Red Alert 3

[Shoryuken]

I enjoyed Red Alert 1 and 2 very much and I still play RA2 and Yuri's Revenge online occasionally but RA3 is kind of a disappointment to me and for a number of reasons and I've only just started the game. I miss Westwood. :(

1. It's not as fast paced. RA1 and 2 had decent amount of speed during campaign and I didn't mind huge beastly tanks moving slowly since that is understandable. But in RA3, pretty much everything moves slow and I can't stand it. I can't even kill things fast at times. It took an eternity to destroy an MCV.

2. Controls are kind of messed up now. The default mouse control is left click to select things and right click to move or attack something. You can switch it back to the old style but that shouldn't even be there. It's messing with a perfectly good formula. It's like Spore's controls. You can even rotate the camera for some reason but I don't need/care about that. Damn you EA.

The hotkeys are a bit messed up too. Either the control has been reassigned to something completely different or you have to assign it from the start.

3. The graphics are too kiddy and colorful for my taste. Especially for a war game. I liked the old 2D sprite animation a lot more than this 3D stuff. I feel like I'm playing with Lego's.

Also, if you discover terrain, it doesn't remain permanently revealed. Your soldiers have their own... I guess I'll call it a "field of view" and if you move them, the area around you just grays out again as if you never found it. I don't know if this is because I don't have a radar up yet or something but still, it wasn't like this for the old games. I don't like having to wander around to find people to kill over and over again.

4. They replaced Tanya's actress :(

The only awesome things I can think of so far are all the transforming sh*t the Japanese have and the Soviet's armored bears. I can only hope that this game gets better.

To sum it up, this is just extra crap added to Spore civilization mode.

[Crazy Jamie]

It's a shame to hear criticism like this, especially seen as I am a big fan of the series and was looking forward to seeing what could be done with a new Red Alert. How's the balance between the factions generally?

[Shoryuken]

Well the Japanese cover any terrain they damn well please since everything transforms.

Soviets are powerhouses as always. The apocalypse tanks look weird but their armor is still strong. Kirovs are back and they are actually a bit faster (which annoyed me in a mission).

Allies are pretty balanced. Their navy is still the best and their tanks still kinda suck.

If you've seen the trailer, a LOT of things are amphibious so you can attack from a lot of angles which I guess makes it more challenging.

Another thing I've left out is the campaign mode is a bit odd. You always get a partner. Whether you want to do an online Co-op (which I don't recommend. Someone decided to exit the game at the last second before I beat the mission causing me to lose) or have an NCP.

The thing about the NCP is that you can tell them where you want them to go or what to attack. Now if that's the case, I don't see why I can't be in control of the whole board. You also share credits with them so building units chunks out your money quite a bit.

EDIT: NPC* Silly, Shory.

Double EDIT: So going back on a few things I mentioned. The whole map and terrain finding thing is still true. There is no more radar structure to build and you get an overview map in the corner from the beginning. I guess that's why they sacrificed permanently revealed terrain.

Also, the apocalypse tanks can no longer shoot air targets. They can only cover land.

[Crazy Jamie]

The co-op element is interesting. I think it'll work better on the 360 because it will be more accessible, though the probable lack of popularity won't help in that regard.

[Shoryuken]

My friend is only getting the 360 version because his computer can't handle it.

[Crazy Jamie]

That would be the other reason, and is an eternal issue with PCs.

[Shoryuken]

It runs smoothly on mine save for this massive special attack japan has that rapes the screen with electricity. Chops it up quite a bit.