Interviews// Raj Joshi, Producer, Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

SPOnG: Okay, I read somewhere that one of the influences on the way NOD is portrayed in the game is Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance. So, NOD is in some ways similar to those tribal armies that helped defeat the Taliban recently. Is that fair to say?

Raj Joshi: Er, yeah. There are different correlations that can be made. The main thing is that NOD is a religious, fanatical organisation that – for better or for worse – is trying to shape the world in its own vision. On the one hand a lot of this is through destruction, but then a lot of it could be potentially good as well! I hope that answers the question.


SPOnG: Kind of. Moving on… the new race – the aliens, ‘the Scrin’ - can you tell us more about them?

Raj Joshi: Yeah, very different to GDI and NOD in terms of the type of weaponry they have; the way that you build them up and their look, their aesthetic is just awesome!

The Scrin are very different to GDI and NOD. There’s a very organic feel to the race, and they have a very different types of attacking. For example, their basic infantry is a swarm of razor blades as opposed to people on foot. Everything with them is energy based; they have a very organic and ethereal way of organising their weaponry – even of moving. The aesthetic is just beautiful, it’s very interesting, along the lines of [Swiss surrealist] H.R. Giger.


SPOnG: Any other influences, artistically?

Raj Joshi: Yeh, well the Giger reference is more my take on it. In terms of other influences, you know, referencing all movie and all art that has anything to do with aliens, throwing it all in, but then making something very unique to the game.


SPOnG: In terms of the big weapons, GDI has its juggernauts, NOD has these huge ‘avatars’, so what do the Scrin have?

Raj Joshi: Not only do they have these crazy motherships that have around ten to 14 little pods that break off and start attacking individually… so the ship itself moves and then its almost like an alien aircraft carrier, with a significant amount of damage waiting to be done by all these little break-off ships. As far as the ground units that can compare with GDI’s juggernauts and NOD’s avatars, the Scrin has these little walkers with three heads that all shoot out lasers. So, they are tripods both in the sense that they have three legs, and they move very organically, and then they have these big wavy kinda snake-like arms coming out of the top of their heads, each of which can fire lasers on different targets at the same time. A very organic-looking, interesting creature! Once it starts attacking it’s totally devastating and incredibly powerful.


SPOnG: You mentioned earlier that you have over 90 minutes of FMV cut-scenes throughout the game, telling the story. Who were the main actors and actresses that took part?

Raj Joshi: Really great cast. C&Chas a legacy of doing this and it really is something we’re trying to bring back in a big way in this game. You have Billy Dee Williams (of Star Wars fame), Michael Ironside (Starship Troopers), Grace Park and Trisha Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Josh Holloway (Lost) and there’s a few others.


SPOnG: So, it really is any Sc-Fi fans dream cast!?

Raj Joshi: Absolutely. You know, they’re pretty campy in terms of staying in line with those older C&C movies. But it’s amazing to really see all these pretty high profile actors come together. It’s all of course based around the C&C universe, which is a pretty robust storyline.