Command & Conquer 4

With the arrival of some Nod Scorpion tanks, along with burrowing units returning after Tiberium Sun, it's straight into the action. The most immediate difference in C&C4, apart from the experience points now rising from every felled enemy, is the rate at which the mission flows from one objective to the next, orders quickly redirecting us from clearing the area of all Nod units - alongside the Scorpions they'd brought in some nasty Fire Tanks and Spider Tanks, all looking spectacularly villainous in black and red - and telling us to search the immediate surroundings for a TCN node to connect the transport to. Once that's done, things switch to a sweaty defence situation, as we protect the healing vessel from the big guns of the Nod arsenal, namely Centurions, massive shielded robot units that can inflict some serious damage. Luckily, we've brought along a Mastodon, an equally gigantic four-legged walker - "a mobile death factory," according to Bass.

While we watch them set to, Glosecki occasionally zooming in to show us the procedural damage and deferred lighting model, allowing each splatter of gunfire to cast its own glow and shadows, it's worth mentioning something else that's new. That's our base itself, the Crawler, now mobile as the name suggests, and capable of building units while it's moving, and spitting them out when it sets itself down. It should be a handy tool for newcomers, as it allows players to focus their attention on one area of the map at a time, and it also - whisper it - respawns if destroyed, a new model dropping out of the sky afresh after the last one was blown to pieces. There are limitations, though: you can only respawn on your side of the map, and there's a minute cooldown between redeployment to stop you turning the whole thing into an impromptu meteor attack.

Some may be tempted to see the focus on accessibility as a form of dumbing down, but there's more than enough evidence that C&C4 is holding back treats for those that really know how to play. EA's been thinking about both ends of the spectrum: a respawning Crawler means you can fail a few times before succeeding, but it also allows canny commanders to lure enemies to a dead zone and then crush them from above, as the base does significant splash damage when it lands on top of you. Ideas like this should change the game on whatever level you're playing it at.

Respawning the Crawler (surely a NIN title?) also allows you to reselect your class as, yes, C&C4 is now a class-based game. There are three classes available - Offence, Defense, and Support - and they're there to allow you to tailor your approach to each situation. If you're a new player, choose the one that's easiest moment-to-moment; if you're an expert, force your way through the whole campaign using just the Support role - it will be possible.

With the Nod reduced to rubble, the demo's over. C&C4 is looking good, then - and EA knows it has to. Rarely mentioned but presumably never far from anyone's mind, Starcraft II is going to make it very hard for even the most recognisable of RTS franchises to control much of the market in the next few years, without big ideas to battle it with.

But if Blizzard's a fearsome enemy to take on, EA's clearly been thinking - and working - extra hard on this one. C&C4 oozes intelligence, both borrowed and native, and its mix of epoch-ending narrative and experience-based toys suggests it will be hard to pass up. Besides all that, the RTS, above all else, knows that asymmetric line-ups can lead to drawn out battles. That's good news for us, then, as it's the drawn-out battles that often prove to be the most entertaining.