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Massive futuristic armies capable of dealing untold levels of gorgeous destruction? Check. Over-dramatic, real-time cut scenes that feel like intro movies for rides at Universal Studios? Check. A control scheme that actually doesn’t make you want to jam a tiberium spike into your eye? Check. Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath, the port of the series' PC expansion pack released earlier this year, has marched its way onto the Xbox 360, and that's a good thing.

The Story Remains the Same

Since the game is a direct iteration of the PC version, there is nothing new to report on the narrative front. If you haven't played previous iterations in the series, you will most likely not have any idea how the battle you are waging fits into the grand scheme of the C&C universe, but that won't interfere with your enjoyment of the game. You assume the role as a commander in the Brotherhood of Nod, you engage in huge, sweeping battles, and then you rejoice at your destruction. Pretty simple really. (For a more in-depth look at the particulars of the factions and other such details, check out our previous review of the PC version.)

As in the PC version, there are several ways to command and conquer your way to power and glory. Skirmish allows you to jump into a single battle, Campaign consists of 13 story-based missions and multiplayer lets you take on friends and foes alike across Xbox Live.

There is a new mode exclusive to the Xbox 360 called Kane's Challenge, which throws you into a battle royale of sorts where you take control of one of the nine factions in the game and fight your way across 10 missions (90 total) in the hopes of proving your worth to Kane. Aside from unlocking achievements, these scenarios allow you to hone your skills and become intimately familiar with all aspects of the various factions. The missions also gradually become more challenging, which means you will have your hands full with quite a bit of added gameplay on top of the already impressive amount that was there to begin with.

RTS Evolved

Real-time strategy games and consoles. Do I really need to say anything else? Developers have been trying, largely unsuccessfully, to bring the fluidity and intuitiveness of PC control schemes to console controllers for quite some time. Kane's Wrath, EA Los Angeles' third console RTS (the first two being the highly-praised Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth and last year's Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars), represents the culmination of all of the lessons learned from the deluge of poorly designed RTS console control schemes that have plagued console RTS games for years.

In their previous two titles, EA LA raised the bar for console RTS games by stripping down the controls to a simple trigger pull, a push on the d-pad and a press of the A button. This system remains intact, with the exception of one satisfying improvement, the new radial interface. Instead of scrolling across an inventory box with the d-pad as in previous titles, you now use the much more fluid analog stick to maneuver around an inventory dial. The interface can also be access at any time, regardless of where you are on the map, which alleviates the hassle of having to scroll across the entire map to select a structure in order to start building your next unit. These on-the-fly controls make managing your resources a breeze, and they are intuitive enough that you will be queuing up Redeemers within minutes even if you've never played a console RTS before.

The only major problem comes when trying to select an individual unit, since positioning your cursor with the thumbstick can be wonky at times. The thumbsticks also control the camera (left moves your position, right rotates and zooms), and that can take some getting used to, especially if you keep dreaming about the fluidity of your mouse and keyboard.

How Do I Look Ma?

Graphically, the game is fairly solid. The environments, structures and armies are well-designed, and each of the factions has a distinct look that is consistent throughout their various units. Most importantly, all of these elements look great when they are being blown to pieces. While the explosions and weapon effects aren’t mind-blowingly original or innovative, they do a good enough job of conveying massive amounts of destruction and carnage. However, if there is too much awesome stuff happening on the battlefield, the frame-rate does tend to dip noticeably, and the load times can be a tad on the long side.

Same Isn't Bad…It's Just Same

If you've already conquered the PC expansion pack, you’ve seen this all before. The only real draws for console owners who have played the PC version are the achievements and the addition of Kane's Challenge. You will most likely not play through the campaign mode again, and that is far from a criticism because there is still a lot of game here to keep you occupied for quite a while. For newcomers to the series, this is a great introduction, not only to real-time strategy games, but to console RTS's in general.

Review by: Jake Gaskill