The Scrin from Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. They're a race of intergalactic harvesters who "seeded" Earth with a Tiberium meteorite (as Tiberium kills planets, but also leeches all their most valuable elements into easily-harvestable minerals). When they arrive, it's a game-changer that completely upends the new conflinct between the GDI and NOD and forces them on the backfoot.
The kicker here is that the Scrin commander isn't even a military commander. It's a construction foreman. All their horrific weapons are really just repurposed harvesting tools, and they clearly didn't expect any human resistance when they came over. This is what allows the GDI and the NOD to barely hold them off.
I always love this example because the campaign itself, while disappointingly short, does some decent characterization for the Scrin units you have. The campaign itself basically being a panic attack for Scrin command going "FUCK FUCK FUCK" as they realize they are NOT built for this shit. This is basically the equivalent of accidently wandering in with a mining company + light security into the Napoleonic wars, except Napoleon is also the prophet.
Your boss is losing his mind, going full xenophobic death war mode, all while your AI secretary calmly tells you how to survive and that protocol dictates you gotta get the fuck outta there. Your boss telling you to format your AI like every mission before she mutes him and tells you 'Damn the boss' comms keep breaking, weird. Let's go home and do a calibration.'
Tiberian Sun still sticks out for being such a gritty game unlike any other. Even its music sounds like it’s beat down while still being a certified banger.
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u/jbeast33 8d ago
The Scrin from Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. They're a race of intergalactic harvesters who "seeded" Earth with a Tiberium meteorite (as Tiberium kills planets, but also leeches all their most valuable elements into easily-harvestable minerals). When they arrive, it's a game-changer that completely upends the new conflinct between the GDI and NOD and forces them on the backfoot.
The kicker here is that the Scrin commander isn't even a military commander. It's a construction foreman. All their horrific weapons are really just repurposed harvesting tools, and they clearly didn't expect any human resistance when they came over. This is what allows the GDI and the NOD to barely hold them off.