Command and Conquer : Red Alert 3
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The legendary Command and Conquer series is back with an enormous technically advanced bang in the form of Command and Conquer Red Alert 3.
The direction taken by previous Command and Conquer titles has left most fans of the genre and the real time strategy series constantly guessing regarding Red Alert 3, and true to form it does throw up some surprising twists that even the most hardened Command and Conquer fans out there would not have been anticipating, but despite some aspects of Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 being a little out there, the game is a resounding success which will give you hours and hours of fun and a replayability factor matched by few other titles on the market today.
With many leading series, such as Grand Theft Auto, opting to ‘grow up’ a little with their most recent instalments, Red Alert 3 has shunned that opportunity and certainly does not take itself too seriously. This fact is perhaps shown best when you take a heavily armored, extremely deadly tank - and instruct it to take out an innocent bear who just happens to be out looking for a fish or something.
Russian dictators have travelled back in time to assassinate Albert Einstein with the idea in mind that doing this will change the course of history, leaving the Soviet Union as the dominant world power, but instead it simply modifies the future and see’s the emergence of a new world power, the Empire of the Rising Sun. You have the ability to play as your choice of three factions this time around, either Soviets, Allies or the Empire with each faction having a great campaign mode behind them for you to play through. Everything from the different cut-scenes tagged to each faction to the unique, but well balanced combat units make playing as each faction feel very different forcing you to want to play through the game at least once with each of them.
Depending on what faction you play as in Command and Conquer Red Alert 3, the experience will differ right down to your abilities of construction. With the Soviets for example you will be able to lay foundations for buildings immediately with construction on-going from that point, otherwise your current building projects must be complete before you are able to place new ones. Your chosen faction will have other implications on what you can and can not do, too, so your preferred faction is likely to be decided by which abilities tie in with your own playing preferences and habits rather than by which has the coolest war machines.
In all previous Command and Conquer titles, building up a steady healthy economy is key to success, and Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 is no different in that respect - getting your refineries up and running early on will always be a priority in any campaign but beware, when facing the Empire faction, you are likely to experience attacks early on as they have the ability to place structures almost anywhere on the map without the requirement of a nearby base.
The storyline behind the campaigns is well written, well acted by some big names including Tim Curry and Jenny McCarthy amongst others, and it’s over the top in a good way. Yes it is cheesy, yes some parts will make you cringe, and yes Jenny McCarthy adorns some lovely outfits - the cut-scenes are certainly worth sitting through as they not only explain what is going on behind the scenes very well, but they are a great addition to the game itself in their own right - things would not be the same without them basically.
Graphically the game is as impressive as you could expect, which has it’s downside for owners of slightly less powerful PC systems but this will not worry the hardcore gamers out there, or PS3 and XBox 360 owners which Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 also appears on. Before you buy this game, it’s strongly recommended to check out the system requirements as it does take a bit more than standard issue hardware to run smoothly.
Real time strategy fans certainly will not be disappointed with Command and Conquer Red Alert 3, as it has everything you have grown to love from the Command and Conquer series as a whole and then some! A new level of quirkiness is on show and it adds so much more than you would expect, rather than dragging the series a bit too far into ‘over the top’ territory - but I think that is something EA will have to be careful to avoid next time around as the boundaries must be pretty close after this one.
If you love strategy, Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 is the only game you need for the time being - grab yours now.
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