Revolutionary Features, Pesky Bugs.
Pros
The naval front-line: This induces the player to scout the enemy, not only for potential resource and weak spot but to also analyze the enemy's key front. This also poses the question, "Would the enemy take the seas or stick to land?" It also allure the commanders because there are resources on the sea, thus making it a viable front to capture. This also prevents the simplicity of massing plaguing the previous Command and Conquer series under EA and/or EA/Westwood.
A mixture of units for each faction: Each faction holds a theme for their array of units that they can deploy to the battlefield. Allies sport mobility, which is symbolized by IFVs, Riptides, and Vindicators, yet with some armor to make up for the overall lack of meat, such as Guardians and Assault Destroyers. Soviets are all about brute force and firepower, like the previous games and China from C&C Generals. It is satisfying to build a seemingly unconquerable battalion of Apocalypse and send it to the enemy's doorsteps. The same can be said of Kirovs. The mix of cheap and expensive brute force makes the soviets a pleasant experience. The japanese forces hold to the theme of flexibility, signified by Tengus, VXs, and Sea/Sky Wings. Japanese forces do not lack power, where the power part is portrayed by Oni, Wave-Force Artillery, and Shogun Battleships. Relatively balanced with thematic design for each factions, RA3 is a worthy game.
Simplified building system compared to the previous games with SAGE engine: SAGE engine has the notoriety of having the most cumbersome building system. Its rotation is crude and hard to control, but in RA3, the grid system simplified it and made it easy to organize a base.
Co-Commanders: It is both a blessing and a curse to RA3. It is a blessing because it is one of the few RTS that allows the human commander to directly order the computers (although there are some computer controlling method in custom maps of Blizzard, but never one in standard maps of Blizzard games such as SC and WCIII.) It is also a curse, because the co-commander commanding feature is lacking, thus making it difficult for the human to effectively control them and fit their strategy to theirs. However, It is satisfying to get a favorite co-commander and see them use their tactics to remove the enemy (For example, Lissette using cryocopters to shrink enemy vehicles into puny things that the player's vehicle or her vehicle can crush)
Music: The BGM is very good and it fits the RA theme. Klepacki returned to compose HM3 and remixes of HM1 and HM2 (I prefer the remix of HM1), and the theme soundtrack "Soviet March" is amazing even for many of those that who do not like the Soviets in game. Battle theme musics tend to be exciting and is a definite stimulus for an adrenaline rush especially in the heat of the battle.
Bye, Bye, massing and speed producing!: The base defenses cost relatively cheap, but the build time is long (with the exception of Japanese forces). Also, the lack of fun caused by promoting massing as in RA2 and C&C3 is out of question when this game creates a difficulty predicting the enemy tactics/strategy.
Encouraging light battles and probing of defenses: The security points for secret protocol is gained faster when the forces are in battle. However, it does not help in conserving forces like in real world strategy.
Many routes to victory: this again refers back to the new naval frontline, where massing will no longer ensure victory as surgical strikes are far more common and more effective than the C&C games plagued by a proliferation of massing and brute/simplified blitzkrieg grinding.
Cons
BUGS: EA games are notorious for being filled with bugs, and RA3 is no exception. In the foreign versions, the game crashes after the player beats Empire Mission 3 or Allied Mission 3, which is a sad reality. The world builder doesn't work for foreign versions either, although EA_Mastermind has given an unofficial solution in the EA forums.
Poor Pathfinding: Another plague that RA3 has is the pathfinding. It is very annoying when the units, especially cores and MCVs do not follow orders when they are ordered to move from land to water. This is most serious in maps like the Burnout Paradise.
Gender Appeal: Compared to the other RA games, where there were some women in the game, RA3 is loaded with girls. Sure, it is fun playing with some of the female co-commanders, but a good deal of promotion uses the girls (such as the poster that comes with a expensive edition). It does not help, but rather hurts because it gives EA a image of being as low as using sexual appeal to get the consumers.
Reversion to the old one man infantry system: I liked the squad system in C&C3, and it is rather nice that infantry in C&C3 gets a bigger role in terms of firepower and tactics than other games. Unfortunately, the squad system in BFME2 and C&C3 does not come into this game, thus making it difficult to create a apparently overwhelming force using infantry number. (Works best against beginners as it is rather humorous to see them react to a vast wave of weak infantry when they could be countered easily)
World Builder: What would anger the customer is that World Builder have problems with the foreign versions of the game. It is very aggravating since some, like myself, like making their own maps