Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour
Encyclopedia
Command and Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour is the expansion pack
for the computer game Command & Conquer: Generals
. Zero Hour added several new abilities and units to each side, and a new mode of play called Generals' Challenge.
cinematic sequences during mission briefing, the Zero Hour campaigns return to that Command and Conquer tradition, each showing a live-action video of a news 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.
using a refitted Soyuz launch station from the captured Baikonur Cosmodrome
in Kazakhstan
at a U.S. naval base located in Northern Europe. The United States military
retaliates quickly, destroying the launch platform, before the GLA can fire another missile. Later, while providing humanitarian aid to Mogadishu
, Somalia
backed by an aircraft carrier battle group, documents detailing a hidden GLA bio-lab are discovered. Black Lotus and Colonel Burton head to the area to destroy the bio-lab. While Black Lotus captures a GLA outpost, Colonel Burton leads a team of army rangers and destroys the bio-lab. Some time later, the United States learns that a GLA general codenamed "Dr. Thrax" has been developing a more lethal variety of anthrax
known as "Anthrax Gamma". The USA manages to cut off Thrax's funds, which were coming from oil fields in Iran
. 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 GLA defectors
, succeeds in preventing the launch, and brings an end to "Dr. Thrax".
as well as stealing Kassad's stealth technologies, and then begins a fervent mission to drive the Americans from Europe. Despite their obsolete 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 Ronald Reagan
(splitting her in half from starboard to port, 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 in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, partially with the use of captured Chinese weaponry. The GLA's primary objective accomplished, they now begin to invade a vulnerable Europe and create a new repressive
state.
(PLA) is sent to Europe to relieve the USA and gain revenge against the GLA for their humiliating use of Chinese technology in the capture of the U.S. European Command base in Germany. In order to prevent the GLA from making use of advanced USA weaponry, China launches a nuclear missile
at the military base, destroying it, and then sends its forces into Germany, where the GLA invaders are concentrated. China tightens its homeland defenses to prevent an infiltration so they don't suffer any more attacks in their homeland. This pays off when a nuclear power plant is attacked by the GLA. Chinese forces hold their position until reinforcements arrive, and they launch a counterattack, destroying the GLA in the hills. China is also asked by the Defense Council to use restraint in their military program, to which China agrees. They later liberate a major European city oppressed by the GLA, causing China's international opinion to skyrocket. The GLA attempt to retreat, but their forces are intercepted by China and destroyed. Finally, the nearly defeated GLA takes control of an abandoned U.S. military base and uses its weaponry against the Chinese army. China succeeds in destroying the GLA, and eliminating the GLA for good, rooting out their influence in Europe. Establishing the Eurasian Unity League with the newly liberated Europe, China takes its new role as a major superpower on the world stage.
s (three representing from each faction) and does battle against the other generals, eventually confronting a "boss" general, General Leang. Each general has their own specialty, such as lasers, nukes, stealth
, etc. As a consequence, they gain special units or abilities that are related to their specialty. However, to balance things out, they will be unable to build certain units or will pay more money for certain units.
Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour includes online play through GameSpy
on Windows, or GameRanger
on Macs and Windows. 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 of a manual process, 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.
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
for the computer game Command & Conquer: Generals
Command & Conquer: Generals
Command & Conquer: Generals is a real-time strategy game in the Command & Conquer series. Generals utilizes SAGE...
. Zero Hour added several new abilities and units to each side, and a new mode of play called Generals' Challenge.
Campaigns
Zero Hour also contains 3 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 full motion videoFull motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
cinematic sequences during mission briefing, the Zero Hour campaigns return to that Command and Conquer tradition, each showing a live-action video of a news 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.
USA
At the beginning of the USA campaign, the Global Liberation Army (GLA) launches a biological weaponBiological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
using a refitted Soyuz launch station from the captured Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...
in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
at a U.S. naval base located in Northern Europe. The United States military
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
retaliates quickly, destroying the launch platform, before the GLA can fire another missile. Later, while providing humanitarian aid to Mogadishu
Mogadishu
Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
backed by an aircraft carrier battle group, documents detailing a hidden GLA bio-lab are discovered. Black Lotus and Colonel Burton head to the area to destroy the bio-lab. While Black Lotus captures a GLA outpost, Colonel Burton leads a team of army rangers and destroys the bio-lab. Some time later, the United States learns that a GLA general codenamed "Dr. Thrax" has been developing a more lethal variety of anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
known as "Anthrax Gamma". The USA manages to cut off Thrax's funds, which were coming from oil fields in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. 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 GLA defectors
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
, succeeds in preventing the launch, and brings an end to "Dr. Thrax".
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 leadership, which it succeeds in doing after eliminating the defector Prince Kassad's forces in EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
as well as stealing Kassad's stealth technologies, and then begins a fervent mission to drive the Americans from Europe. Despite their obsolete 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 Ronald Reagan
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
USS Ronald Reagan is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier in the service of the United States Navy. The ninth ship of her class, she is named in honor of former President Ronald Reagan, President of the United States from 1981 to 1989...
(splitting her in half from starboard to port, as shown in the game's cover) and infiltrating the US West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
to steal toxins from a chemical storage facility. This reaches its climax when the GLA overruns the USA’s European central command base in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, partially with the use of captured Chinese weaponry. The GLA's primary objective accomplished, they now begin to invade a vulnerable Europe and create a new repressive
Political repression
Political repression is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take political life of society....
state.
China
In the Chinese campaign, the Chinese People's Liberation ArmyPeople's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
(PLA) is sent to Europe to relieve the USA and gain revenge against the GLA for their humiliating use of Chinese technology in the capture of the U.S. European Command base in Germany. In order to prevent the GLA from making use of advanced USA weaponry, China launches a nuclear missile
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
at the military base, destroying it, and then sends its forces into Germany, where the GLA invaders are concentrated. China tightens its homeland defenses to prevent an infiltration so they don't suffer any more attacks in their homeland. This pays off when a nuclear power plant is attacked by the GLA. Chinese forces hold their position until reinforcements arrive, and they launch a counterattack, destroying the GLA in the hills. China is also asked by the Defense Council to use restraint in their military program, to which China agrees. They later liberate a major European city oppressed by the GLA, causing China's international opinion to skyrocket. The GLA attempt to retreat, but their forces are intercepted by China and destroyed. Finally, the nearly defeated GLA takes control of an abandoned U.S. military base and uses its weaponry against the Chinese army. China succeeds in destroying the GLA, and eliminating the GLA for good, rooting out their influence in Europe. Establishing the Eurasian Unity League with the newly liberated Europe, China takes its new role as a major superpower on the world stage.
General's Challenge
In Generals' Challenge the player takes on the identity of one of nine generalGeneral
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
s (three representing from each faction) and does battle against the other generals, eventually confronting a "boss" general, General Leang. Each general has their own specialty, such as lasers, nukes, stealth
Stealth technology
Stealth technology also termed LO technology is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive electronic countermeasures, which cover a range of techniques used with personnel, aircraft, ships, submarines, and missiles, to make them less visible to radar, infrared, sonar and other detection...
, etc. As a consequence, they gain special units or abilities that are related to their specialty. However, to balance things out, they will be unable to build certain units or will pay more money for certain units.
Online play
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
on Windows, or GameRanger
GameRanger
GameRanger is an Internet gaming service for the Macintosh and Windows computing platforms. The service includes custom software and unlike other gaming services is not strictly web-based. GameRanger was created by Scott Kevill and was first released in July 1999 for Macintosh with support for 11...
on Macs and Windows. 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 of a manual process, 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.