Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

Welcome back Comrade. From the very beginning we knew that we had our hands on something special. It may've been the video sequences that recalled memories of past games when Westwood was still a reality or perhaps just the depth of gameplay or the level of absorption that Red Alert 3 promotes in the player but it really does feel like coming home.

Incoming

The hardest part really is where to begin.

Red Alert 3 looks great. It always has but taking note of the finer details and touches that have been included really shows off the polish of Red Alert 3. Watching a Soviet destroyer being blown to bits by a fixed emplacement on the Brighton Beach mission will show you what we mean. The water effects looked incredible to begin with but destroying a water craft shows off the physics the developers have embedded in Red Alert 3. Ripples and shockwaves are all part of the scenery. This level of detail is carried over into the rest of the game as well, with far too many fine examples of it to point them out.

The gameplay feels so familiar that you'll find yourself checking whether you have slipped back in time a decade. Try bringing to mind the fried-eyeball feeling you used to get after several solid hours of playing Red Alert on that clunky old Pentium II and you'll have a vague idea how we felt after getting to play Red Alert 3. It is a trip down memory lane, with the Empire of the Rising Sun leaping out of an alleyway and mugging you before you've gone too far. The game feels very balanced and unless a player is sitting on a massive army of whatever their opponent's main attack force sucks against, play will be tough. A flying column of Soviet tanks will raze a base to the ground but will fall quickly to a squad of Empire Tankbusters.

The Tankbusters, like the rest of the Empire army, are entirely new. These units are almost Zergs, since they have the ability to burrow underground at a moments notice and pop up in the midst of a rush of armor, decimating it. There are Shinobi units who hurl throwing stars and can vanish in a puff of smoke, mechanized armor and the obligatory transforming units for the oriental assassins. The Saint of Swords is an extreme example of a mechanized unit. It has its health replenished by being zapped by Tesla technology but it falls pretty quickly to long range artillery and flying units.

Some major differences can be seen between factions by way of their construction methods. The Soviets' build on demand, offering a faster build speed but with the disadvantage of having a building attacked while construction is going on. The

build the total building before allowing placement, letting one place a fully working building and allowing a more planned approach to the Soviets' attacking stance. The new Empire faction works completely different to everything else, with each building being constructed blindingly fast. These are produced as vehicles while must then reach their deployment point before being set up. The time this takes is offset by being able to pack up and run and redeploy your base elsewhere. In essence, the Soviets are built for attacking play, the Allies favor a defensive stance until a large enough army is amassed and the Empire seems molded for hit-and-run guerrilla warfare. Something for everyone.

New gameplay additions include getting engineers to capture points like hospitals and shipyards. Once these have been picked up, troops and ships or the relevant vehicle will repair or heal themselves. Old favorites like the ChronoSphere and Iron Curtain are still present but due to the events detailed in the opening cut-scene, nuclear technology is absent. This makes little difference though since there is more than enough to keep one busy with all of the other goodies and upgrades that have been included.

Featuring some very recognizable faces as the main characters in Red Alert 3, the likes of Tim Curry appearing as the Russian Premier and Jenny McCarthy as the tough Tanya and George Takei playing the Emperor of the Rising Sun, the story immerses players as much as the gameplay does. On introducing the game, we find that events from past games have been altered by the Soviets. One of the Soviet generals travels in time as part of a test and accidentally kills Einstein and changes history. Leading directly to superiority of Soviet forces, they once again strike at the Allies. While matters appear to work for the Soviets, the Empire of the Rising Sun show up out of nowhere and proceed to tear everyone. Soviet and Allied alike, a new one. This is largely possible due to the distraction of the two original factions and some impressive tech on the Empire side. Players will see something quite unbelievable as the Soviets and Allies join forces against the new menace but it is up to players to find out how long this alliance will last.

The look and feel is pure Red Alert and that is ultimately what we were looking for. There is more than enough to keep fans happy and enough innovation to keep them coming back. Oh, and the co-op and multiplayer kicks ass too.