Sound

Like the rest of the CnC franchise, the music and sound effects in Renegade are very well done. The music is exceptional, sort of a techno heavy metal cross and fits the mood of the game perfectly. Same with the sound effects...... With the minor problem that weapon and vehicle gun effects just sometimes stop.. Yes, your nasty, death dealing tank suddenly stops making any noise... Which is, to say the least quite disconcerting. Yet another thing to add to my bug list. (I've been informed that this seems to happen to most people if you dare to fire a few shots, then hold your fire button in. Huh, who would have thought to try that eh?)

There is some excellent detail in the sound work. Lamps buzz as you approach, monitors hiss, and bullets make different sounds depending on what material they're impacting. The sounds of a massive tank battle are quite hellacious as well. :)

Weapons

Ahhhh. Most excellent, my favorite part of any game, and indeed any review. The part where we talk about the GUNS GUNS GUNS! Renegade offers a wide variety in the way of tools of persuasion. Ex. Weapons. I've lost count but there's a crapload of them. From 'nade launchers and shotguns to flame throwers, laser rifles (and chainguns!), Ion Cannons and Rocket Launchers. There's a little something for everyone, including my favorite, the evil and villainous sniper rifles. (Ex. The camp-o-matic 9000)

There's even some lovely Tiberium firing weapons. While having little or no effect on Tiberium mutated creatures, these guns do have rather nasty results when used on humans. They tend to do massive damage, and the radiation from the Tiberium continues to do damage for several seconds after the hit, in effect poisoning your target. Flame-throwers and lasers have the same effect. (Burning) The only real downside to the Tiberium power weaponry is the fact that it will (randomly) transform the victim into a deadly mutant, which then attacks you and anything else within reach. Just what you need, one more enemy to eliminate.

For those with BIG tastes, there's the Ion Beam satellite and the Nuclear Attack. (Both of these are usually used in Multiplayer, and appear rarely during the single player campaign.) No way to really describe these super attacks, just check out the screenshots for a taste of what ground zero looks like.

Vehicles

Oh yeah baby, the vehicles are definitely one of the high points in Renegade. A great number of them can be controlled by you in single player, as well as the multiplayer. Hummers, NOD buggies, mammoth tanks, flame tanks, stealth tanks, we've got tanks of all sizes and shapes! We've also got mobile artillery and hey, the kids are going to love MRLS Rocket Launchers! Bring the whole family, come on down to Crazy Uncle Marauder's used war vehicle emporium! And for a limited time, hit the Q key and let the passenger take control of the turret! It's fun fun fun for kid and adults alike!

I enjoy the fact that your camera can be locked to follow the hull of the vehicle, or the turret. Default is the hull, I like the turret since it makes targetting enemies much, much easier. The one thing I did not like about vehicles is that if you have your cam locked to you turret and aim up, the hull of the tank blocks your view. Not very good when you're trying to hit airborne vehicles, or that damned sniper up on the ridge. This really needs to be fixed. Make the tank hull transparent when your camera moves behind it or something.

That's right. Drive vehicles, with your buddies... Crush (heh. *splot!*) and vaporize your enemies. For the moment you can't pilot the kick ass gunships you see flying around (and often shooting your ass) in the single player. There was some mention in the news of the day from the 28th that flying vehicles would be entering beta. Would be very sweet if they introduced them. Damn it, I was promised a flying car! Where's my flying car!?:) The vehicles are a riot, and really adds a new element to the game. Huge infantry and tank battles are just so damned cool.

Enemies

Well, all those guns wouldn't be doing you much good if you didn't have something to shoot them with, nes pas? And wow, you've got some cool guys to shoot at this time around. The full array of enemies from the RTS, and some new ones appear. You'll be facing the full might of the NOD arsenal, including everything from their stupid cannon fodder grunts and officers to elite special forces and radioactive abominations. Enemy models are excellent and highly detailed, with the NOD troopers looking very, very cool and radiating an insectile menace with their wide variety of armor and weapons. Regrettably, they're not very frickin' smart. Why is it that no one seems capable of programming a good AI? We'll get into that one on the next page.