C&C: Red Alert 2 was partially responsible for getting me into video games at a tender age, but Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour is what kept me engaged with RTS games through middle school and into high school, where I would eventually get into the Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War games, Company of Heroes, and the Total War series.

In classic C&C fashion, it's over-the-top, packed with gleeful, modern-day violence and destruction, and just damn good old-fashioned fun to play. Also, at the time, I was pretty sure that RTS games weren't going to be able to look any more realistic than they were in 2003, so maybe I was just kind of a moron.

Either way, this is THE definitive C&C game for me.