Great Multiplayer/Skrimish/Co-Operative. Too easy Single Player. Too many story bugs.
Idea/Originality:
Red Alert 3 now is placed in a new third timeline. Russian's in the desperate time realizing that they will lose the war went back in time and killed Einstein, the man responsible for the invention of nuclear weapon, Chronosphere device, Prism towers. Without Einstein, there are no nuclear weapons. And there is a new faction The Empire of the Rising Sun. Now in Red Alert 3 you have Allies, Soviets and The empire of The Rising Sun. Each faction has a distinct story lines .
Storyline:
Well the ultimate goal in all factions, depending who will you join are the same. Destroy all others factions. Since I don't want to write any plot spoilers, i have nothing else to add to this part of the review.
Sound/Music:
Frank Klepack has returned to score soundtrack for Red Alert 3. Like in any score he created for Command & Conquer series, he again created unique soundtrack that fits perfectly for Red Alert 3. The music is great. There is only one track that I personally don't like, the track for The Empire of the Rising Sun.
Mission updates/Debriefing/Quests:
In Red Alert 3 like in any Command & Conquer series you have briefings from your Prime Minister, General or Emperor. In the game they always give you mission update, and further information. And the enemy commander curse you when you defeat them or laugh at you if you loose the game. Even when you play Skirmish the computer co-commander will great you, and the enemy commander will also announce its presence. For Skirmish this is a great add that I personally like. Actors chosen for Red Alert 3 are all well known, well most of them. All actors played their part perfectly and I don't have any remark. They did their best, even thou in my opinion some parts of the script were terrible.
Gameplay:
Even thou Red Alert has now even more unusual units, the gameplay is still great. I played Red Alert 3 for hours and hours. They now added an option to play co-operative with another player which is a great, but the game difficulty was TOO easy !!! I finished all three campaigns on hard with no problem. Playing Command & Conquer 3 on hard difficulty was really hard, but not in Red Alert 3 campaign. This is my great remark for Single Player campaign. While in skirmish, computer opponents on hard difficulty are hard to defeat. Not that hard but certainly much harder than Single Player campaigns.
I forgot to mention that in Red Alert 3 you as commander have a set of skills and abilities, as you gain level in the battlefield you can chose skills, like throwing down satellites on your enemies or upgrading you troops even more. Something like in Command & Conquer Generals.
A.I. :
Computer opponent's have the same strategy moves, but like I said in previous part, Single Player was too easy even on Hard difficulty. So it is hard to argue about computer A.I. although in Skirmish, they will strike you Harder on hard difficulty. So basically I didn't find any error or bad moves from computer opponents.
Weapons/Armor/Upgrades:
Every unit in Red Alert 3 has a second type of weapon or ability. Having more abilities, your units are now more useful. This game made a new step and brought robots. The Empire of the Rising Sun has a unit called "King Osi", which is something like tall walker stronger than Soviets Mammoth Tank. Allies still have those defense towers even thou Einstein don't exist any more. He couldn't invent Chronosphere device or Prism tower. They removed nuclear weapons for the Soviets, and instead gave them Vacuum imploder. The whole reason Soviets went back in time to eliminate Einstein was because he invented all those great weapons and defenses which made Allies too powerful. And now even without Einstein they still have all those weapons plus very strong aircrafts and naval force. For me this is a big remark, even thou there are some great units and every unit has a second skill. The fact that Allies have the same weapons that Einstein gave them is a big game bug.
Multiplayer/Skirmish/Cooperative:
Multiplayer/Skirmish/Cooperative is the part that saves the entire game. Computer opponents in Skirmish are great. I played many hours battling in Skirmish. Now you can play Single Player campaigns with your friend cooperative. Or if you play on your own there will be a computer player filing that part. Although they sometimes loose the battle leaving you on your own, but since the game difficulty is easy there is no problem. Beginning with Red Alert 2 there is no more Tech level option in skirmish like in Red Alert 1, and with Red Alert 3 there is no option for super-weapons. You will always have to fight against computer opponents with Super-weapons like Vaccum Imploder. Sometimes I want to test my tactics skills using only units. It's hard when they use their Vaccum imploder on your base, bombard you with they special abilities, and then strike you with large army of air and land bombarders , or Sea Aircraft carriers. Even thou there are none of these options anymore, it is still fun too play.
Graphics:
Graphics are great. Explosions, lighting, land and sea effects are really great. When the aircraft hits water you can see it sinking down to the bottom of the sea. There is nothing else to add. Graphic are great in my opinion.
Requirements:
The game is not too demandful like many new games, you can play it on your old computer with no problem. This is a big plus.
As I said before in this rewiew
My Score:
1) Idea/Originality (+/-)
2) Storyline (+/-)
3) Sound/Music (+)
4) Mission updates/Debriefing/Quests (+)
5) Gameplay (+/-)
6) A.I. (+/-)
7) Weapons/Armor/Upgrades (-)
8) Multiplayer/Skrimish/Cooperative (+)
9) Graphic (+)
10) Requirements (+)