Looking back at it now, 2020 doesn’t feel like a banner year for strategy games, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been a few gems. The list below – gathered by a panel of experts and regularly updated – contains games from as recently as 12 months ago alongside classics from as far back as 28 years ago. They’re all games we think you could play and love right now.

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Following the launch of the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection earlier this month, EA have now slammed its soundtracks onto streaming services for your sonic satisfaction. Along with its remastered versions of the C&C and Red Alert soundtracks, they’ve put up an album of hard-rockin’ new recordings from C&C composer Frank Klepacki and his band, The Tiberian Sons. Put a pep in your step on those morning runs with Hell March, why don’t you.

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According to RPS’s Command & Conquer Remastered Collection review, the revitalized classic RTS is “both precisely as good and exactly as dated as it’s supposed to be.” Even so, Petroglyph have found a few places to improve and have released the first round of bug fixes and additions. They’ve eased up on Hard Mode and have added private game lobbies, among other fixes.

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You know you’re onto a winner when your heart swells ten times its normal size out of pure excitement from the boot-up sequence for the remaster of a game you never played. I was far too young to even comprehend Command & Conquer when it first came out in 1995, and to my great shame it’s never been something I’ve sought out in the intervening years. But watching Command & Conquer Remastered Collection‘s newly re-tooled EVA opening sequence had me pumping my fists and bellowing with excitement like I’d been down there in the fan trenches all along.

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Who remembers the 90s? Teachers cowering under their desks, living in constant fear of gunge reprisal. Dave Benson Phillips stomping a Furby to death behind a Woolworths. Princess Diana slowly opening her mouth on live television to reveal the very first Tamagotchi. And then there was you, a horrid greasy goblin person hunched over a yellowing CRT monitor in the corner of the living room. On the screen is Command & Conquer, the hot new videogame from Electronic Arts and Westwood Studios, and the first ever strategy game to feature an electric guitar.

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Amid all these flashy full remakes of older games, Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is holding the line for the remaster crowd who want their classic games with more pixels but no fewer quirks. The Remastered Collection is out now, bringing all its expansion packs and some modern niceties like a new UI to the old RTS series.

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When Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection launches next month, it’ll arrive with a lovely little gift for the modding community. This week, EA announced that some of the source code for both Command & Conquer and Red Alert will be freely accessible at launch, giving modders the groundwork to go wild creating whatever they’d like – up to and including giant tanks that punt nukes out of their big ol’ guns.

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Ahead of its launch on June 5th, I’ve been able to see the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection in action, and it certainly looks the part. The quarter-century-old RTS, as well as comrade Red Alert and their squad of three expansion packs, have been sent over the top of their pixellated trench, and into the high-res carnage of no-man’s-land. Malaysian art house Lemon Sky Studios have armed them with visual assets suitable for the rigours of combat in 4k resolution, and they’re entering the fray to a remade soundtrack by original series composer Frank Klepacki. Their FMV cutscene artillery has been digitally embiggened through a combination of digital archaeology and machine sorcery, while their archaic multiplayer setup (I guess it can be a metaphorical tank), has been scrapped in favour of a much more robust new system.

I’ve no doubt that fans of these two grizzled soldiers will be delighted that they’ve been commanded back onto the battlefield of PC games. But as faithful as their rearming has been, they’re still working to a set of mechanics that are old enough to join the army themselves. The question, and the reason for this whole tortured allegory, remains: will these very old games have what it takes to conquer new hearts? (more…)

The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection will deliver its overhauled versions of the original Command & Conquer and Red Alert (plus expansions) on June 5th, Electronic Arts announced today. Westwood’s cheery ‘n’ cheesy real-time strategy games from the 90s come with fancying-up including redrawn high-resolution artwork, support for mahoosive monitors, a revamped interface, remastered sound, and a new multiplayer backend. And yes, absolutely, they’ve touched up those wonderful FMV cutscenes. Have a peek at all this in the new trailer below.

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