Command and Conquer as a series is highly influential. It's not completely original, though. While it's influenced many games, Command and Conquer was influenced by other games before it, as well as other forms of media. Some of the games that influenced the series weren't even PC games! This isn't that big of a surprise, as around the time that Westwood started making games seriously, console developers were the biggest innovators. Still, for such a major PC series, it's funny that it derived its core gameplay from a console game!

Command and Conquer was Westwood's second big hit. The first was a game by the name of Dune 2. Often considered the first modern real-time strategy game, Dune 2 sent shockwaves through the industry that are still felt today. Many of the basics, such as resource gathering and base building, started with Dune 2, but Dune 2 was heavily influenced by another game. This game, Herzog Zwei (Duke Two) originated on the Sega Genesis in 1989. It never took off as being especially popular or successful, but those that did play it got the very first taste of real-time strategy. Among those that experienced it were core team members at Westwood and Blizzard. For reference, you played as a jet that could transform between a mecha ground unit, fighter jet, and transport jet. You got money by holding bases, and you produced units that you had to give orders to in order for them to function. Supply lines, fuel, and ammunition were all important, and every unit had its own niche. The control scheme even foreshadowed the point-and-click interface of the standard RTS, although with a controller. It wasn't long before concepts and the overall feel of Herzog Zwei were executed in a new game, and this was Herzog Zwei's legacy, as the developer decided to instead focus on their popular series of ThunderForce games.

Dune 2 is the immediate predecessor to Command and Conquer, so most of the important elements make the transition between the two. Some of the more notable include semi-limited resource, resource gathering outside of the player's base, the building up of the player's base to advance down a tech tree, and extremely fast-paced, micro-management heavy combat. Dune 2 was later remade into Dune 2000 with a new engine and some gameplay refinements, and it received a true sequel in Emperor: Battle for Dune. It's safe to say that the Command and Conquer series is more of the sequel to Dune 2 than its actual sequels are, although Command and Conquer 4 is probably the exception to that.

The story of Command and Conquer is pretty unique, but it does have a few vague similarities to others. Tiberium, and its process of desertification and resource absorption, resembles the spice melange from the Dune series. The spice, like tiberium, absorbs valuable resources (in this case, primarily water) and keeps the planet a desert. It's also highly valued by the factions of the Dune universe, much like tiberium is in Command and Conquer, despite their respective destructive properties on the individual and environment. Kane could almost be seen as a villainous counterpoint to the character of Paul from Dune, as he espouses the virtues of tiberium and its ability to cause humans to transcend their humanity while ruthlessly killing anyone who gets in the way of his mysterious goal.

The rest of the themes behind Command and Conquer are fairly generic. The first game has a modern warfare feel that apes Clancy thrillers. Some of the scenes, such as the faked newscast or the loss of monetary support, feel like they would be at home in a modern thriller novel. Games afterwards began to move away from the thriller elements to focus more on the science fiction. Specifically, the Tiberian series bears a resemblence to any post-apocalyptic science fiction story, especially one with a religious figure. There's a lot of them out there!