It has been almost eight years since fans partook in the conflict between the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and Nod, or even had anything to do with Tiberium. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars brings everyone up-to-date by throwing players right into the latest conflict. Tiberium, the toxic green crystals that both sides collect for resources, has spread over most of the Earth's surface, Parts of the world, known as Red Zones, have been rendered completely inhabitable. Most of the population resides in Yellow Zones, inhospitable areas, but survivable. The Blue Zones, areas that remain in excellent condition, receive protection from GDI while Nod forces have taken advantage of the civil unrest among the Yellow Zone inhabitants. The tables have turned, and now Nod (still classified as a terrorist organization) holds the world's favor. Nod's enigmatic leader, Kane, also returns to mark the occasion by destroying GDI's orbital base, kicking off the third war.

Although previous games get mentioned as prior "world conflicts," C&C 3's story only loosely ties in with the second game, Tiberium Sun. Almost everything that was introduced in the second game, from unit designs to story endings, is gone. In essence, C&C 3 takes everything that made the franchise popular and updates it for today's gamers. Players will first notice the return of full-motion video cut-scenes, now shown with spectacular quality with well-known Hollywood actors voicing them. People may recognize Tricia Helfer and Grace Park from the new Battlestar Galactica series, and Josh Holloway from Lost. The always familiar Michael Ironside and Billy Dee Williams also star, while Joe Ducan reprises his long-time role as Kane.

The story spans across two campaigns, although they don't occur in succession like in Warcraft III. By choosing a campaign, players select a side they want to see win the Third Tiberium War, complete with alternate endings.

One interesting plot twist sees an alien menace known as the Scrin invade Earth midway through the conflict, and their mini-campaign as a playable faction may only be unlocked after completing both the GDI and Nod stories.

Most of the missions are fairly straightforward, although more than a few require players to work with limited units and/or resources. Gamers can choose which missions they go on first, but C&C 3 doesn't have branching storylines, so they'll eventually need to beat all of the missions. Despite the missions' presentation, they don't relate to each other. For example, the GameDaily staff destroyed a major airbase in the Nod campaign so that GDI could not receive air support. In the next mission, they had to battle against GDI while they had reinforcements flown in... after they had just ensured that they wouldn't get air support.

Missions prove very challenging, especially when players need to hold a position against waves of oncoming foes. Each mission also includes secondary objectives to ease things up, and unlockable background info, which might encourage players to retry certain missions in order to win everything.

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