Command & Conquer: Generals/Censored German Version Differences

This is a sub-page of Command & Conquer: Generals.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

This game was originally released in Germany uncensored under the original title Command & Conquer: Generals, but immediately pulled from stores due to the similarity with the Iraq War, only weeks before a law change disallowed banning games already rated by the USK (the German ESRB). Afterwards, EA decided to release a censored version under the title Command & Conquer: Generäle. As of note, there is no uncensored version of the expansion pack Zero Hour (released in Germany as Die Stunde Null), and installing the expansion pack will censor an uncensored version of the original game.

General differences

No pun intended.

• The intro was completely removed due to having a few not-so-subtle references to real-life politics/politicians.
• The three playable sides had their names changed to no longer reference real-life countries.
• The campaign was renamed to "mission". The world map on the loading screen was removed and any references to real places or countries are altered. Interestingly, the spoken briefings were not altered.
• The online ranks icons show the rank insignias only, and no human characters.
• As expected, the human soldiers are altered to be cyborgs. This includes changing the portraits of all units and having robotic voices.
• Anthrax was changed to acid and the text and voiceovers were changed to compensate.
• The terrorist was removed from the game and instead replaced with a driving bomb. Other than the visuals, however, the functionality is exactly the same.
• Human civilians are removed from missions.
• On the first Chinese mission, the Tiananmen gate had its Chinese writing (which is accurate to the actual Tiananmen gate in real life) removed.
• The second GLA mission was removed completely. It involves hijacking a UN convoy and stealing their supplies, as well as killing any civilians (or destroying their houses) who try to take the UN supplies for their own benefit.
• Completing the last mission for any of the campaigns does not play a video.

(Source: Schnittberichte)

• The expansion pack's intro is present, but the portraits of the generals which appear at various points in the intro were covered up by lazily edited in copies of the portraits from Generals Challenge.
• The portraits of the generals were censored as usual, other than that though they kept their human names, with one exception: Dr. Thrax was renamed to Dr. Trax to remove the pun on anthrax. Strangely, the Skirmish Mode portraits were replaced with the win/lose portraits from Generals Challenge.
• The credits of Zero Hour showed a US Ranger in the background, this was removed, leaving German players with nothing but blackness.

(Source: Schnittberichte)