Ah yes, 'Command & Conquer'...

I can still remember spending a whole weekend playing a 'Command & Conquer' game. Looking back, real-time strategy games were still rather in their infancy.

Take as an example 'Dune,' which was very primitive by today's graphic and audio standards, but the strategy remained the same: build lots of 'em quick, and hit the enemy en masse.

'Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars' was pretty much a perfection of this type of real-time strategy gaming, and was well received all around.

'Kane's Wrath' is an expansion pack to 'C&C3' and takes things even further.

If the plot is important to you, then you'll find plenty of it here. Strategy games' plots tend to get a bit convoluted and normally I just skip through the cut scenes between each campaign. I want to play the game. If I want a story, I'll read a book.

But if you enjoy watching what happens when EA Games spends top dollar on cut scenes, you'll be positively drooling at the visual feast served up in 'Kane's Wrath'.

Quite logically, the expansion pack picks up where 'Tiberium Wars' left off, at the end of the Second Tiberium War. Kane, The Brotherhood of Nod's leader, is thought to be dead and the remaining members have split into factions (such as The Black Hand, Zocom, and Steel Talons) who are fighting each other. The Global Defence Initiative (GDI) is now ruling Earth.

The fun starts with the Campaign mode, which features 13 missions — quite a bit for your buck. And even in easy mode, some of the campaigns are quite difficult.

In 'Kane's Wrath', Nod has a few new nifty vehicles, such as the Spectre (long-range missile launcher) and the Redeemer (a big robot, but not as big as the one GDI will unleash on your crappy little base). Some of the weapons are, however, just plain useless. The Avatar, a walking robot (smaller than the Redeemer), is just too vulnerable. And Nod's aircraft are simply cannon fodder to everything except infantry.

Nod's strength probably lies in their ability to use fire and flames. The Flame Tanks are brilliant. Buy the Black Disciples upgrade and the Black Hand troopers will turn anything nearby to toast.

The winning combination seems to be Stealth Tanks and Spectres. Stealth Tanks are versatile — they are powerful, have a good range and can shoot down GDI aircraft. And as little as three Spectre artillery units will turn buildings to dust in a jiffy.

Defending your Nod base has become more interesting in 'Kane's Wrath'. Put up laser fences around your buildings to ward off artillery attacks. Build a cute statue of Kane and all Militants within range will increase their firing rate.

The Redeemer Engineering Facility allows you to build a nuclear missile. This is the Big Kahuna weapon and will incinerate, nay, atomise, any enemy.

Apart from the Campaign mode, there is also Global Conquest mode. Be sure to work through the tutorial first before you tackle this bad boy as it helps you to better understand how this mode works. In essence, bases are built and wars are fought on a global scale, ending when you eliminate the other players from the map. (This mode is designed to be played by at least three players.)

As was the case with the original game, the playability of 'Kane's Wrath' on lower-spec machines is good. Even on an average PC, you'll be able to play the game with minimal loss of quality, thanks to good programming.

New units, 13 missions and not a single drop in the amount of fun to be had, makes 'Kane's Wrath' a great expansion to a great game.