The C&C Tiberium Wars Demo is out (via Kotaku) and I downloaded and played it this weekend, whilst suffering from a cold. There’s probably an hour’s worth of fun you can eke out of the 1 gig download.

It seems decent. Now, I have no doubt that I will go nuts over the game when its out (and I really hope that EA sends me a pre-release copy so I can review it properly! Hint hint), but the demo has some limitations (beyond the obvious that its an, erm, demo).

The good stuff first:

Graphics are great. Good evolution on what had gone before. Good textures, level of detail, control system.
Squad system, weapons, troops, structures, etc., pretty much exactly as went before. Some minor detail touches.
Better multi-base control.
Entertaining cinematics with an absurd cast. Actors from Battlestar Galactica (Jon must be loving this! There’s a Cylon on bothGDI and Nod’s side!), Lost, and more!

The not-so-good

Computer AI, at normal difficulty, is DUMB. Maybe I’ve suddenly gotten good at RTS games and should play on ‘hard’ difficulty, but normal did seem a little too easy.
Hardware requirements are BIG. My Windows Performance Index of 4.2 causes the game to have MASSIVE slowdown. Probably fine if you have a Core2Duo… Grrr…
Not much has changed. It’s standard C&C fayre. That’s not necessarily a bad point, but the way in which you play this game (in single player mode) feels unevolved.

I think this game will potentially be a *lot* of fun if I reduce my graphics settings to a point where the gameplay speeds are manageable… Although I have no idea how the Xbox 360 version is going to make sense without a mouse. Watch this space for more.