We need to be ready, or you could say, we need to be on RED ALERT……

Okay, so I decided that I would do a review on the series I love – Command and Conquer. This is also the first time I’ve gotten a CnC game less than 3 years since it was released, and also managed to have almost a whole day to play on it so close to getting it.
The first thing you experience when booting the game is the top class live action cut scenes employed by the CnC franchise. The first, along with introducing the backstory to the game, also begins to introduce the star studded cast (including, but limited to, Gemma Atkinson, George Takei and Tim Curry) and the 3 playable factions.

The first is the Soviet Union, who are on the defensive from the Allied Nations, the second faction. Two high ranking Soviet military leaders travel backwards in time, killing Einstein and removing the technological advantage Einstein had given the Allies. Travelling back to the future, the Soviets discover a new threat inadvertently created from their actions – The Empire of the Rising Sun. The full cut scene (without invasion) can be viewed below -

Now that’s out of the way, I can indulge in what is the main bulk of the game – The Game play. In my opinion, the CnC games have always had the best control mechanism of all real-time strategy games I’ve played, with a simple menu at one side of the screen for easily accessing all your different build queues, without having to locate each different structure for each unit.
This third instalment into the series also plays up on the character of each faction, with the Allies using Chrono technology, allowing for time and space travel, and their low violence units, the Soviets with their all out fighting style and cheap labour, and finally the Empire, who have the most advanced technology for their structures and units.
Each faction also employs a different build system, the Allies’ structures being built before being erected on the field, hiding your strategies, and the Soviets building theirs on the field, allowing for structures to be attacked during the build process, but also allowing for intimidation, especially where defensive structures are involved. Both of these production techniques have been employed in other games (more often the Soviet method, only with some sort of construction unit), but the Empire have the most unique type (although I’m not saying this hasn’t ever been used), constructing structures from special units that have short build times, but long deploy times. This technique, although putting your structures under fire, can help you to build up a base fast, ready for the enemy’s oncoming waves. One major new feature is the inclusion of naval expansion, allowing you to build most of your base on water, and, due to the inclusion of many amphibious units, allow you to ambush the enemy via water.

The CPU of CNC has always been a picky subject, especially over their physical strength and tactical moves. The main problems always seems to lie with the easy CPUs, spamming you constantly with infantry and light vehicles. Their base defences also mainly consist of units, and this may not affect you if you can use distractionary forces well. This problem doesn’t  translate into the higher levels of CPU, but my personal experience with them is not too high.

The graphics of the game are awesome, and although I may not be able to experience them fully on only Very Low (It crashes on Low even), at this level they still look amazing, with vibrant colours and great textures. The map designs are top notch, with a range of garrisonable buildings for your troops. Ever map also includes plenty of water, vital for building up your navy.

The game also features three campaign modes for each faction as well, with thought out structures, and plenty of varied missions too. Each mission is played with another CPU commander, and sometimes they could be classed as being an annoyance, but they can be useful at times. This co-op is of course meant for mainly 1 thing – online. Fans of online play will not be disappointed by the amount on offer. All missions can be played with real people, and skirmishes can also be played with up to 7 other people, which help to add more life into the game after completing all missions and playing the life out of CPU enemies.

Overall, I think Red Alert 3 is a great inclusion into the CNC family, with fantastic gameplay and vibrant graphics. Problems are few and far between, and even those can be looked over.

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