Thursday 23 Jul 2009

Hammy acting? Check.
Completely over the top story line involving time travel and/or mind control? Check.
Tanks? Check.
Tanks with Lasers? Check.
Grizzly bears, dogs and dolphins with sonic wave devices? Check.

Fans of the Red Alert series will not be one bit surprised with the items on this list, it’s what we have come to love and expect from Red Alert games. In continuing with this tradition Red Alert 3 is a game that doesn’t try to be politically correct, doesn’t take itself seriously and is overflowing with cheesy goodness.

Our story begins directly after the events of Red Alert 2 where a defeated Soviet Union turns to its last hope for survival: a top secret project to develop a time machine! The Russian leaders travel back in time to kill Albert Einstein who they identify as being key to the Allied victory. Their plan succeeds, but upon their return they quickly discover that their meddling in the time-space continuum has had some other unforeseen consequences. While saving their own bacon from defeat by the Allies they also unknowingly allow a new world power to emerge – the mighty Empire of the rising sun – the games third playable faction.

The plot is portrayed though the use of Red Alert’s now trademark cut scenes. These hilariously overacted movies offer much comic relief and this time around EA has managed to attract some fairly well known actors. Tim Curry, sporting a shockingly bad Russian accent, plays Premier Cherdenko and JK Simmons of Spiderman fame is “commie-phobic” US president Ackerman. Add to this a generous helping of lovely lady actors clad in outfits that are clearly not standard military issue and you have a game that is sure to be a hit with young men everywhere.

I have been lucky enough to have been able to play this game on both the PC and the PS3. While you will find the core game itself is identical on both platforms, the big difference is in the interface. I have always been under the strong belief that RTS games should always be played with a keyboard and a mouse. Make no mistake, if you were able to play against yourself simultaneously on both platforms - the PC you would be handing the PS3 you a giant can of whip-ass every game. That said, however, I have to admit that EA has done a simply stunning job with their command wheel interface. In no time at all even the die-hard mouse clicker that is yours truly had picked it up. One of the short comings with console RTS’s is that it’s difficult to quickly pan your camera around the map. Red Alert 3 overcomes this with a trigger-activated-enlarging-mini-map that lets you jump to locations in a flash where the proverbial brown stuff is hitting the spinning thing.

As I mentioned previously, the three factions in the game are the Allies, the Soviets and the new Empire of the rising sun. While not playing as differently as say the three factions in StarCraft, they are unique enough for most players to find the faction that best suits their style of play. The Allies and the Soviets follow more or less the traditional base building model seen in previous Red Alert titles with structures having to be placed in a certain radius from other structures. The Empire on the other hand constructs nano-cores. These cores can then be moved to any location around the map and then “unpacked” into structures. While very vulnerable to attack in the core stage, this freedom of movement makes the Empire very attractive to players who like to expand quickly in the early game.

The factions are pretty well balanced with each one possessing an effective counter unit to any attacking unit. The Allies and Soviets have some very task specific units with the Allies tending to favour air units like the terrifying Century carpet-bomber while the Soviets have the biggest and best tanks with the infamous Apocalypse Tank (now sporting a magnetic grapple to nab fleeing enemies) making a welcome return. The Empire units on the other hand each have multiple modes. Most are able to transform to attack either air or ground. While this does require more micromanagement, it does allow for the Empires somewhat weaker general units to be more versatile. I have to say the Empire units also feature the coolest names in the game with gems like the Sudden Transport and the Mecha Tengu.

Red Alert 3 also introduces some firsts into the series and into the RTS genre as a whole. While previous Red Alert titles did feature sea-based units, Red Alert 3 is the first to allow you to build bases in the ocean. This opens up a whole new level of gameplay and makes sea-based units critical to achieving victory.

Another first for the franchise is the co-operative based campaign in which you will have a co-commander fighting at your side. Before each mission of the campaign you are given the option of allowing a friend to join your game as your co-commander. Should you not have any real friends the game will supply you with a moderately-skilled virtual friend to be your co-commander. The downside to this great idea is that the online matching system for this co-commander system can be painfully difficult on the PC. However, it is completely absent on the PS3 version! So you can only invite people on your friends list or people who’s Playstation Network ID’s you know…er…so basically your friends list. Fear not, however, as the standard online and skirmish modes are available.

The games visuals are akin to its sense of humour - bright colours, beautiful water effects and overall they have an almost cartoonish, larger than life feel about them. However, if like me you are saddled with a ye-old non HD TV you may find the text a little small to read and the surrounding interface controls just a little too big. I am open to suggestions on how to convince my wife that we need a new fan-dangled HD LCD TV to play games on which costs about the same as a washing machine, a tumble dryer and five pairs of shoes.

On the audio side things are well polished as is to be expected from a major EA production. Multiple composers were hired to work on the music score for RA3 including Frank Klepacki who wrote the new “Hell March” theme. The ultimate edition also features a bundled music player so that you can listen to any of the songs outside of the main game.

All in all Red Alert 3 is another fine addition to the Command & Conquer franchise. While not quite a 5 star meal, it is definitely recommended for people who enjoy a diet of fast-paced RTS action sprinkled with some cheesy cut-scenes and served with two dollops of shamelessly exposed cleavage.

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Contributor:	Brad

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