Command & Conquer 3: live-action cutscenes AND Kane!

Yes, that’s right. Not only will Command & Conquer 3 (confusingly titled since it is in fact more like the seventh) have live-action cutscenes — a tradition of the series that was unfortunately dropped as of Command & Conquer: Generals — but the original nemesis Kane will be back, original actor and all. For those new to the series, he’s the leader of the more evil playable army.

I’m getting really excited about C&C3. The available footage is sweet, and it looks like the series has completely gone back to its roots. Cheesy cutscenes (though they’ll supposedly be “epic”) combined with elaborate CGI sequences that brief you on the missions, the original tiberium universe, and of course NOD vs GDI. What more could you ask for? Well, other than good gameplay — hopefully that won’t be an issue.

If you’ve not been following C&C3, I recommend checking out the just-released intro/gameplay video video (Quicktime .mov). It contains a classic C&C-style briefing of the game’s premise and a bit of gameplay footage towards the end. Man, check out all those physics based collapsing buildings. The Orca’s back too!

If you’d like to remind yourself how far the series has come, watch the video of the first C&C mission ever. I still love that music; the part about 50 seconds in gets my nostalgia bumps going. Including a redux version of that in C&C would be a godly act. Let’s just hope the lack of a Westwood presence won’t dilute what is growing into a formidable amount of promising elements.

Update: Since you love convenience, I’ve uploaded the Command & Conquer 3 video to YouTube, meaning you can view it quickly rather than waiting for the beastly 60mb original to download. Also changed the post image to an old picture of Kane. Enjoy!