Ever wondered what a Hollywood version of Red Alert would look like? Then look no further! Red Alert 3 has done it!
Let's start with the single player campaign. Each and every side has a woman to give you info on every mission. And every time they talk it sounds like they're hitting on me. Which normally would be fine but putting the name Command and Conquer on a game like this is just plain wrong.
And that's only one thing. The campaign itself is ridiculously easy. I mean I played every mission on hard difficulty and finished it in less than 15 minutes without any real effort. Now either I'm THAT good or EA just doesn't want gamers using their brain too much. I mean how else would people buy their games if they did?
Also, let's not forget the fact that EA is forcing us to play online ALL the time. Before every mission, the game asks whether you want to play solo or in co-op mode with another player. And if you don't, the co-op player will be an AI which is as stupid as can get. And annoying, with their weird accents and crappy lines. Unfortunately, it's the same guys talking in Skirmish mode, and every time I attack they're all "Your armies are weak","You can't handle my attacks". And when they lose, all they can say is "You got lucky" or something of the sort. Talk about confidence. They really don't want you feeling good about yourself when you win in this game.
There are more things that bug me, but I feel that there is no need to mention all of them. Let's look at the overall gameplay with each team..
Allies: Worst team ever! I instantly hated this game because the Allies were the worst team I had ever encountered. I would be giving this game a much worse review if I hadn't played Soviets and Japanese. I actually liked the Allies in Red Alert 2. Plus they have the most annoying commanders. The British dude that won't shut up, the almost but not quite adult girl who keeps reminding us not to underestimate her but in the end she is as lousy as all of them, and the proud American soldier who isn't as annoying as the other two, surprisingly.
Tanya is absolutely... I don't even have a word to describe her in this game. First of all she's ugly. She sucks in battle. Her voice is lame. Well that's all I need. The hero from RA2 has been turned into a laughing stock.
Soviets: This team is actually worth it. Combining all kinds of different troops and tanks in a nice way makes this a decent team. However they do too have some problems, but then again who doesn't? A great overall team. (Also, is it just me or are Kirovs a little overpowered?)
By the way, Natasha kicks ass in this game. Calling airstrikes on the enemy is awesome. One-hit KO. Bam outta there. NEXT.
Empire of the Rising Sun: Don't have much to say here, because I haven't played with them too much. All I can say is that they're pretty good but I don't like the fact that their buildings can't be instantly deployed.
Woah would you look at that. Pretty long review. Anyway I'm not a big fan of the game, but it wasn't as bad as people claim it to be.
P.S. From the above many of you might deduct that I am a big EA hater. Well the truth is I never really had a problem with them until now. C&C Generals and C&C3 Tiberium Wars were both excellent games. It's Red Alert 3 that won the Hollywood RTS of the year award.
3/1/2010 Edit: After giving it some thought I decided that RA3 was worth some more than I give it credit for. I mean sure the single-player campaign was stupid and easy, the Allies sucked, but other than that it was a pretty good game to be honest.
My outburst was partly because I hated the fact that the sequel to one of my favorite games of all-time was in fact not that good. I always start with the campaign in these kind of games, and guess how bad it was here. And also because I started playing skirmish games with the Allies due to my preference for them in RA2.
However, like I said, after giving it some thought, I believe it deserves more than that. First of all, the soundtrack is awesome. I admit that it would be better if Frank Klepacki was the one to compose, but I'll settle for what we got here. It's very good. Also, the game emphasizes aquatic warfare. As a kid I played a lot of RTS games and very few of them had any kind battleships or submarines. I've always been fascinated by water and found it rather disappointing to know that there were few games to actually use battleships and submarines or anything of the sort for that matter (Not that there are many games like that nowadays). RA3 focused a lot in that department and that's something I can really appreciate.
Like I said before I hated the fact that even the SINGLE-player campaign had online features (which thankfully weren't mandatory). But the online games themselves are really not that bad. This can be a very competitive game and as a Command and Conquer game it is very fast paced and, well... it's one hell of a fight.
After rethinking all these things I must admit this game does not deserve an 5.5, so I'm switching to the more appropriate in my opinion, 7.0.