Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour

Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour is a standalone expansion to the 2003 real-time strategy Command & Conquer: Generals, released a few months later by the same studio, EA Pacific, on the same SAGE engine. Instead of a new campaign for the three major factions, it builds on an idea never seen before in the series: battles are led by nine specialized generals, each with their own arsenal, tactics, and playstyle, ranging from air supremacy through lightning tank warfare to guerrilla warfare with improvised weapons and poison gas.

The expansion extends the original trio of factions (USA, China, GLA) with five generals on each side – the American air and laser specialist relies on bombers and direct-fire towers, the Chinese tank commander builds on overwhelming armored columns, and the nuclear general on crushing one-off strikes, while the GLA's terrorist general wields poison weapons and the demolition specialist relies on suicide attacks instead. The campaign is split into shorter but intense missions that take the player through the different command styles within a few hours, without losing pace to lengthy base-building like the original game. New units, buildings, and special abilities fundamentally change multiplayer balance, add each general's superweapons, and laid the foundation for a community competitive scene with its own rankings and modified rules that still plays the game today, even though EA's official support ended many years ago. It was precisely the variety of generals, each demanding a different playstyle and different maps, that proved so popular it became a model for later asymmetric strategy games and is still spoken of today as one of the finest expansions in the genre.

Why play: Fans of classic RTS games who want to try nine different command styles in one game without having to reach for a completely new title will appreciate Zero Hour. It also suits players who liked the base Generals but wanted a faster pace, more varied missions, and a deeper, more balanced multiplayer with more room for their own tactics.