The worst C&C ever made. *Spoilers*
EA's new "lets accommodate the casual gamers" campaign style is showing its dark side, by tacking an arbitrary plot line and very simplified game play mechanics. EA's attempt at recruiting famous actors feels like a very cheap attempt to impress the players. But of course, they are forgetting that people aren't stupid, and cheap improvements or star guests aren't going to distract us from the fact that the story is shallow and the game play is simplified to the point of "I almost fell asleep while playing this garbage".
Now, up to this point I got the impression that the Red Alert series took a serious tone of game play and storyline. You know, somewhat realistic units, non stereotype characters, some plot twists that you might not have guessed even before they actually occurred. Red Alert 3 put all of my expectations into a bin and threw them off a cliff, because I guessed half the plot line even before I watched the opening cinematic. Also, many units seem a bit ridiculous, like the Apc human cannon, or the armed dolphins. It doesn't really do much good to the whole seriousness of tone. It also seems that EA has hired some very attractive women to do the leading parts, i.e give mission briefings, play as commandos, then later on debase themselves for our entertainment. Yes, the campaign endings consist of nothing more than the president,premier or emperor congratulating you for your success and then the secretary seduces you to join her in a hot steaming bath. So it seems EA has lowered itself to the point of selling women to the audience, just so they will buy their games. Just to remind you EA, this is a computer game. It means I want to be able to actually enjoy a plot line and some game play, not women. If I wanted to do that, I'd go elsewhere. Bah,Whatever, at least the game play is fun, right?
Not really. Forcing us to play Co-op with a computer AI is, to say the least, obnoxious. Sometimes it seems as if to rely on a totally incompetent AI is a recipe for failure, while in other times its doing all the work for you. Neither is particularly satisfying. Resource harvesting is simplified, and the ability to build structures on water, proves to be practically useless since half the units in the game are not amphibious. You would expect a marine soldier to be able to swim, but nope, not in this game which is odd because it seems to be emphasized on sea combat. And again the niggling feeling that EA has simplified the game for the sake of casual gamers arises. Every mission is easy and the campaign is so short that you will finish it in 10 hours. What's the point of having balanced armies when there is nothing to balance them on, like actual plot or a decent campaign.
So of course, the question is - is it worth buying. Yes, it is worth buying if you don't mind the yawn inducing plot or the cheapness of the tricks EA is pulling in this game and the boring game play.
For the rest of the people, its just another uninspired title that serves only to highlight EA's ever so strong decline and ineptitude when it comes to making games.