You are in luck then, First Decade is the recommended version. Fan made compatibility patches target the versions that come with that disk, and after patching they have a fair chance of working on Win 7. As a result it sells for insane prices on ebay these days. Some people still encounter random glitches and crashes here and there, especially with RA2, like I said it is inherent to how the patches work. It is a terrible hack job really, but that's as good as it gets without the source code. That said, everything runs fine on my setup here. I just needed a bit of experimentation with the compatibility settings to get the color palettes and scroll speeds right, you know, the usual multi-CPU issues.

The Ultimate Collection is only good for the newer games. Earlier ones are simply broken, it is a scam.

I'd agree, except for the fact that HoMM/M&M while owned by Ubisoft will probably never be good again. :(
Eh, I'm not sure I agree. I think Generals was as good as Tiberian Sun, but it's probably just a matter of taste. I rather enjoyed making/upgrading weird diverse units as the terrorist faction, then unleashing them along with hordes of angry mobs on my enemies. :3

I mentioned a different game earlier, but it depends on perspective. One could argue that Warcraft II started C&C's decline. :) Granted, I don't have much experience yet with the post WC2 C&C games largely either though. :)

... public decline in mass appeal of RTS maybe?

I think you're really overestimating the problems and underestimating the C&C community. Last time I checked the community fixed the games just fine.

Ok good then. I think I've played (and finished) all the early C&C games, Tiberian Sun - Firestorm being the last one I've played (they were not from the First Decade collection though, I also have those earlier games as separate retail versions). I think I'll replay them all at some point.

I seem to have also RA3: Uprising on the Origin store, not sure if it was offered for free at some point, or was it part of some Humble Bundle. Oh and RA2 + expansion on Origin as well, but since it is already included in the First Decade collection as well...

Then again I am one of those who preferred Warcraft and Starcraft games to the C&C games. They are just more charming and stuff.

The biggest "true classic" C&C game was, for me, Red Alert 1. The one which causes me grief and sadness is Red Alert 3, because it seemed almost like the goal of the developers was to make the game as cheesy as humanly possible. I realize even the best C&C games had storylines which could be cheesy at times, but in Red Alert 3, it seemed like they were trying way too hard to make it way too cheesy, if that makes any sense.

Renegade

I think you right.



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But comparing RA2 to RA3 I would tell that they're representing quite similar level of "cheesy-ness". There are some differences, but IMO they're rather technical and caused by differences of budget and technology. In both games there are "specific" cut-scenes, crazy units and contraptions etc. I would risk the thesis that from nowadays perspective, RA1 was an "oddball" in the series, which is not surprising due to genesis of this title (especially in case of plot, which was (according to interview with Joe Kucan) made in big haste and to appeal to german market (yup, that's why there was twist with time travel and no war + genocide caused by Germany).

Humble Bundle. I have it on Steam and probably Origin. My RTS games growing up were actually mostly Warcraft and Starcraft, but also Dune 2000. My uncle had Tiberian Sun, so I played a little bit of that, and after they released them for free I played some of Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert, but I never really got into C&C much. In fact, my uncle later on had Emperor: Battle for Dune and I played way more of that.

C&C3 and RA3's FMV were really cheap though, the costumes were like something they get off ebay from China and sets were even worse.

For example in Tiberium Sun you actually have see NOD and GDI soldiers (not the prerendered stuff) in those full-body armor, in C&C3 the NOD guards are just random guys with black shirts on, and the GDI people with green jump suits.

I'm too cynical and pessimistic to even offer a qualified opinion on this particular topic.

To sum it up, by chronilogical order of the years each game was released (1995-2010)

What year do you want me to stop at if I ever decide to get into this franchise?