While certainly not a bad game, there is more room for improvement than expected in a Command & Conquer game.
As the 3rd in the series was a move back towards the CnC series, many fans will notice many similarities. For one, FMV's are used instead of the more popular CGI for cinematic sequences. The side-bar also reappears after a lengthy disappearance. Tiberium is, again, the main resource with the familiar Nod and GDI duking it out for it along with a new Scrin. Many fans will find the gameplay worthy of the CnC brand name. While this might be music to a CnC fan's ears, CnC 3 is not the perfect RTS that many might have expected.
Singleplayer campaigns returns you to the battlefield between Nod and GDI with the new Scrin as you must destroy each other. The settings are vast and different. From the urban capitol of the United States (Washington D.C. you idiot!) to Cairo, Egypt, the three races will destroy and be destroyed. There never is a protect him, defend this area, collect this data, or anything other than destroy this building. Of course you might have to capture something with an Engineer/Mastermind/Sabateur, but it is always a bonus objective and a something you can just ignore as you attempt to destroy your target. With other modern RTS displaying just how varied RTS can be, the destroy-this-and-that object will seem a little repetitive. But luckily, Campaigns are not the only thing you can do in CnC3.
Multiplayer is usually the life and soul of an RTS. Big online community = good. Small online community = bad. Sadly, EA decided to use GameSpy to provide servers for CnC 3. If you has ever played a game that uses GameSpy online, nine out of ten you will find the experience horrible enough to find your online experience ruined. Like me, the "millions" of people who bought CnC3 are nowhere to be found online, and CnC3 was just released this year. WarCraft and StarCraft boasts hundreds of thousands of people playing online at the same time IN ONE REGION, and both of them are years and years on the market. Despite a couple of other flaws, the ultimate downfall of CnC 3 would be the multiplayer.
While certainly not a bad game, a bad online experience destroys the replayability, and the repetitive goal in the campaigns means that you probably won't be running though them more than once. With such said, forking over $50 might not be as beneficial than just downloading the demo, or waiting for the price drop. If you have a 360, get the 360 version. Yes, multiplayer is that important.