Raise your hand if you’re cool enough to remember Command & Conquer Renegade.  If you were one of the lucky few to play this game, don’t you wish they’d remake it?!  I was talking with my roommate (who is a modest gamer) and we somehow got on the topic of games we want to see remade.  On the top of my list, and oddly enough my roommate’s, is C&C Renegade.  Imagine taking a game of Command & Conquer, and playing it as a FPS.  Remove most of the RTS elements, focus on destroying bases, and you have C&C Regenade.

I don’t even remember what the single-player was about because Renegade was all about the multiplayer.  There were, of coarse, two teams: GDI and Nod.  Each team started with a base, and the goal was the other have the most points when the time ran out, or destroy the enemy’s base.  There was also an element of resource gathering.  Yep, those awesome Tiberium harvesters would go out and gather Tiberium which would then allow players to buy vehicles and equipment.  Part of what made Renegade so cool was that every building in the base had a function.  There was a refinery to process Tiberium, infantry upgrades, vehicle production, repairs, etc.  I’m suddenly being flooded with memories of the tactics we would use.  I remember everyone on my team sprinting immediately to a particular building, planting some sort of charge, and actually detonating some kind of nuke.  All I can remember is how awesome it was to devise rush tactics strategies to disable your opponent before they knew what was going on.

Renegade had everything: Air vehicles ground vehicles, upgradable infantry kits, big outdoor maps, destructible buildings, and objective based gameplay. Oh, and the vehicles were just basic tanks either.  I’m talkin’ stealth tanks, flame thrower tanks, MRLS, and even the infamous Mammoth Tanks!  Maybe what I loved the most about Renegade was that it captured a lot of C&C feel, but in a different and memorable way.

The converging gameplay mechanics, the depth of gameplay rivaling Starsiege Tribes, and the intense action prove Renegade was before its time.  It began bridging RTS and FPS genres well before anyone else even made an attempt.  It deserves to be made in a time when these things can be fully realized.

While writing this quick post up and searching for some decent screenshots of Renegade, I did some research and came across a mod called Renegade X.  Apparently it’s been running for 11 years and still going strong, because yesterday they announced beta applications for the upcoming multiplayer would start soon.  I think this is entirely indie, but check it out and let me know what you find.  Looking at the screenshots, it looks like they’re bringing back some of my favorite maps.  Maybe a remake isn’t so far off?

Update: Oh shut the front door… there’s a video with commentary! No, I’m not crying; Something’s in my eye, okay?   Video embedded after the jump. (more…)