Video Game / Command & Conquer (2013)

The three Generals again: older, wiser and in HD.

"Ever played chess, General? Or.. *chuckles* Do you want to play videogames?"

The [intended] sequel to the strategy game Command & Conquer: Generals, which was developed by Victory Games and entered internal beta testing in 2013. This game was intended to start a new Command & Conquer franchise, one that would've been Free to Play. It's client was also supposed to eventually gather all Command and Conquer series into a single client. However, its production was then cancelled in October 2013 by Electronic Arts. Below, you can only read what it was intended to look like:

Ten years after the conclusion of the original, the China-dominated Asia-Pacific Alliance (APA) found itself challenged on all fronts, after being the world’s foremost geopolitical power for nearly a decade. The upstart European Union, a high-tech, single-state entity with an increasingly expansionist agenda continues to flex her muscles, while a series of increasingly bloody uprisings have torn key APA and EU satellite nations asunder. Rumors point to a newly reconstituted Global Liberation Army (GLA) as the instigator, but witnesses have described technology far beyond the reach of any normal terrorist organization. Concerned, the APA dispatches an elite force to infiltrate the latest, most volatile rebellion, one targeting an EU backed dictator.

Three factions are once again slugging it out:

• The European Union: Liberated by the Chinese after having been invaded by the GLA during the events of the first game, after the United States' military saw itself humbled by the GLA and redeployed to 'better defend the homeland', the EU has since then been fighting for independence from their asian overlords.
• The Asian Pacific Alliance: After becoming the major world power by the end of the first game, the APA finds themselves dealing with uprising amongst their satellite countries, with rumors pointing to a new GLA on the rise and with the EU harboring a more and more expansionist agenda, the China-led APA has realised that hubris has cost them dearly with ghosts from their past rising anew.
• The Global Liberation Army: Having been decisively routed by the end of the first game's expansion pack, the GLA laid low untill the time was right, orchestrating insurgencies and and instigating uprisings, gaining influence due to the APA harsh methods in dealing with said insurgencies.

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The available material provided examples of:

• Action Bomb: Remember the GLA bomb trucks from the original? Meet its new incarnation, the Nuke Truck. There's also the familiar Terrorist infantry. GLA General "Nitro" has access to an alternate version of the Technical called the Terror Technical. Guess what it does.
• Action Girl: Yu Hyun Jung The Ghost Blade, the APA's commando unit who's a crackshot. Although they don't really fight on the field, the female generals from each faction are pretty badass judging from their portraits.
• The Alliance: Both the EU and the APA are this.
• Awesome Personnel Carrier: The Battle Bus makes a return. Also, the EU has one that appears to be modeled after the Stryker.
• Badass Boast: It wouldn't be a successor to Command & Conquer: Generals if it didn't have Large Ham Generals.
  Red Arrow: "I'll be done with you in time for lunch!"
  Ghost: "I scheme out plans in my sleep, you couldn't possibly keep up."
  Beast: "No one stands in my way and survives. Consider yourself warned."
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: The GLA are masters of guerrilla warfare, so how does the APA Espionage General, Blackjack, fight them? With guerrilla warfare tactics.
• Child Soldier: Mose "Wild Dog" Akindjide served as one during his childhood to a bunch of anarchists, which he later assumed control over when he grew older.
• China Takes Over the World: After almost a decade with the Chinese oppressively dealing with political matters, their hold on power is fracturing from struggles both within and without.
• Continuity Nod: Most GLA Generals still wear their original insignia alongside their newer, more global one.
  • A number of the generals' Backstory reference events that took place in the first two games.
• Dark and Troubled Past: At least three GLA generals lead shitty lives before they became who they are now. In particular, Nitro was orphaned and made a living as a beggar, Kitbash was neglected and had serious self-esteem issues, and Wild Dog was kidnapped at childbirth and raised as a slave/Child Soldier.
• Determinator: Even after going through several civil wars and having their asses handed to them by the two superpowers four times, the GLA has come back with a vengeance.
• Distaff Counterpart: The only female GLA general, Adela "Nitro" Baskova, specializes in Stuff Blowing Up, much like General Rodall "Demo" Juziz in Zero Hour.
  • Yu Hyun Jung a.k.a The Ghost Blade is this to Jarmen Kell, being a sniper commando.
• Elaborate Underground Base: The GLA still make use of a tunnel network.
• Emotionless Girl: Nitro according to her Backstory.
• Expy: The APA's Warlord Tank bears a striking resemblance to the Soviet Heavy Tank from the original Red Alert. Ditto the GLA's new Nuke Truck, which can easily pass of as a Demolition Truck from the Red Alert series if it wasn't a dump truck and had a freakin' nitrous system built in.
  • EU General Egon "Cutting Edge" Schuller looks a lot like Kane and/or Yuri, probably due to being bald and sporting a goatee.
  • Mose Wild Dog Akinjide resembles Muammar Gaddafi.
  • General Mahmud "Tactician" Abdul-Mushi is the spitting image of Saddam Hussein.
• Faction Calculus: The way it seems to be currently shaping up is GLA is Subversive, APA is Powerhouse and EU is Balanced.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Nitro, Kitbash and Wild Dog went from being troubled kids to being some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world.
• Gatling Good: The Gatling Tank is back and operating under APA colors. In addition to that, Park "Beast" Kang-Dae uses the classic Gatling Cannons as base defenses. His Urban Assault Teams seems to be armed with miniguns too, tucked away behind them when not in use.
• The Generic Guy: Each side has a general that doesn't really specialize in anything and serves as the basic army general for said faction. They are: Mahmud "Tactician" Abdul-Mushi (GLA), Xiao "Taskmaster" Ri (APA), and Julian "Bulldog" Battersby (EU).
• Kill It with Fire: Pham Inferno Quan, Vietnamese APA general, specializes in pyrotechnic weaponry and combat.
• Lady of War: Each faction has at least one in their command ranks.
• Large Ham: We'll let Dr. Thrax explain this for us.
  Dr. Thrax: "Welcome to the green side of life, baby!"
• Laughably Evil: Dr Thrax, see immediately above for why.
• Mad Scientist: Dr. Thrax as usual. Cutting Edge has been referred to as such, only literally: he works on experimental weapons and has quite the temper.
• Magnetic Weapons : EU General "Cleaver" specializes in Railgun weaponry, making her pretty good in mid-to-long range crowd controlling. Her arsenal includes Railgun Soldier squads which serve as her basic infantry, Railgun Turrets (which were Dummied Out in the original Generals), and an improved experimental version of the standard Railgun Tank.
• Master Poisoner: The good doctor will see you now.
  Dr. Thrax: I've mastered the effects of chemicals on the human body. Want to see?
• Multinational Team: All three factions are this. EU is naturally made up of it's member states, APA is an alliance of asian countries lead by China and Reunified Korea, and the GLA is an Army of Thieves and Whores whose members come from Third-World conflict zones or possibly from anywhere, a far cry from their original incarnation as a primarily mid-eastern terrorist group.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Let's see, you got Generals nicknamed Beast, Wild Dog, Cleaver and let's not forget good old Dr. Thrax. Then you got tanks with names like Marauder, Warlord and Overlord.
• N.G.O. Superpower: The GLA is an extremely powerful, non-state sponsored coalition of various rebel armies, terrorist groups and paramilitary bands united by hatred of anything they deem exploitative, imperialist or immoral and opposition to the superpowers interfering in the internal affairs of lesser nations.
• Nitro Boost: How do you make the already awesome looking Nuke Truck even more awesome? Give it a freakin' nitro boost ability! Rice Burner has officially gone bonkers.
• Nuke 'em: One of the GLA's support powers is called Nuclear Liberation, three guesses on what it does and the first two don't count. They also have a dump truck with a nitro boost system hauling special cargo into enemy bases. Meanwhile, the APA has Ma Shen, aka Thousand Suns, who serves as their atomic / nuclear general, effectively making him the successor to Tsing Shi Tao and all that implies.
• Poisoned Weapons: One of the GLA's specialties is biochemical warfare. Namely, with weaponized mixes of anthrax and liquid chemicals. This goes double for Dr. Thrax's sub-faction.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: All generals are ever referred to by their nicknames or call signs. Maybe justified in the case Dr. Thrax since he never revealed his real name, or even had one to begin with.
• Previous Player-Character Cameo: If Xiao "Taskmaster" Ri's Backstory about him leading the attack and liberation of Europe from GLA rule is to be believed, it is possible that he may have been the Player Character in Zero Hour's China campaign.
• Scary Black Man: Mose Wild Dog Akinjide.
• The Scrounger: Junkyard, he is officially the GLA's salvage general.
• Shades of Conflict: Shapes up as Black-and-Grey Morality, with the EU and APA having their share of skeletons (the EU backing dictators, the APA's general heavy handedness and brutal generals) to make the gray, the GLA still being as crazy as the black.
• Stealth Expert: Ghost for the EU and Blackjack for the APA.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Despite the EU being an entirely new faction, they're still very similar to the USA in the previous game being a hi-tech balanced faction.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Despite Word of God having stated that development hasn't got graphics as its priority, the Frosbite 2 engine still makes explosions look pretty darn good.
• Tank Goodness: Is to be expected from a Command & Conquer game. Not content with regular old tanks, the EU has access to Railgun-turreted tanks while the APA has double barrelled sluggers (and hello again Overlord Tank!) and Dr. Thrax has access to toxin-spewing ones.
• Technicolor Toxin: Dr. Thrax is back, and brings with him yet more glowing green toxins.
  Dr. Thrax: The more toxins the better!
• The Computer Shall Taunt You: Judging by the trailer, your opponent generals will Trash Talk you generously.
• Trash Talk: Plenty!
  Ghost: Oh dear.. I hope they didn't have any grand plans..
  Red Arrow: Ever watched someone's face as a rocket is approaching? It's wonderful!
  Wild Dog: Pitiful. Your confidence outweighs your ammunition.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Heavy Assault Laser, a unique unit to Cutting Edge, is one big laser cannon mounted on a heavy tank chassis.
• Weaponized Car: GLA Technicals and the Battle Bus.
• We Have Reserves: The GLA recruit their troops mainly from the angry, desperate, disenfranchised and disillusioned people of the Third World that are easily indoctrinated into the GLA cause. There is literally no shortage of these recruits. It is telling that despite getting canonically defeated four separate times that they keep rebuilding, returning bigger and stronger than ever each time.
  • This goes double for Muerta, the GLA Horde General.
• What a Piece of Junk: GLA units are designed to this aesthetic with exposed engines, bolted on armor, graffiti on prominent pieces.
• Worker Unit: Dozers make a return, as well as our favourite little schmuck: The GLA Worker (now with proper contractor attire and shoes!).
  • EU gets Dozers while the APA gets Cranes. They're both identical in terms of purpose though.
  • Took a Level in Badass: GLA Workers can now fight back.