refreshes Generals. If you played Generals like me (a psycho, social-life-debilitating amount), you pretty much had the game down; you knew build order, offense, counters, etc. Zero Hour completely reshuffles the deck by introducing a whole host of brand new units, as well as the ability to play as a General of a certain skill set that gives him advantages (like air/ground/nuclear, etc).
Can you say "C130 Gunship", "Heavy Chinese attack Heli", "Suicide Motorcylist"...when my buddy sent in a huge plane that dropped a bunch of leaflets on my troops to urge them not to fight, I almost came apart with laughter. Good times.
In addition to the General abilities, new maps, and new units, the games graphics have noticably improved.
I couldn't recommend this higher. For RTS fans that haven't checked Zero Hour out yet, don't hesitate to buy this Expansion Pack, this game's got a lot of life in it yet.
Enjoy,
Christian Hunter
Santa Barbara, California
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