Command & Conquer: Renegade

Command & Conquer: Renegade was released in 2002 and immediately stood out from previous games in the series. Previously, Command & Conquer was associated exclusively with classic real-time strategy games with a top-down view, where players built bases and created armies. Renegade, however, shifts the action to the soldier's level, turning the familiar GDI and Nod conflict into a first/third-person shooter. This isn't just a genre shift — it's an attempt to show the Tiberium war from the inside, through the eyes of a special forces soldier.

The game strives to preserve the spirit of the series: familiar units, iconic buildings, characteristic technologies — all transferred into 3D space in a highly recognizable way. Renegade gives players the opportunity to step inside a Nod Obelisk, walk around a Brotherhood building, see a Mammoth or Orca on the ground rather than only from the height of the RTS genre. For fans, this was an event — for the first time, they could physically find themselves inside a world that previously existed only on top-down strategy maps.

However, the genre change also led to problems. Developing a 3D shooter required a different approach, and Renegade felt less polished compared to its RTS predecessors. The campaign was relatively linear, the shooting wasn't as satisfying and responsive as in the best FPS games of its time. Many fans expected a more ambitious and modern shooter but received a product that impressed more with its atmosphere than with gameplay depth.

Players' reception was mixed. Some praised it for its uniqueness, faithfulness to the Command & Conquer spirit, and the opportunity to see the Tiberium conflict from a new perspective. Others criticized technical flaws, graphics that were outdated for its time, and an unclear campaign. Nevertheless, the multiplayer mode was warmly received: the base-versus-base system with vehicle and unit purchases proved so successful that an active community formed around it.

Nowadays, Renegade is remembered as an experiment — not perfect, but memorable. The game remains the only official shooter in the C&C universe, and its ideas later inspired fan projects like Renegade X. For many players, it became a curious branch of the series, an attempt to expand the formula and show what Command & Conquer could be in the action genre.