Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour

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Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour
Developer(s)	EA Los Angeles, Aspyr Media (Mac OS)
Publisher(s)	EA Games (PC), MacSoft (Mac OS)
Engine	SAGE (Strategy Action Game Engine)
Release date(s)	September 22, 2003 February, 2005
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T) PEGI: 16+
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Media	CD (2) (PC), DVD (Mac OS X)
System requirements	Windows 98/2000/Me/XP or Mac osX, 800 MHz Processor (1.8 GHz recommended), 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended), 8x CD-ROM, 32 MB DirectX 8-compatible video card, DirectSound-compatible soundcard, full retail version of Command & Conquer: Generals
Input	Keyboard, Mouse

Command and Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour is the expansion pack for the computer game Command & Conquer: Generals. It was released one year after the main game and is currently in version 1.04.

Zero Hour added several new abilities to each side, and a new mode of play called Generals' Challenge. In Generals' Challenge the player takes on the identity of one of nine generals (three representing each faction) and does battle against most of the other generals, eventually confronting a powerful "boss" general. The expansion also introduces new characters (enemy Generals, and newscasters, who brief the player.)

Contents 1 Campaigns 1.1 USA 1.2 GLA 1.3 China 2 Generals 2.1 United States 2.1.1 General Alexis Alexander 2.1.2 General Malcolm "Ace" Granger 2.1.3 General "Pinpoint" Townes 2.2 China 2.2.1 General Ta Hun Kwai 2.2.2 General Tsing Shi Tao "The Nuke" 2.2.3 General "Anvil" Shin Fai 2.3 Global Liberation Army 2.3.1 "Dr. Thrax" 2.3.2 Prince Kassad 2.3.3 General Rodall "Demo" Juhziz 2.4 Boss generals 2.4.1 General "Tigress" Leiong Leang 2.4.2 General Ironside 2.4.3 General Mohmar "Deathstrike" 3 Online play 4 Trivia 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Campaigns

Zero Hour also contains three new campaigns of five missions each, one for each side, with their chronological order being USA first, GLA second, and China last. Unlike the previous campaigns, which were noted by Command and Conquer fans for not having cinema sequences during mission briefing, the Zero Hour campaigns return to that Command and Conquer tradition, each showing a video of a reporter of the respective side giving details about the situation behind the current mission. The plot behind the Zero Hour campaigns picks up where it left off at the end of the previous campaigns.

[edit] USA

At the beginning of the USA campaign, the Global Liberation Army (GLA) launches a biological weapon using a refitted Soyuz launch station from the captured Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at a USA military base located in Northern Europe. The United States Army retaliates quickly, destroying the launch platform, before the GLA can fire another missile. As the campaign continues, the United States learns that a GLA general codenamed "Dr. Thrax" has been developing a more lethal variety of anthrax known as "Anthrax Gamma". When the USA locates his base of operations, they discover that he is planning on launching several missiles loaded with this toxin at major population centers within the USA itself. A swift strike by the USA, with the help of rogue GLA forces, succeeds in preventing this atrocity, and brings an end to "Dr. Thrax".

[edit] GLA

In the GLA campaign, the GLA, though disappointed by the death of Dr. Thrax, receives a boost in morale with the successful appointment of their new leader, General Mohmar "Deathstrike". The GLA first attempts to reunite its splintered factions under "Deathstrike's" command, which it succeeds in doing after eliminating the defector Prince Kassad's forces in Egypt, and then begins a fervent mission to drive the Americans from Europe. Despite their lack of technology, the GLA succeeds in inflicting tremendous harm against the USA, by capturing an American particle uplink cannon which they then use to destroy the USS Reagan (splitting her in half from port to starboard), as shown in the game's cover) and infiltrating the US West Coast to steal toxins from a chemical storage facility. This reaches its climax when the GLA overruns the USA’s European central command base located in Germany, partially with the use of captured Chinese weaponry. This disaster prompts the United States to return to isolationism, withdrawing its forces from Europe in an effort to defend the homeland. The GLA's primary objective accomplished, they now begin to invade a vulnerable Europe and cause a new repressive state.

[edit] China

In the Chinese campaign, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) sends its army into Europe to relieve the USA and gain revenge against the GLA for their humiliating use of Chinese technology in the capture of the German military base. In order to prevent the GLA from making use of advanced USA weapons, China launches a nuclear missile at the military base, destroying it, and then sends its forces into Germany, where the GLA invaders are concentrated. After a series of devastating losses, the nearly defeated GLA takes control of an evacuated USA military base and uses its weaponry against the Chinese army. China succeeds in recapturing this base, and eliminating the GLA for good, rooting out their influence in Europe. With NATO now a political afterthought, China gains new respect in the eyes of the rest of the world, which now looks to them rather than the USA for leadership, culminated in the formation of the new Eurasian Unity League. It seems, as though, China would indeed grow larger as the world's new super-power and the GLA answers for insulting China when they were the ones who were attacked first (as seen in C&C Generals).

[edit] Generals

Each general has his/her own unique units/modifications to his/her side's arsenal. The generals are:

[edit] United States

[edit] General Alexis Alexander

A calculating 4-Star US Marines female general who specializes in weapons of mass destruction and base defences, using advanced bombers, upgraded superweapons, and EMP base defenses.

[edit] General Malcolm "Ace" Granger

A 4-Star US Air Force male general specializing in aircraft. He has upgraded F-22 Raptors, all aircraft have point defense laser system, but has no tanks.

[edit] General "Pinpoint" Townes

An 4-Star US Army male general specializing in laser weaponry. He has laser Crusader Tanks and laser Defense Turrets. He gets no Artillery.

[edit] China

[edit] General Ta Hun Kwai

A burly AAA PLA male general specializing in tanks. In other areas he is limited, since he is unable to build artillery and must pay more for infantry and aircraft. His name - Ta Hun Kwai - means "he is very fast" in Chinese if pronounced with the correct tones (Simplified Chinese: 他很快; pinyin: tā hěn kuài).

[edit] General Tsing Shi Tao "The Nuke"

A thin impatient Class AAA PLA male general specializing in nuclear weaponry. General Tao's name, when pronounced in Chinese with proper tones, means "Green Stone".

[edit] General "Anvil" Shin Fai

A stout Class AAA PLA male general specializing in infantry. Although he is unable to build main battle tanks, he has a variety of ground infantry and an advanced version of Black Lotus . You do not face him in the Generals' Challenge campaign.

[edit] Global Liberation Army

[edit] "Dr. Thrax"

An eccentric GLA-allied scientist/general specializing in toxins. In the game's main story, he is killed while battling the USA during the final mission of the USA campaign.

[edit] Prince Kassad

A surly, sneaky GLA general specializing in stealth tactics. All of his buildings can be covered in camo netting, making them invisible to most enemy forces. In the game's main story, he is defeated by the GLA for going rogue in their effort to reunite their organization; whether or not he was killed in the battle is not clear.

[edit] General Rodall "Demo" Juhziz

A crafty GLA general specializing in explosives. He does not have access to stealth units, with the exception of Jarmen Kell. He is also faced as an opponent in the Challenge campaign.

[edit] Boss generals

The following generals were originally intended to be the final opponents in the Generals' Challenge campaign, however in the final version of the game only General Leang is included in the campaign.

[edit] General "Tigress" Leiong Leang

A Chinese Dragon Class AAAA female General in the PLA Elite Forces who uses selections of units and special weapons from all three factions in the game. She is in the 'boss' level at the end of the Generals Challenge game mode of Zero Hour.

[edit] General Ironside

Originally, there was to be a USA Boss General named General Ironside; however, General Ironside was disabled in the final version of the game. If enabled by modfications, he has access to a wide range of weapons from all three of the other available USA generals, as well as unique Patriot batteries.

[edit] General Mohmar "Deathstrike"

The powerful leader of the Global Liberation Army, who uses the best of the GLA's forces against the player. General "Deathstrike" was disabled in the final version of the game. In the game's main story, he rises as the new leader of the GLA at the start of the GLA campaign. The first sighting of "Deathstrike" occurred in the cutscene preceding the first mission of the GLA Campaign in Zero Hour, in which he is being chased throughout the city by USA Humvees. In the mission itself, he must be escorted safely to the airport for evacuation.

[edit] Online play

Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour includes online play through GameSpy, on Windows, or GameRanger on Macs. The two services are not compatible. For the former players must first create a free GameSpy account in-game. Once in the main online lobby, players can choose from a number of options, including Quick Match, where players can have themselves matched up with other players of similar skill for 1 vs 1 games, and Custom Game, where players can create their own games with the settings they want, and wait for other players to join them. The latter, though also free, is more so manual, and requires players to make, match, and start games without the benefit of an active central server to record stats, etc.

Custom games can have up to eight players playing in one online game. Performance may decline in games with large numbers of players, however, due to the computation, memory, and communication demands of larger games. It is to be noted, though, that the Zero Hour expansion has a noticeably more efficient engine than the original Generals, so games run more smoothly than compared to the original Generals. Lag and failed connections do, however, remain a problem online, as do mismatches when playing across ADSL and Cable internet.

[edit] Trivia

• In the final round of the Challenge campaign, the battle is identified as taking place "Somewhere near the China / Tibet border". However, Tibet was annexed by the People's Republic of China in 1950 and is now a de facto part of the country.
• The game was banned in China for supposedly "smearing the image of China and the Chinese army".^[1]
• On the U.S. Carrier there are F-22 Raptors, however the Raptor is not a carrier based fighter. The Raptor is mistaken for the similar carrier-based F-35 Lightning II.

[edit] See also

• Zero hour (definition of term)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour at MobyGames
• CNC Generals World