Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

"At the end of the day, Red Alert 3 doesn't add anything brand new or innovative to the RTS genre: it takes the same old familiar formula, grabs elements from other RTS games, and improves on them in its own, quirky way."

Nathaniel's Score:

8.0

Red Alert 3 is the next chapter in Command and Conquer's time-traveling universe. It begins with the Russian leaders going back in time (again). This plot device is really uninspired, but fortunately, works to integrate the new faction into the storyline very nicely. More on that later.

EA spent a lot of time on the videos, and it shows. The stellar casting of B-list actors compliments the silly units and abilities of the game. Their acting is intentionally cringe-worthy, but gets the job done by pulling you in as the commander. My one gripe with the casting is the lack of a Bruce Campbell cameo, the king of the B-list.

While there isn't anything radically different about the gameplay, it's nice to see in an age of realism, developers EA used a unique style, and fired realism out of the window in a man cannon (Soviets deploy infantry from APCs by firing them out of a tube). The graphic style is a tad on the cartoony side, a mix between C&C 3's realism and Battalion Wars' improperly proportioned people. Even if that isn't your thing, the graphics and effects are beautiful, to say the least, specifically the explosions and water effects. It's all pure eye candy.

The soundtrack to Red Alert 3 is the greatest soundtrack I've ever heard in a video game. The new mix of Hell's March is very well done. The Russian theme stirs and raises emotions on a grand level, like any good battle cry/war song should. The main theme for the Empire of the Rising Sun mixes traditional-style music with high-tech sounding vocals, reflecting the exact attitude and warfare style of old and new that the Empire employs.

Nowadays, people expect more than just two factions in an RTS. The new addition to the Red Alert lineup is the Empire of the Rising Sun. They fit in well alongside the Allies and Soviets, and bring with them a unique mix of ancient and high tech warfare. The way the Empire worked into the time travel business isn't fully outlined, it is only stated they aren't supposed to exist. The clues point to it going down something like this: Einstein is erased from the past, and with him, his nuclear bomb invention. Because of this, Hiroshima is safe, and thus the Empire is able to continue to build its forces, unhindered. The writers worked in alternate history to great effect. As well, the irony of the Empire--thinking their destiny is to take over the world, when they weren't even meant to exist--adds a level of depth and meaning to the story not found in many games.

The campaign length is satisfying: nine missions per faction, for a grand total of 27 missions. Even with the epic unit (I won't spoil it for anyone), these missions are still quite difficult. The stories that link these missions and factions unfortunately go off on their own tangents. It's too bad that they didn't stick with one intertwining story like Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars had.

To players new to the series, you will be treated to an impressively entertaining tutorial mode, where tanks from all three factions banter on and fight with each other while instructing the player. To further aid players, a fantastic new feature in Red Alert 3 was added: players can select any unit, and watch a brief video outlining their capabilities. These videos are more in-depth than the analyses in the manual, and the visual aid helps put things in context.

Multiplayer mode options are standard fare. Battlecast makes a welcomed return from Command & Conquer 3, allowing other people to act as a commentator during or after a match. A nice touch that Skirmish mode has is the ability to choose which AI commander you're going to fight. This choice isn't only for aesthetic purposes, but actually affects how the AI plays, (focusing on land, sea, or air.) At the same time, this makes the AI more predictable than they normally would be. Choosing the commander also adds videos that appear in-game, with the specific commander taunting you as the battle progresses.

Co-op play is a good addition to the game, but it feels tacked on. Essentially, it is just single player with two people. Compared to World on Conflict, where co-op is necessary to succeed, it is a very dumb downed co-op experience. Commanders can work pretty much independently of each other, as long as they are both attacking. If you don't happen to have a human ally, you get limited controls over your AI Co-Commander, which is very helpful.

A good (albeit overwhelming) addition to the series is that every unit has a secondary ability. This makes for on-the-fly changes in the battle easier to cope with, especially when your unit changes its mode (between land, sea, and air). This feature comes as a double-edged sword, however. Some of these abilities change what the unit can shoot at, and what can shoot them. If you are caught in a battle of epic proportions or several battles at once, you may forget to change the mode of the units, or have a hard time trying to grab them individually to change certain ones mode but not others. There isn't any interface on the HUD to assist with this, which it sorely needs.

This frustration carries through to the Empire of the Rising Sun's dual-phase defense turret: it can strike at land/water units in one mode, or air units in another. I once returned to my base to find it in shambles from air attacks, despite having a dozen turrets up. The problem was that while fighting in a battle, I forgot to return to my base, select each turret individually, and change their mode. While on the topic of base defenses, the Allies Multigunner Turret is effective against every unit type. Where's the strategy in that?

This time around, Red Alert has made aquatic warfare stand completely on its own, even allowing you to build almost all of your structures on the high seas. Several land units are able to travel on water as well, making them useful no matter where the battle goes. Resources on the water make sure that the sea sees some combat during each game.

The way that the three forces expand and build are different. This gives each force its own learning curve, and employ different strategies when building their bases. This is a feature I'd like to see in other RTS games in the future, because it helps mix things up, and picking one army over another a significant difference and choice. Upgrading to the next tech level is also different for each army. Upgrading for the Allies and Empire is very annoying, because you have to re-upgrade individual structures (depending on where they're built for the Allies). Once a fully upgraded structure is gone, you have to start all the way at the bottom of the tech tree. Want to use two Mecha Bays to build top tier units? You have to upgrade BOTH from the beginning.

The powers (aside from the super weapon and defensive super weapon) are purchased in Red Alert 3. Players gain points as fighting continues to purchase them, instead of getting them from specific structures. This allows for powers to still be gained, despite loosing certain structures like in past CnC games.

The units are what you've come to expect from the Red Alert franchise, with land, sea, and air types. They are all relatively balanced, making mixed groups key for victory. One unit seems to be quite overpowered, however, and that is the Rocket Angel. These are flying infantry that can target land, sea and air units. They're slightly less effective against infantry, but en masse, they are the Swiss Army Knife of units, dealing great damage to vehicles, aircraft, watercraft and structures alike.

In Command & Conquer (and most RTS games for that matter) how one went about gathering resources (and defending them) was crucial to their war effort. Picking off lone Harvesters/Collectors always puts a smile on a Commander's face. Not so in Red Alert 3. You plunk down your refinery in a pre determined spot, safely two feet away from the resources, and forget about it. This part of the game takes out the "Strategy" in Real Time Strategy.

At the end of the day, Red Alert 3 doesn't add anything brand new or innovative to the RTS genre: it takes the same old familiar formula, grabs elements from other RTS games, and improves on them in its own, quirky way. If you liked previous installments of Red Alert, you'll like this one. Fans of the Tiberium saga may not be as willing to embrace the changes or unique style, but RTS fans in general should give it a spin.

Pros

Cons

Bottom Line

Nathaniel's Score:

8.0