Screenshots :.
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
PC
Jay
06-11-2008
"The box art is awesome, yes?"
"*insert standard bump mapping joke here*"
"Here is a screenshot of the actual game!"
"And another!"
While Matt's off roaming around a post-apocalyptic war-torn reality (Fallout 3), I've been trying to save mine from total Annihilation thanks to another in the Command & Conquer series: Red Alert 3, a game that has gone through a lot over the years, but thankfully remained sound to what it does best – classic real time strategy with more boobs than Baywatch beach ball.
If anything over the prior Red Alert games, or even the C&C series as a whole, RA3 takes it to the next level of not taking themselves seriously. I really admire the blatant cheese of it all myself, rather than stealthily slying in a few short skirts and bad accents and trying to call it a sensible and accurate take on a World War sim. No, the more cleavage and silly wit the better in my book.
The game starts us off with following the Soviets as their mighty empire's crumbling, and in a desperate last ditch effort to save it all from total destruction the premier and his general go back in time to wipe out Einstein. In doing so they believe it will cripple the Allies technology giving them the edge they need to finally win the war. However, upon returning to the present they find that there is a new and bigger threat from the east – The Empire of the Rising Sun, a technologically advanced zealous army of warriors lead by that guy out of Heroes. My how he gets about. [Oh come on, surely he's more famous for Star Trek! - Matt]
Yes, as you might have guessed, they've really gone to town on the cast list this time, featuring at least one babe and well known actor per faction – it's only fair. That's not the only striking change mind you; the game's gone out and had a chat with Gok Wan to obtain a vibrant new garishly bold colour scheme to blind your retinas with and all the humour and cheek you can throw a States trained gadget loving dolphin at! Check these videos out if you want a hint of what's to come.
Well crap on a badger I should probably talk about the actual gameplay. It's like the last one. The end. No really, there isn't a huge amount more that you won't find in the previous title – with one major change. It's all co-op now. Every level allows you and a buddy to “kick ass” your way through the entire game. If you don't have any friends, you can join an online game, and furthermore if you're that unpopular you can always rely on AI to lend a hand. Which mostly works to boot.
Oh, I suppose I could end it all there couldn't I? I mean unless you've been living under a rock, or stay clear of any form of strategy game and don't get what it all means whenever anyone talks about “build queues” or “the turtle strategy” in which case, why are you reading this review? Surely you should be out flogging the cow, climbing a cliff or some other apparent gung-ho, macho, first-person-shooter-loving activity. Ah, you want to play it for the babes right? Well sure, I can understand that, best I get on with it then.
As a RTS (Real Time Strategy) game Red Alert 3 allows you to take command of one of 3 factions, the Soviets, Allies and in this incarnation, The Empire of the Rising Sun. The game requires you to complete objectives how you see fit, for each level. You do this, in the usual instance, by building up your forces and structures via managing resources and power. RA3 allows you to build limitless units to wipe out your foes so long as your resources can cover it. In the Command & Conquer series, this has been Tiberium, a valuable commodity which can be harvested and turned into cash by collecting it from mines. These mines are your staple income and are well worth protecting.
Protection comes in the form of... oh wait I mentioned babes before... not that kind – base protection, comes in the form of turrets for the most part, but as they always say a strong defence is a strong offence. The best way to stop the enemy trying to blow your base up, is to stop the enemy. Your troops come in the land, sea and air flavour and allow you to build troops and vehicles from the designated buildings. Red Alert 3 is a singular unit management game, rather than some other RTS's that are squad based, only allowing you to select said squad. This means that if you want to build a big group of units you can, assigning them all to a squad and sending them off to do whatever, but if you want to sneak in a spy you can focus your time solely on him. I've never been too sure on which I prefer out of the two as squad based games are usually one for the hardcore route, whereas singular unit RTS games tend to just become a spam-fest of units depending on who has the most resources.
What can help to turn the tide are special abilities. You gain these as you earn experience for completing combat and objectives. The points you gain can be spent on powerful abilities which, while have a long reset time, are well worth using. Another option, perhaps best reserved for multiplayer is to play all 3 sides and pick one that strikes a chord with your natural playing style. Worth noting that all 3 have different strong and weak points to be aware of. This is something that's always important and helps to balance the game, which RA3 has done a good job of from the time I've spent blowing people up.
The one thing that stands out between the factions is how well they've scored the music, tailored the actors and honed their mentality. The strong and patriotic Soviets, the honourable and stoic East or the loud and proud, light-'em-if-you-got-'em British and Americans. Ah yes, one point I would like to make is – has anyone been to England recently? Who the hell talks like that any more? And if there is someone who does they're probably so far inbred they've likely reverse engineered their DNA so far back they breathe water. Anyway, loving the score, particularly the rehashed Hell March and Rising Sun intro theme which is somewhat “Ghost in the Shell” in it's seasoning. Kudos to the composers.
At the end of the day, when all's said and done, I enjoyed the game enough for something that didn't offer a huge set of features of the last in the series, but was well worth the play for the cutscenes, humour and baps. Although you could always search for Jenny McCarthy on Google images without the 'safe search' filter on – but then, I didn't tell you to do that. Did I?
If anything over the prior Red Alert games, or even the C&C series as a whole, RA3 takes it to the next level of not taking themselves seriously. I really admire the blatant cheese of it all myself, rather than stealthily slying in a few short skirts and bad accents and trying to call it a sensible and accurate take on a World War sim. No, the more cleavage and silly wit the better in my book.
The game starts us off with following the Soviets as their mighty empire's crumbling, and in a desperate last ditch effort to save it all from total destruction the premier and his general go back in time to wipe out Einstein. In doing so they believe it will cripple the Allies technology giving them the edge they need to finally win the war. However, upon returning to the present they find that there is a new and bigger threat from the east – The Empire of the Rising Sun, a technologically advanced zealous army of warriors lead by that guy out of Heroes. My how he gets about. [Oh come on, surely he's more famous for Star Trek! - Matt]
Yes, as you might have guessed, they've really gone to town on the cast list this time, featuring at least one babe and well known actor per faction – it's only fair. That's not the only striking change mind you; the game's gone out and had a chat with Gok Wan to obtain a vibrant new garishly bold colour scheme to blind your retinas with and all the humour and cheek you can throw a States trained gadget loving dolphin at! Check these videos out if you want a hint of what's to come.
Well crap on a badger I should probably talk about the actual gameplay. It's like the last one. The end. No really, there isn't a huge amount more that you won't find in the previous title – with one major change. It's all co-op now. Every level allows you and a buddy to “kick ass” your way through the entire game. If you don't have any friends, you can join an online game, and furthermore if you're that unpopular you can always rely on AI to lend a hand. Which mostly works to boot.
Oh, I suppose I could end it all there couldn't I? I mean unless you've been living under a rock, or stay clear of any form of strategy game and don't get what it all means whenever anyone talks about “build queues” or “the turtle strategy” in which case, why are you reading this review? Surely you should be out flogging the cow, climbing a cliff or some other apparent gung-ho, macho, first-person-shooter-loving activity. Ah, you want to play it for the babes right? Well sure, I can understand that, best I get on with it then.
As a RTS (Real Time Strategy) game Red Alert 3 allows you to take command of one of 3 factions, the Soviets, Allies and in this incarnation, The Empire of the Rising Sun. The game requires you to complete objectives how you see fit, for each level. You do this, in the usual instance, by building up your forces and structures via managing resources and power. RA3 allows you to build limitless units to wipe out your foes so long as your resources can cover it. In the Command & Conquer series, this has been Tiberium, a valuable commodity which can be harvested and turned into cash by collecting it from mines. These mines are your staple income and are well worth protecting.
Protection comes in the form of... oh wait I mentioned babes before... not that kind – base protection, comes in the form of turrets for the most part, but as they always say a strong defence is a strong offence. The best way to stop the enemy trying to blow your base up, is to stop the enemy. Your troops come in the land, sea and air flavour and allow you to build troops and vehicles from the designated buildings. Red Alert 3 is a singular unit management game, rather than some other RTS's that are squad based, only allowing you to select said squad. This means that if you want to build a big group of units you can, assigning them all to a squad and sending them off to do whatever, but if you want to sneak in a spy you can focus your time solely on him. I've never been too sure on which I prefer out of the two as squad based games are usually one for the hardcore route, whereas singular unit RTS games tend to just become a spam-fest of units depending on who has the most resources.
What can help to turn the tide are special abilities. You gain these as you earn experience for completing combat and objectives. The points you gain can be spent on powerful abilities which, while have a long reset time, are well worth using. Another option, perhaps best reserved for multiplayer is to play all 3 sides and pick one that strikes a chord with your natural playing style. Worth noting that all 3 have different strong and weak points to be aware of. This is something that's always important and helps to balance the game, which RA3 has done a good job of from the time I've spent blowing people up.
The one thing that stands out between the factions is how well they've scored the music, tailored the actors and honed their mentality. The strong and patriotic Soviets, the honourable and stoic East or the loud and proud, light-'em-if-you-got-'em British and Americans. Ah yes, one point I would like to make is – has anyone been to England recently? Who the hell talks like that any more? And if there is someone who does they're probably so far inbred they've likely reverse engineered their DNA so far back they breathe water. Anyway, loving the score, particularly the rehashed Hell March and Rising Sun intro theme which is somewhat “Ghost in the Shell” in it's seasoning. Kudos to the composers.
At the end of the day, when all's said and done, I enjoyed the game enough for something that didn't offer a huge set of features of the last in the series, but was well worth the play for the cutscenes, humour and baps. Although you could always search for Jenny McCarthy on Google images without the 'safe search' filter on – but then, I didn't tell you to do that. Did I?
8/10
