You know you’re onto a winner when your coronary heart swells ten occasions its regular measurement out of pure pleasure from the boot-up sequence for the remaster of a game you by no means performed. I used to be far too younger to even comprehend Command & Conquer when it first got here out in 1995, and to my nice disgrace it’s by no means been one thing I’ve sought out within the intervening years. But watching Command & Conquer Remastered Collection‘s newly re-tooled EVA opening sequence had me pumping my fists and bellowing with excitement like I’d been down there within the fan trenches all alongside.
Maybe it’s the {hardware} nerd in me that will get overly moved by logos morphing from a piddly 320×200 all the best way as much as an impossibly sharp 3840×2160, or strains of code pretending to hunt out out of date sound playing cards earlier than pulling the last word energy transfer and choosing High Definition Audio, however as Steve Hogarty famous in his Command & Conquer Remastered Collection review, it’s rattling efficient. So a lot in order that I consider all remastered games going ahead must be made to have intro sequences like this as a rule, as a result of man alive does it make me pumped to dive in and get enjoying.
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection’s new EVA sequence is definitely the work of long-time group member Luke “CCHyper” Feenan, who spent six months creating this little bit of set up magic, which you’ll be able to watch many times within the first game’s Bonus Gallery when you’ve considered it for the primary time. Now, six months would possibly seem to be a very long time to spend on a 2.24 minute sequence, however I’d be mendacity if it wasn’t probably the most efficient introductions I’ve ever witnessed. Let me stroll you thru it.
Aww, take a look at all these pretty fuzzy pixels…
It begins with that basic EVA boot-up emblem with pixels the dimensions of precise fists. Yes, I can really feel that mid-90s nostalgia settling in now, it’s heat and fuzzy and jogs my memory of higher occasions.
But then your connection to the EVA server is misplaced. Panic! Has my PC been hacked? Has the game damaged? No, pal, all is properly. In a flash, the installer reconnects, receives and decrypts the suitable encryption keys, after which executes the “Bootstrap.EVA” file. Eagle-eyed viewers will discover a cheeky Kane trojan file and Brotherhood.worm risk get caught in its virus detection software program, however the true magic is the second it tries to put in new graphics drivers.
It takes some time to load, however what follows is arguably the perfect 30 seconds you’ll ever witness. A duplicate of the EVA emblem blinks down the display into the black, lifeless area on the fitting and slowly and transforms from a 320×200 mess into an excellent 4K masterpiece, shifting up the decision gears one after the other in an ideal little bit of pixellated choreography. By the time the motive force set up is full, it’s just like the previous 25 years didn’t even occur.
The subsequent factor you realize, you’re looking at a freshly pressed EVA set up display with pixels the dimensions of precise molecules.
But your quest to hack the longer term isn’t over but! Next, it’s time to erase all that previous frustration of getting to take care of the intricacies of mid-90s sound playing cards. I’ve by no means had the enjoyment / pleasure / horror to take care of the ins and outs of sound card compatibility, however watching the installer go over its generated record of historical Sound Blaster playing cards to casually auto-select High Definition Audio had me pounding my chest with its sheer brilliance. What an influence transfer on this, the 12 months 2020. The future is right here, my mates, and it exudes massive dad vitality.
But wait, it will get higher. After performing a sound take a look at and initialising your newly chosen sound {hardware}, the great girl voice then tells you that that is it, it’s time to improve Command & Conquer to excessive definition video, audio and graphics. And reader, I’m really deceased.
The sheer energy of these phrases, the energy in her voice, and the pace of these multi-coloured tubes filling up with all that scrumptious, excessive definition goodness… This is the way you remaster a video game in 2020. Heck, I haven’t even seen what the rattling game even appears to be like like but, however already I’m frothing on the mouth, able to gobble up these sharp, crunchy pixels like a famished infantry grunt.
It could also be fan service, it might be a deliberate try and tug at your heartstrings and get you roaring with rabid, commanding and conquering fervour, however man alive, if this two and a half minute sequence could make me really feel this nostalgic and this passionate a few game I’ve by no means even performed, then I hereby decree that every one remastered games ought to have a compulsory improve sequence like this earlier than you get to the menu display. Everyone loves seeing their favorite games in shiny, excessive definition graphics, so why not rejoice that and provides us a cheeky teaser of all of it beforehand? So thanks, Luke “CCHyper” Feenan. That was six months very properly spent certainly.
