Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Xbox 360, 2008)

For many real time strategy games, the Command and Conquer franchise is something akin to Final Fantasy of the RPG genre or how Madden is to sports; they ARE the standard in their respective genre. Since the mid 1990s Command and Conquer set the bar high on how RTS games should be with building menus, console interface (ever tried to command whole units with just a cumbersome controller?), cut scenes, and story. Command and Conquer traditionally also have a stellar cast of characters played by big Hollywood actors including James Earl Jones, Michael Beihn, Michael Ironside, Billy Dee Williams, etc.

That said, after finishing up the last of the Empire of the Rising Sun (Japanese) campaigns, I am happy to say that Red Alert 3 lives up to the tradition set forth by its predecessors.

For those of you, who are not familiar with Command and Conquer or are a casual gamer, here is what you need to know. Red Alert 3 is a real time strategy game where you, utilizing a bird's-eye-view, build a base for your faction, raise an army and quell your enemies into proverbial dust. Simple enough?

Well, RTS games are typically for more advanced players but Red Alert 3 has an easy enough interface and, better yet, a multi-part interactive tutorial where the tanks from each faction teach you how to play. Despite being an avid RTS gamer, I thought I'd utilize the tutorial to see the new changes made to the interface and the gamer score, listening to what they had to say was worth it.

Once you have memorized how to play, you'll realize that Electronic Arts really improved the console interface. One of the largest problems with RTS games on a console as opposed to a PC is a loss of control. Ever tried to simultaneously command numerous units with a cumbersome controller? It can turn a great game into a nightmare and by that I'm referring to Supreme Commander. You feel like a lobster with oven mitts on as you would traditionally try to carefully select the units you want, which would necessitate you move individual units first into a staging area to be selected in one group. Meanwhile, some 14-year-old in Germany is kicking your backside and cursing at you like some demon child in a foreign language.

EA considerably simplified the interface by allowing the player to hold down the "A" button and a small green circle appears that the user can move around the battlefield and select any units he or she wishes. Now, if you want to control a specific kind of unit, while having the units selected you hold the right trigger and a menu pops up allowing you to only select that kind of unit. As opposed to other interfaces, this makes things a LOT less cumbersome.

*On a side note, I have not yet played Kane's Wrath so I am unfamiliar with their interface so anyone feel free to correct me if they did it first*

To makes matters more simplified, EA fixed several issues that have riddled RTS games for well over a decade. One of them was that in many RTS games if the unit is moving to a location they will blatantly ignore everyone firing at them or plow clean through them. With Red Alert 3, a player can select a fire-move order that allows the unit to engage any unit they encounter along the way but continue once they have eliminated

I'd give it a 4.5 if I could. Just throwing that out there.

Okay, well, I love RTS games. I own every Command & Conquer and a bunch of other RTS's. I won't compare this to the PC games because that isn't fair. PC controls are going to be better and the game's gonna be smoother. For a console, though, I cannot think of a way they could have made the controls better. Sure, they're a bit complicated, but that's the way it should be. RTS controls should never be over simplified (ahem...Halo Wars). It's an insult to RTS fans, but I'll save that for my Halo Wars review. Once you get the hang of the controls, which may take a little practice, they work great. It's much improved from Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.

The story is classic Red Alert. Silly, amusing and entertaining. Some Soviets go back in time and kill Eistein before the secrets of atomic bombs spreads. This prevents the Allies from having that fire power, but also allows the Empire of the Rising Sun to come to power to challenge the Allies and Soviets. The cutscenes are awesome. When I first watched them, I saw the Soviet scientist and said, "He looks and sounds so familiar." It bugged me for a week before I figured it out. He's the Russian cosmonaut from Armageddon. Awesome. There are other stars too.

The gameplay is just....AWESOME! You have a co-commander to aid you in the campaign. He will build his base on his own and do basic things on his own, but you command him. You can tell him to attack somewhere and he'll build up a force and attack there. It's great. The skirmishes aren't as fun as Red Alert 2, but they're still entertaining and can keep you busy for hours.

I was sad when EA turned Westwood Studios into EA Los Angeles, causing most of the Westwood employees to leave and make Petroglyph, but EA Los Angeles has done a good job keeping Red Alert 3 feeling like a Red Alert game. I give it a 9 out of 10.

This is a decent RTS. If you enjoy the other Command & Conquer games you will enjoy this one. In Red Alert 3, the desperate leadership of a doomed Soviet Union travels back in time to change history and restore the glory of Mother Russia. The time travel mission goes awry, creating an alternate timeline where technology has followed an entirely different evolution, a new superpower has been thrust on to the world stage, and World War III is raging. The Empire of the Rising Sun has risen in the East, making World War III a three-way struggle among the Soviets, the Allies, and the Empire, with armies fielding wacky and wonderful weapons and such technologies as Tesla coils, heavily armed war blimps, teleportation, armored bears, intelligent dolphins, floating island fortresses, and transforming tanks.

I'm a fan of RTS games and this is the first time I tried to play one on a console. I expected the controls to be very difficult but I was actually surprised to see that the controls were very easy to use after a small learning curve I was quickly doing everything as fast as if I had a mouse.

The game itself was very fun especially with the new co-op feature in the campaign which brings me to my complaints.

As much as I love this game there are still flaws one being that there is no record of what objectives you completed or whether it was with a co-op partner or not. That flaw is minor, worse is there is no match making for co-op you have to find players off of your friends list to play the campaign with you. The matchmaking seemed to be fine for vs games so it seems like it would not have been too hard to add this in.

Other than that I cannot really complain. The cut scenes were cheesy as usual but had some decent actors but that's just how red alert plays, it's not meant to be completely serious. The over the top units I think are a lot of fun so don't expect a real to life war game just have fun with it and you will.

This game is great! Not only is it an awesome real time strategy game, It pokes satirical stereotypical humor at the politicians of The United States, Soviet Union and the The Japanese Empire through real live acting!