8.4 /10 1 Votes
7.6/10 GameSpot Release date(s) February 7, 2006 Series Command & Conquer | 4.5/5 eBay Engine Various engines Initial release date 7 February 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer Genres Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Renegade Similar Command & Conquer games, Westwood Studios games, Real-time strategy games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Command & Conquer: The First Decade is a compilation of the Command & Conquer series' games published from 1995 to 2003, all bundled into one DVD and updated to run optimally on Windows XP. It was released on February 7, 2006 and sold for the price of one retail game. Also included in the compilation was a bonus DVD which took a look behind the scenes of the successful franchise, including interviews with producers, old concept art, various soundbites, as well as a montage of the winning fan videos of the "Are You The Biggest C&C Fan?" competition held prior to the compilation's release.
Contents
Other items included in the compilation was an A3 (A4 in newer boxes) poster with high-quality C&C renders on both sides, one of which has been confirmed to be a teaser image for EA's Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, as well as a 65-page manual that only includes unit descriptions and hotkeys for each of the included games.
Included games and expansions
Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor was not included with The First Decade.
New game content
The first DVD delivers each of the games with their most recent patches applied (except Command & Conquer: Red Alert which wasn't delivered at the latest version due to the latest patch being a beta version), all of which are bundled into a single installer. The original installers for the games, which were known to be very immersive and graphically pleasing, were not included. They were replaced by a single standard InstallShield wizard installer. The installer does enable the player to pick and choose what to install, but assuming that all the games are selected, a total of 7 separate serial keys need to be entered.
The compilation comes as its own program, with a launcher which allows players to choose between the installed games. A third-party shortcut installer has been made to create shortcuts for each of the individual games.
Bugs and Patches
Many bugs have been reported to be present in Electronic Arts' The First Decade pack, including some that didn't affect the original releases of the games. EA responded by releasing two patches: v1.01 and v1.02. Furthermore, an unofficial patch, v1.03, has since been released by nathancnc. It does not require the v1.01 or v1.02 patches, as it includes all of the fixes from them plus more and negates the need for the DVD to be in the drive while playing. It is available only for the English version of The First Decade; it will not work on the German version. It can be downloaded from Command & Patch. A second unofficial update, v1.04, is currently in the works.
Bonus DVD
The Bonus DVD included in the compilation pack is a video DVD including the following video items:
As the bonus DVD is a video DVD, it can be played on any conventional video DVD player.
Bonus poster
Also included in the compilation is a single A3 double-sided poster, showing teaser high-resolution renders for the then upcoming Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. One side is a highly upgraded version of the new GDI Ion Cannon, the other render is an image of the GDI's new Predator tank.