Everybody remembers Command & Conquer. It was the game that defined a franchise for over thirteen years. The action was tight and exciting. The storyline was gritty and enthralling. The multiplayer was as engaging as it was addicting. Nobody, and I mean nobody could do it better than the original. Then came along Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Westwood Studios’ prequel to the cornerstone of Real-Time Strategy, and they proved us wrong. It was better in every way possible. The music, the movies, the action all culminated into one blockbuster package that sold millions and created a strategy community that could rival that of Quakeworld.

So what happens when a portion of that community goes and plunks Command & Conquer: Red Alert into the first person arena, challenging Quakers head-on? You get Command & Conquer: A Path Beyond, by Bluehell Productions. Here’s a team-based First Person Shooter that takes the ferocity and action of Red Alert and places it in as close to a picture-perfect adaptation of the Real-Time Strategy blockbuster as is humanly possible. The tanks, the vehicles, the nuclear weapons, the sounds and the music are all there in one neatly wrapped present.

A Path Beyond pits the player as one of the multitudes of infantry running around on a massive battlefield. His objective, should he or she choose to accept it, is to outscore the enemy army, or simply lay waste to the enemy base, leaving no stone unturned. How the gamer does this, however, is all up to the soldier, and the soldier’s army, acting as one.

Betwixt within A Path Beyond’s twenty available – and massive – maps is a myriad of strategies and game plans that tax the player and their team all throughout. The first thing that the player must defend is his or her resources, granted to them in the form of credits. These credits are obtained by ore trucks, AI-controlled autonomous units (unless purchased) that travel to ore fields, scoop up the precious gems, and deliver them back to the ore refinery. These trucks and the refinery are not invulnerable, so the economic flow must be defended at all times.

With these credits, the player can purchase a multitude of options. Anywhere from changing the infantry role from rifleman to engineer to rocket infantry to the special “hero” units Tanya and Volkov, potent against infantry, buildings and vehicles, respectively. Players can also purchase vehicles, ranging from tanks – including the monstrous mammoth tank – to helicopters, boats, submarines and crazy high-tech vehicles such as invisible “Phase” tanks, nuclear warhead equipped trucks, Tesla tanks that throw electricity at hapless foes, and the more traditional V2 rocket launchers, jeeps and mobile artillery.

Maintaining the proper mix of infantry and vehicles in A Path Beyond is the key, and this is where teamwork comes into play. Simply stocking up on high-class infantry will result in a vehicle rush that crushes the ranks in droves. Similarly, amassing large amounts of tanks will allow infantry to sneak into bases unnoticed, wreaking untold amounts of havoc and destruction. It takes a pristine balance of infantry and vehicles to ensure a smooth-working base, including repairs, economy, defense and offense.

One thing I think I will never get over in A Path Beyond, or any Renegade engine game is the way the engine handles infantry weapons. Gunfire doesn’t change accuracy based on player stance or motion. At all times, the accuracy still remains within a tight-knit circle of bullets, even when dashing full-bore from one side to the other. With infantry-on-infantry scenarios, this usually results in a bunch of zigzagging and bunny-hopping until one player falls. This can get very slow and sluggish in feel, especially in infantry-only maps. What results is a map that ends in a grind instead of a grandiose bang. Fortunately, there is only a small number of such maps in current development.

Graphically, it’s hard not to respect the amount of work that’s gone into A Path Beyond. Considering the fact that it’s based on the ill-fated Command & Conquer: Renegade engine, the new enhancements are nothing short of miraculous. Bigger maps, better shadows and textures, as well as the introduction of Shader Model 3.0 effects, and the insertion of anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, all enhance an otherwise ugly engine and its lackluster graphics. Instead, A Path Beyond is sharp, highly detailed, and brightly colorful. With the exception of perhaps the low-polygon terrain, everything from one edge of the map to the other is well done.

The audio within A Path Beyond is of very good quality, as well. Most of the sounds have not only been faithfully imported from the original Red Alert, but enhanced in one way or another. Sounds are sharp and varied, and the music, remixes from Westwood Studios composer Frank Klepacki, is entertaining and engrossing.

The only issue so far with A Path Beyond is that while all these elements are in good quality and standing, there’s still a feel of incompletion about it. While almost all units are included in A Path Beyond, some are still missing. The teleporting Chronosphere and Chronotank are gone, as is the Iron Curtain – a structure that bestows invulnerability to a single unit for several seconds. While the game is obviously extremely enjoyable without these additions, it’s just not a whole package without the whole package.

Secondly is a networking issue between A Path Beyond and the community in charge of Westwood’s old “Westwood Online” matchmaking service. While A Path Beyond is capable of directly connecting to servers via IP address – indeed, the launcher even features a way to save such addresses, it’d still be easier if there was a centralized matchmaker to make sense of all the options out there. However, the current official matchmaking service doesn’t play nice with A Path Beyond, as there’s no CD-Key attached to this freeware release. This is more nitpicking than anything, but it’d be a nice addition. Bluehell Productions is working on this, and even worked to get A Path Beyond compatibility and support in XFire, the matchmaking IM service.

In all, A Path Beyond is one of the highest quality freeware productions released today. It’s more than just a run ‘n’ gun shooter. It’s Command & Conquer: Red Alert at ground level, and the gameplay couldn’t be sweeter.