What you immediately notice about this game is the new style EA packaging for New Zealand. The box is similar in size to a DVD case but as thick as a paper back. It fits comfortably on your bookshelf with an easily readable spine, and is very cool and collectable. We hope this new packaging becomes the new standard adopted by other game distributors.

Zero Hour comes on two discs and to play the game you need to have a copy of the original installed on your PC. Right off the bat you know it's going to be good as you are treated to a superb opening movie using the game engine itself. It's a rolling battle sequence starting from a naval coastal bombardment, across the beach, through the city and then out to sea again. It's a show case of the new graphic sets and some of the stunning new units. You will watch it more than twice.

So what's new? Well for a start there is fifteen new solo missions. Impressive when you consider that the original shipped with 21 missions. These missions follow a well crafted story-line told by news reporters (BNN news and an Arabic channel). Some missions have multiple objectives and some can be quite a challenge to complete; particularly at the higher levels of difficulty. You get the standard 'elimination' missions as well as the 'capture this item' and 'escort' style missions. We won't give too much away but they involve UN aid, weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons (the team writing the script must have had the news playing in the background when they put it together).

The voice acting as you would expect is superb, including the occasional video-phone interference in some sequences. A nice touch was the GLA news reporter who started off as pretty rough looking however as you gain the upper hand in the GLA campaign he starts to dress better and become more anti-American.

Each of the campaigns are five missions long and the starting ones are used as a vehicle to introduce some of the new units. The USA has a very cool new Sentry Drone which is a ground-based, tracked robotic vehicle armed with a chain gun. They also have the new Microwave Tank which can disable structures, a new humvee called the Avenger and a new defensive structure called a Firebase.

China's new units include the Listening Post (a light vehicle), a new transport Helicopter and the ECM Tank which pushes incoming missiles off course and can disable enemy units. The GLA have the new Saboteur, Combat Cycle and the hard case Battle Bus.

There are also heaps of new upgrades, some new structures and new general skills. To name a few there is the MOAB upgrade (mother of all bombs) to your bombers, chemical suits for the US, sneak attack tunnels and hellfire drones. All in all there is a huge stack of new features and units that will re-kindle your interest in the game. Does it still maintain game balance you ask? As you would expect from the C&C series they have been carefully crafted to ensure that no one side gains an advantage over the other. Saying that, in one GLA mission you can build a scud storm, nuclear missile site and a particle cannon - seasoned, toasted and atomized!

On the skirmish front there are new 'Generals' to pit yourself against. Each has its own particular personality and ways of fighting. Each will approach a particular map differently and this will certainly increase the games replay-ability.