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Every remastered game should have an upgrade sequence like Command & Conquer Remastered CollectionUpgrade complete
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You know you’re onto a winner when your heart swells ten times its normal size out of pure excitement from the boot-up sequence for the remaster of a game you never played. I was far too young to even comprehend Command & Conquer when it first came out in 1995, and to my great shame it’s never been something I’ve sought out in the intervening years. But watchingCommand & Conquer Remastered Collection’s newly re-tooled EVA opening sequence had me pumping my fists and bellowing with excitement like I’d been down there in the fan trenches all along.
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection’s new EVA sequence is actually the work of long-time community member Luke “CCHyper” Feenan, who spent six months creating this bit of installation magic, which you can watch again and again in the first game’s Bonus Gallery once you’ve viewed it for the first time. Now, six months might seem like a long time to spend on a 2.24 minute sequence, but I’d be lying if it wasn’t one of the most effective introductions I’ve ever witnessed. Let me walk you through it.
Aww, look at all those lovely fuzzy pixels…
It begins with that classic EVA boot-up logo with pixels the size of actual fists. Yes, I can feel that mid-90s nostalgia settling in now, it’s warm and fuzzy and reminds me of better times.
But then your connection to the EVA server is lost. Panic! Has my PC been hacked? Has the game broken? No, friend, all is well. In a flash, the installer reconnects, receives and decrypts the appropriate encryption keys, and then executes the “Bootstrap.EVA” file. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice a cheeky Kane trojan file and Brotherhood.worm threat get caught in its virus detection software, but the real magic is the moment it tries to install new graphics drivers.
The next thing you know, you’re staring at a freshly pressed EVA installation screen with pixels the size of actual molecules.
But your quest to hack the future isn’t over yet! Next, it’s time to erase all that past frustration of having to deal with the intricacies of mid-90s sound cards. I’ve never had the joy / pleasure / horror to deal with the ins and outs of sound card compatibility, but watching the installer pass over its generated list of ancient Sound Blaster cards to casually auto-select High Definition Audio had me pounding my chest with its sheer brilliance. What a power move in this, the year 2020. The future is here, my friends, and it exudes big dad energy.
But wait, it gets better. After performing a sound test and initialising your newly selected sound hardware, the nice lady voice then tells you that this is it, it’s time to upgrade Command & Conquer to high definition video, audio and graphics. And reader, I am actually deceased.
The sheer power of those words, the strength in her voice, and the speed of those multi-coloured tubes filling up with all that delicious, high definition goodness… This is how you remaster a video game in 2020. Heck, I haven’t even seen what the damn game even looks like yet, but already I’m frothing at the mouth, ready to gobble up those sharp, crunchy pixels like a famished infantry grunt.
