Ever since knowing that this game is going to include War Bears and militarized human cannons, I knew that this game is not going to take itself seriously. It certainly did not disappoint.
The game recycles the premise that made the first game catchy, only this time Albert Einstein is the one who gets zapped out of reality instead of Hitler (whose fate is unknown, though the Einstein slain could be the same one who offed the would-be Fuhrer).
The game stars some well-known actors, along with some B-grade ones and a bunch of otherwise-beautiful airheads (or at least the women are forced to star as airheads). All of them were prodded to produce the campiest, cheesiest acting ever seen in the Command & Conquer series, and possibly in PC gaming too. Even so, to borrow a popular oxymoron, it's so bad that it's good. That is all I dare write about the real-life acting portion of this game.
All three factions have their own unique traits. The Allies retain their odd non-conventional technologies, the most noteworthy being the Cryocopter and its very useful Shrink, and the Chronosphere remains the most utilitarian superweapon. The Soviets still have their "hit-hard" policies when it comes to fielding war machines, with the most noteworthy being none other than their signature Apocalypse tanks, which now get grinders and magnetic beams to introduce a tactical flavor to them.
The new faction, the typically named Empire of the Rising Sun, is obviously inspired by popular Japanese pop cultures, the most notable being mecha conventions. Having some of the units switch combat roles upon transformation is a nice touch, though not new to the Command & Conquer series.
Unfortunately, the most interesting new stuff also nearly ended up killing the game for me. Micro-management becomes more important than ever, considering that the right ability used at the right moment can pretty much turn the tide of battle, and the computer seems to be more proficient at using them (though not as efficient as I was). All these conspires to turn the single-player campaigns into some of the most difficult that I have every played so far.
Playing on-line, it seems that other players shared just about the same sentiment. Cryocopters hardly see any use and nobody bothered to use the interestingly kleptomaniacal Hammer tanks when there are the tougher Apocalypse ones. Plain vanilla and functionally inferior Empire units were very much overlooked in favor of seemingly stronger units like the King Oni. It just so happens that I played the same way in single-player and I am sure other players were like me too.
Unit voice-overs, one of the most important aspects of an RTS, are mostly top-notch, though most of the Empire units' got on my nerves, what with their stereotypical accents (more so than the Soviets'). But again, some of their lines serve to reinforce the notion that this game does not take itself seriously.
To summarize my review, Red Alert is one of the most hideous, yet most entertaining games that I have ever played.