A Great Console RTS despite a slightly small unit limit.
Now enough with the history and one to the review!
I'll start with the gameplay as it is the most important part of the game.
-GAMEPLAY-
Sending bears down the battlefield to Destroy your opponents troops while quickly building defenses around your base to try and stop the third players army of robotic walkers that can turn into planes with a simple press of a button (Mecha Tengus), all while trying to hide that one engineer so he can capture that oil derrick in the small corner on the map.
If any of this grabbed your attention then read on.
The Game is a fast paced 'real time strategy game' (well be called RTS from now on) in which you can pick one of three factions (The Allies, Soviets or the Empire of the Rising Sun) and play their campaign or just have a fun match of skirmish. You can build a huge base or build just enough to be able to build a large army to conquer your opponents. Though in the console versions the unit limit is 50, you should not reach it very often unless you spam units or are versing a brutal opponent.
-CONTROLS-
Obviously the console version of an RTS would be harder to control and slower than the PC version, and this game is no different. But even though it is slower, it's definitely not by a large amount.
EA has made something called the 'command wheel' and with this all you have to do is hold R1 and you have all the the selections (building options, units and their stances and many other things that I'll let you find about about yourself) shown to you on one simple wheel. The command wheel helps make the game much easier to control and while not perfect, it is better than any other console RTS I have ever played.
-STORY-
With the Soviets on the brink of a humiliating defeat to the Allies, Cherdenko and Krukov try one desperate last attempt of stopping the invasion, to travel back in time and eliminate Albert Einstein (The man who gave the Allies their technological advantage. Their plan works and now Cherdenko finds himself to be the new premier of the Soviet Union and the Allies are on the brink of defeat with only Great Briton left. But not all is well, the plan created a new much more powerful enemy, The Empire of The Rising Sun. It turns out that the Empire was secretly working to create a military superpower and was waiting to strike when the Soviets and the Allies were at their weakest. Now you are the new new commander and you have to take orders from whatever faction you chose and help them gain victory.
-GRAPHICS-
For an RTS the graphics are top notch.
The people look like people, tanks look like tanks and a building looks like a building. It basically looks the same as C&C3 but colourful and with slightly more detail on buildings. One of the best things graphically is the water, it has a nice aqua blue colour to it and the waves and ripples made by units look ASTOUNDING for an RTS. The terrain also looks decent, the sand looks sandier and the grass looks grassier and while it's not bad it's just not very good either, so I guess it is just average. But while the graphics are good there is one little problem and that is with some Allied buildings. he Allies War factory and Construction building have a symbol on the front of them that is very blurry and somewhat hard to figure out what it is at first (It's an eagle). Other than that everything about the graphics is good.
-SOUND/MUSIC-
Like everything else I have written about the sound is good.
The Explosions sound like they would be painful to be in the middle of and the gunfire sounds realistic.
I can't really say anything else about the sound effects.
The music is great! When sending the Allies tanks to the enemies base killing all units along the way you can hear the steel guitars rocking out and it really helps to give the feeling of a really extreme war.
-CONCLUSION-
Overall the game is a great console RTS which will give you dozens of hours of enjoyment if you enjoy the skirmish parts of an RTS and unlike a lot of games today it is definitely worth the price tag it carries.
Gameplay - 8/10
Graphics - 9/10
Controls - 7/10
Story - 8/10
Sound/Music - 9/10
Overall I give the game an 8/10.