Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun or Age of Empires: Definitive Edition?

[Von Ithipathachai]

Hey, everyone.  I'm currently playing Command & Conquer: Red Alert.  I've beaten the Allied campaign and am now about halfway through the Soviet campaign.

I intend to keep playing the Command & Conquer series at least up to and including Red Alert 2 + Yuri's Revenge, but not long ago I became aware that Definitive Editions of Age of Empires and Age of Empires II were a thing, with one for Age of Empires III also currently in the works.  The Age of Empires series holds a lot more nostalgic value for me, and the original is the only one I don't own in any shape or form.

Which one do you guys think I should get next?

[Hardric62]

I would say AoE2 DE is definitely a worthy buy. The campaign got some nice reworks, especially the Forgotten ones, several QoL changes happened making the game nicer, with an actual campaign intended as a tutorial for multiplayer... The bonuses keeps pilling on, for civilizations from now the most part of the glob. Very, very noice.

 

That being said, I would also recommend two mods for Command & Conquer, one for Tiberium Sun and another for Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge:

 

-Twisted Insurrection: A C&C2 stand-alone mod for a timeline where Nod won C&C1. The game is nice, and the alternate timeline creates some interesting differences for the faction rosters.

 

-Mental Omega: Basically, this mod started out of a desire of providing a balancing and a campaign for the Yuri faction. Now? It's a total of two acts of 12 missions for Allied, Soviets and Yuri (However, the last two missions of each factions are still being worked on for release), plus a handful of coop and 'special' missions, and all these missions are part of a gigantic plotline. And a fourth faction has been created and added, with a few prologues missions for now. And each of these factions are divided in 3 sub-factions with their own specificities and unique units for solo or multiplayer. Just a must.

[Sire]

While Tiberian Sun and its Firestorm expansion are fun, they can be considered a bit dated for today's standards. (I don't think I ever beat the classic Nod campaign. I got to the last level in my younger days, but never really beat it due to the timer. Classic GDI and both Firestorm campaigns I did beat though.)

I have no experience with Age of Empires, but I hear many good things about their Definitive Editions, so I recommend getting that over TS.

* * * * *

As an aside, if you enjoyed C&C Renegade, I would check out Renegade X. It's more multiplayer focused, but I consider it to be the definitive edition of Renegade despite some of the additions and revisions they made.

Also, if you want an "updated" version of Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn, and Dune 2000, check out OpenRA. The campaigns/missions are in the process of being ported over, but the main focus is its multiplayer. OpenRA has plenty of the modern mechanics (such as "Attack Move"), but it also makes changes that would make classic C&C purists not want to touch it with a ten foot pole. Personally, I find myself playing OpenRA over the classic versions, mostly because I can't live without my beloved A-Move.

[BrightBow]

Age of Empires II was already the better game when it and Tiberian Sun both came out back in the day. And with the HD Edition and Definitive Edition, it only got more quality of life improvements added over time. So from that angle, AoE II is the obvious choice.
But I suppose you might decide to play Tiberian Sun first simply because with all the stuff that's been added since AoE II's original release, Tiberian Sun is the much shorter game now.

Edited March 1, 2020 by BrightBow

[Von Ithipathachai]

I should probably reiterate that while I do want to eventually play the Definitive Edition of AoE2, it's the Definitive Edition of AoE1 I'm trying to decide if I should get before or after Tiberian Sun.  Hence why the thread title says "Age of Empires: Definitive Edition" and not "Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition".