History YMMV / TiberiumWars

* BetterThanCanon: The author {{RetCon}}s the defense of the Pentagon to after the battle at Langley AFB. Also, certain units from ''Kane's Wrath'' see use during the main game's plot, like Spectres, Reckoners, Slingshots, and Shatter tanks (which the author refuses to call "Shatterers").
** According to just about all the reviewers, the fic does indeed ''vastly'' outshine the official novelization. Some go as far as to say its actually better than ''the game itself.''
** On the one hand, apples to oranges. On the other hand, the battles feel infinitely more epic, the units from the top of the TechTree are here right from the get-go, and we don't spend half an hour reading how Commander Karrde/Rawne harvested Tiberium and built up a base before trying a [[ZergRush TankRush]]. Given how the author has handled just ''part'' of the ''First Act'', we're in for a real treat once things get to Sarajevo, and later when the Scrin actually arrive.
** Its worth noting that Mitchell Colt seems to be an almost deliberate attempt to do the same thing that was done with Vega in the original novelization: a young, untested soldier being hurled into combat, surviving by luck and skill, and being promoted through the ranks. The difference is that all the ridiculous idiocy around Vega's promotions and "skill" are stripped away - Colt is promoted on his own merits and because GDI needs squad leaders, not because of blatant nepotism like Vega. Colt also makes mistakes and acts and fights like a real soldier, unlike Vega, and the progression up the chain of command is nowhere near as idiotically fast. Outwardly, the two characters are very similar, but the general opinion among the readers thus far is that Colt's development has been natural and realistic, unlike Vega's stupidly fast-tracked promotions from Private to Captain inside of a few months.

* CrazyAwesome: Havoc. It's kind of his job description, but when he gets back into the action in Chapter 23, he takes down a Black Hand Acolyte in PoweredArmor. With a ''knife.''

** According to just about all the reviewers, the novelization does indeed ''vastly'' outshine the official novelization. Some go as far as to say its actually better than ''the game itself.''

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Happens from time to time.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: [[spoiler:[[strike: Lieutenant]] Captain Wallace, after having spent four weeks in rehabilitation, apparently being killed by a laser-to-the-face right before a SmashCut to another scene.]] Knowing [[AnyoneCanDie this author's style]], a very troubling possibility, despite the fact that it would be a horrible ShootTheShaggyDog moment for his character [[spoiler:especially considering that he had subverted Anyone Can Die ''with the exact same character'' in an earlier chapter. He lives.]]

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: The Shadows are a combination of the stealth mode of the [[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Crysis Nanosuit 2.0]] and [[VideoGame/{{FEAR}} Assassins]]. This has actually been confirmed by WordOfGod.

* TheWoobie: Lieutenant Sandra Telfair, who [[spoiler: is injured, captured by Nod, beaten and nearly raped, and has to cut a man's throat to escape (a man who is ''nice'' to her), which clearly traumatizes her.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: Private Grigorovich establishes his sliminess the moment he [[spoiler: tries to rape Sandra Telfair]].

* TheWoobie: Lieutenant Sandra Telfair, who [[spoiler: is injured, captured by Nod, beaten and nearly raped, and has to cut a man's throat to escape, which clearly traumatizes her.]]

* CompleteMonster: Private Grigorovich, who establishes his sliminess the moment he [[spoiler: tries to rape Sandra Telfair]].

* CrazyAwesome: Havoc. It's kind of his job description.

*** Havoc is pretty much a walking, talking CMOA in this fic. Point in case is his introduction: he's stuck in the middle of traffic, on his way to the TV station he works at, when the Vertigos start bombing. While all the civilians start panicking and fleeing, Havoc's response? Grab a submachinegun from ''inside his car's glove compartment'', step out, and comment that its time to get back to work.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: At least one reviewer has described the descriptions of Nod's combat stim drugs to be genuinely terrifying.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Redmond Boyle is presented in canon as a power-hungry politician who hates Nod and wants to exploit Tiberium. In this fic...he's a power-hungry politician who hates Nod and wants to exploit Tiberium, but at the same time respects the troops under his command and is somewhat intimidated by the prospect of leading GDI in the middle of a brutal war.

* TheWoobie: Lieutenant Sandra Telfair, who [[spoiler: is injured, captured by Nod, beaten and nearly raped, and has to cut a man's throat to escape, which clearly traumatizes her.]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: [[{{Understatement}} Happens from time to time.]]

*** Chapter Seventeen. [[spoiler: Havoc recaptures ''the White House'' with a few platoons of GDI soldiers, a pair of damaged Predators, a couple of Nod buggies, and two Reckoners rigged up as giant bombs.]]
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: The low lighting in Nod's facilities [[spoiler: exists only because Kane likes hearing his people smash their shins against low-hanging consoles.]]
** Chapter 18; not only does Rawne [[spoiler: fall victim to Temple Prime's dim lights,]] but we get his thoughts on Kilian;
--> [[spoiler: "Deep down, Rawne envied Kane, if only for the fact that he was surrounded by so many leggy blondes who felt the need to fondle him"]]
** Anyone else find the part where [[spoiler: Brother-Captain Allen beats the rapist to death]] to be very darkly humorous?
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Karrde's request for volunteers from the survivors of 4th Battalion, where he goes in expecting them to hate and deride him for getting so many of them killed. [[spoiler: Instead, they almost all volunteer, believing that without his leadership, they would have been completely slaughtered.]] The response causes Karrde to tear up the moment he manages to get out of eyeshot of the troops.