Command and Conquer is a series that I remember fondly. From sending a subterranean army of Cyb0rgs to my enemies' bases in Tiberian Sun, to nicking a Soviet Cloning Vat in RA 2 - - the games had always been very over-the-top, challenging and full of glorious destruction.
So, you can imagine my anxiousness to get the game booted up and played. Anyway, lets get out of the nostalgia and into the now.
The Packaging:
You may find this section odd, but I thought it was worth mentioning as it was the first thing of note when I opened my gamebox. Red Alert 3 comes with a free soft porn poster, with every female character appearing scantily clad and posing for the camera. EA knows its target audience , I'll give them that. (Although one has to inquire if this will become a habit in the game industry. Where could this lead to? Princess Peach on the Beach? Having sun tan lotion applied by Mario Luigi?)
The Story:
Ridiculous. Insane. Full of more holes than a fine Swiss cheese. And, ladies and gentlemen, would we have it any other way? Red Alert has never been a game that took its story seriously.
The first scene you are greeted with is the grinning face of Tim Curry in a Soviet Officer's Uniform. The Union is defeated, and it is only a matter of time before the Allies storm the building. But good ol' Tim has a plan! In an accent that has more in common with a dying parrot lamenting its impending death than a Russian, Premier-to-be Tim announces his plan to go back in time and kill Einstein; ensuring the technology the allies needed to defeat the Soviet Union will never be available.
And that, my friends, is the part that makes the most sense. Later on in the game you will come to meet "Parabears", Giant-Mecha-Samurai, Light Sabers and Mancannons. Be prepared.
The Gameplay:
The gameplay is much unchanged from the originals. Chances are, if you're a person interested in this review (both of you), this will be a good thing. There have been some tweaks that certainly do help things however:
1) Nuclear Missiles no longer exist. As I stated earlier, the death of Einstein seems to have had the added bonus of removing these gameplay spoiling monsters from the Multiplayer. They have been replaced with "Super powers" - which bear a striking resemblance to Battle for Middle-Earths' spells (although with far fewer options). The more 'chaos' you cause, the more power you build up. In fact, lets not hide it. The system -is- a direct copy from Battle for Middle-Earth, but it is also a very welcomed copy. Anything that encourages less "turtling" and removes the famous "race to get nukes" is a good thing if you ask me. Which you are, since you're reading this.
2) Resource gathering has had its much needed rebalancing. No longer can you have an army of resource collectors -- now you'll have one per refinery, drastically reducing the ability to 'Rush'.
3) Naval Combat. Perhaps the greatest change made. The need for a navy has become one of the most important aspects of Red Alert 3. With so many land units now able to swim/float, and the general buff to the power levels of water/amphibious units, one has to consider the placement and volume of naval units a lot more carefully than before. Especially considering the vast portions of water on competitive maps.
The Campaign:
The Campaign portion of RTS games is often considered an afterthought to many gamers -- and I can see why. While playing through the story might give a few hours of entertainment, it is the multiplayer portions that offer the greatest challenge and staying power.
For me, though, the campaign is as equally important as the multiplayer. A good story and challenge against the game can be the perfect way to relax and try ''Cool stuff'' rather than concentrating fully on the min-maxing world of the online RTS.
I've already covered the story of Red Alert 3 -- it's zany, senseless and charming. Box one is checked. The progression path once you select your faction is extremely linear, however. Not that I am one of those folks who thinks linearity is necessarily bad, but I had hoped for a little choice when it came to what battles to fight, and when.
This installment in the series has been built from the ground up to support co-op missions. In fact, every mission you do has at the very least a computer controlled ally who has pretty decent AI. This isn't the Eldar from Dawn of War's final mission -- these guys know their objectives and they go about completing them in a manageable manner. With a simple UI in the top left corner (with options such as "control area") you can command your allies and change their goal to whatever task you set. When you do not do this, they tend to follow you while pursuing their own agenda. If you have a large force moving towards an enemy base your allies will send you back up, or attack from a different angle. Not only that, but when playing co-op online, the extra player should help with particularly difficult missions.
"Should", being the operative word. The missions are very, very easy. From start to finish I only failed one, and that was because I lost track of the special characters location (whom was soon snipered). My experience of 'Hard' mode was about as difficult as 'Super Easy' in Pacman.
Multiplayer:
The improvements made to the gameplay have certainly helped multi-player. The lack of nukes, renewed importance of the navy and slower paced resource gathering have certainly ironed out a lot of the annoyances of the previous games. However, not much else has changed. More patches will be needed until the game is completely balanced, and the experience still lacks a bit of depth. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a fun, destructive multiplayer game that has its tongue firmly in its cheek - you could do much worse than Red Alert 3. It will, at the very least, tide you over for some of the time until we are blessed with Starcraft 2, Dawn of War 2 and Empire Total War.
Graphics and Sound:
As far as appearance goes -- Red Alert 3 possesses the same style as previous games in the franchise. It is colourful, cartoony and vibrant (as opposed to the realistic approach of Tiberium 3). The water in the game looks amazing, and the details put into the enviroment are top notch. Special effects have also been tuned up and remind me of the early beta video's of Diablo 3.
The music played throughout the game suits the mood exceptionally well, and it always seems to kick in properly when the action is about to start. Each faction has its own soundtrack -- which helps with getting into the 'feel' of them. Very little beats storming an enemy base as the Soviets while a heavy guitar rift kicks.
Conclusion:
The game is not revolutionary. It's exactly what C&C has always been, but improved. Time will tell if the series will ever take a risk and do something different -- and with the abundance of triple A strategy games on the horizon, it may well have to.
6/10 : better than I expected, but not enough of a change from previous games to be considered much better than average.
/Shifte
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