Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 [PC]

Playing as the Soviets is actually much more straightforward and easier than playing as either the Empire or the Allies. As such, they'll probably be a magnet for new players who can learn that the most important thing the Russians can do is just get into the fight and start shooting. Many of their Top Secret protocols such as Magnetic Singularity (which drags nearby vehicles to a single point), Toxic Corrosion and Orbital Drop are designed to deny ground control to the enemy and force them to move to where the Russians want them to go. Being where the Soviets expect you to be is almost always a bad idea.

The Dragon Wakes

Of the three sides, we spent the least amount of time with the Empire of the Rising Sun. That's not because they're not interesting. In fact, for sheer comedy, the Japanese Empire is easily the craziest and most fun to play around with. The "Tengu" vehicles which can transform from jet to 'mech walker mode quickly became favorites.

With all due respect to both Natasha and Tanya, we're also deeply in love with Yuriko, the Empire's floating psychic schoolgirl Commando unit. In terms of sheer insanity, one would be hard-pressed to pick another unit in Red Alert 3 that packs as much punch as Yuriko in both the strategic and aesthetic sense. Visually, Yuriko is about what would happen if Sailor Moon took a few tabs of LSD -- a floating Japanese schoolgirl with so much psychic power radiating from her it actually makes the air crackle with electrical discharge. Strategically, there's simply no better moment in the game than using Yuriko's telekinesis power to crush entire tanks.

The major reasons we stayed away from the Empire is that we had covered them recently at E3 and that their strategic bias doesn't fit particularly well with the way we enjoy playing an RTS. The Japanese in Red Alert 3 are all about stealth and maneuverability. As the only empire that doesn't require ground control to build structures, we found that one of the most effective strategies was to spread our base facilities out as far as we could and be prepared to pull up stakes and move out at a moment's notice.

This, along with some very precise and situation-specific secondary powers on our Empire units, made a side that's much more dependent on micromanagement than either of their counterparts. It's not hideously micro-intensive when compared to certain other games on the market (we were certainly able to get the hang of using them), but considering how simple the other sides are to use by comparison, Japan may end up drawing a smaller percentage of the eventual player base.

The Long Twilight Struggle

In the end, of course, the best and worst thing we could say about our time in the Red Alert 3 beta is that the game seems to be shaping up into a classic Command & Conquer title. The C&C franchise has always occupied a rather unique place in the RTS ecosystem. Unlike games that have deeper or more foresight-driven strategic models, C&C games are muscular push-and-pull contests where fast reactions to what your opponent is doing are as important as your own unit mix and logistical planning. Basically Red Alert 3 is as much about the "real-time" as it is about the "strategy." That's just fine with us. Give us a game that combines solid strategy, adrenaline-fueled mayhem and parachuting Communist wildlife and we're happy.

Red Alert 3 is due for release this October.

Check out what IGN had to say about the beta.

Want to get into the beta yourself? It's available for download on FilePlanet.

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