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“CABAL is no more, though his memory lives on.”
~Kane

Ah, yes. The expansions. Those sure changed with time. And when it's about C&C, it's even more interesting. I mean, C&C is a pretty old series. The one that started in times when the expansions were mostly a thing for people who just wanted more of exactly the same. Back in the DOS times, those were just extra floppies with some more missions on 'em. End of the story. Fine with hardcore fans, pretty boring for everybody else. And since the original C&C came out at the end of that era, all CDs and sh*t, it kinda caught that old thing too. The original game had mission CD called Covered Operations, Red Alert had not one, but two of those, and of course, the new missions were pretty good, but still, it was just that. More missions. No new story, no new cutscenes, nothing like that.
It all changed for the series when long-awaited Tiberian Sun arrived. Its Firestorm expansion, despite not having those expensive actors from the main game, had solid story with lots of cutscenes. If something, Firestorm events were at least as important as the Tiberian Sun itself. And now? Now it's time for us to get back to them. See, Kane's Wrath is not a sequel to the Tiberium Wars. Instead, it's a prequel that is supposed to serve as a bridge between Westwood's Firestorm and EA's C&C3. And even though usually I'm not really a fan of prequels, this time? This time it makes a lot of sense. Like, a lot. The problem with story in C&C3 was that it brought lots of questions. In a way, it didn't make sense at all and felt more like something from an alternative timeline than a proper sequel. Kane's Wrath? Kane Wrath is here to fix that.
The beginning of this expansion brings us back to the end of GDI's campaign in Firestorm. Nod is defeated, CABAL is destroyed and Kane's dead. Is he, though? That's... actually my biggest complaint about the Kane's Wrath story (aside from the fact that what we've got at its end is another cliffhanger). While aiming to clarify things to us, the expansion still doesn't say anything about Kane directly. I know, I know, it's a C&C thing. Not telling too much, I mean. Keeping things unsaid. But at this point it's starting to feel ridiculous. I mean, was it that hard to properly explain things for a change? It was 2009! Many people forgot about Firestorm's ending long ago, while many others didn't even play it at all. Yet here we are. Having “new” Kane posing as “old” Kane. With no explanation whatsoever. Thankfully, aside from that, Kane's Wrath does surprisingly nice job explaining to us what happened in C&C3. All of those “Wait, what? Why?” moments are properly explained and if something, the story here is better than what we had in the main game. There's a catch, though.
While the main game's campaign had 38 missions in it (17 missions per faction, plus 4 missions long bonus campaign for Scrin), this expansion only has 13. And we can only play as Nod. That's right, for the very first time in history the campaign offers us only one side of the conflict. Like... what? I know, it's called Kane's Wrath, while all factions got new units (some of which are so fat that it makes things to feel a lot like kaijū battle), but come on! Seriously? Sounds like a joke to me. Thankfully, there's something to make us all feel better about that. And it's time for us to remember another game from the past – C&C Generals. Remember its challenge mode? The one that was planned for the original game but didn't arrive until the expansion called Zero Hour? That's exactly what we've got here. At least on Xbox 360, because so-called “Kane's Challenge” mode is exclusive to consoles (despite C&C3 being a cross-platform game, console version had its differences), while here, on PCs we've got Global Conquest. Which is... something entirely different. Ever wondered how C&C will do in the Total War environment? Global map and sh*t? Global Conquest is pretty much it.
The global map there is turn-based. We build bases and we create so-called “strike forces”. A movable squads that contain multiple units. If such squad has mobile construction vehicle (MCV) in it, it can build a new base in its vicinity. If it doesn't, it's only good to attack things. Naturally, strike forces' moves are limited, don't expect them to cross, like, the entire map in one turn. Also, everything in Global Conquest mode can only do one task per turn. Bases, for example, may upgrade to the next tier to get access to better strike forces, or (for example) improve their defenses. Tiberium is there too, of course (every base generate a certain amount of income per turn), which means we should think carefully where to build. Now. When it's about Total War, there's another part of gameplay – the actual battles. Right? Well, as you can easily guess, those are presented in Global Conquest mode too and, of course, those are pretty much our usual C&C thing. In other words, we've got same old C&C3, but with the global strategy elements now. Which, I think, was a great idea. I mean, series had global map elements since very beginning, since Dune II times. And while back in the days we were only able to choose where to strike (which determined our next mission), it was only logical for a global map to evolve into something bigger. I mean, this here? It's the future. Is it perfect, though? Well...
The problem with Global Conquest is that it's... clunky as heck. No, seriously, it feels painfully cheap. It's way too limited, way too repetitive, it gets old pretty soon, playing every single battle manually may take ages, while auto-resolve feature is full of loopholes and you can easily trick the computer when you learn about how it “thinks”. It's just... It's not fun. Enough. If you know what I mean. If something, I had more fun simply facing one enemy after another in Kane's Challenge. Not like Global Conquest was bad, it was just... more like proof of concept than a real thing. But of course, we'll see it all fixed and improved in the next game, right? Right? *SIGH* Yes, I'm doing Padmé's face, while writing this.
Let's not think about C&C4 for now, though. Kane's Wrath is... Like I said, in many ways it's disappointing. It tries to do Firestorm thing with less expensive actors and stuff, but fails to deliver the length. It tries to explain things to us, but fails to achieve that half of a time too. It introduces us to the revolutionary new mode, but fails to provide both quality and depth. And since the official multiplayer is long dead (again, there's still a way to play this game online thanks to some third-party software)... You know how it is. Not letting us buy separate titles was a weird decision on EA's side, but in a way, their Ultimate Collection does make sense. Things like Kane's Wrath in their current state are something you buy as a part of $19.88 bundle and then play for nostalgia or history purpose. And let me tell you, history-wise, it's very important for us to remember Kane's Wrath. Because, while being far from perfection, it marks a point, at which series started to think about the next big step. While playing it smart, EA managed to save C&C for some time. The next-gen version of the 1995 game worked for a moment, but time didn't stand still and there was a need for something new. Kane's Wrath offered us its vision. Did EA follow it? Well, that's the story for another day.