*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
Ah good, a chance to rant about RA3.
I've been a massive fan of the Red Alert series, ever since I played the first one on a playstation demo disc at a friends house. I was only little at the time and ergo, crap, but it sparked a love for RTS games which is still strong today.
I don't hate RA3, but too many things bother me about it.
1) The plot.
Okay, so the Soviet Union is being demolished by the allies. The premier is dead (I think), and some of his goons decide to go back in time to kill Einstein and weaken the allied position. They suceed in weakening the allies, but their tampering allows Japan to become a major power.
The concept isn't bad, aside from one major problem : Where's Hitler?
In the first game, Einstein invents the chronosphere so he can go back in time to kill Hitler and prevent WW2 from ever happening. In doing so, the Soviets are allowed to become a major power. But hold on, if Einstein is dead, who kills Hitler?
Futuretech Corp?
2) Too goofy.
I think it's unusual that people seem to look at RA2 as a funny game.
There were some silly things, especially in the (I hope) non-canon expansion. I guess if armies in the real world tried to deploy little robots that leapt into tanks and ripped them to shreds from the inside, they wouldn't get far.
But RA3 is too silly. Giant anime robots with laser eyes? War bears? Come on. Things like cutscenes and the characters of the units I'll get into later.
3) Souless superweapons
This is more of a pet-peeve.
In the first game, both factions had access to atomic weapons. The Soviets had the iron curtain and the Allies had the chronosphere.
In the second game, the Soviets have nuclear weapons and the iron curtain and the Allies have the weapon control device and the chronosphere.
In the third game, there's no such thing as nukes any more! So the Soviets have... something to do with magnets? Becuase Einstein is dead, the Allies can't control the weather any more so they have... something to do with particles? But don't worry, they still have the chronosphere! Japan have the psionic decimator, which sounds awfully familiar to a superweapon of a similar name in the RA2 expansion. ooh, nice! They're teasing a connection to Yuri! So what does the weapon do?
...something to do with decimating? It certainly isn't the same as the one in Yuri's revenge anyway.
Maybe the superweapons would be better if you actually had to earn them like you did in the first two games. For evey mission you had access to these weapons, you'd have four or five where you were trying to enable their use. If this sounds lame to you, have a look at C&C 3 where you have to help to protect a GDI base while stealing the GDI launch codes for nuclear weapons. That mission by itself is more intelligent than anything in RA3, and launching that first nuke at GDI is very satisfying as a result.
4)Cutscenes.
The cutscenes in this game suck. Whether it's the obviously fake tension between Tanya and Lisa from Hollyoaks or the painfully obvious betrayal of general Khukov or 'the hoff's' lazy parody of American capitalism at the end of the game, the cutscenes never really seem to deliver a sense of urgency or develop the plot the way the old games did.
This'd be more acceptable if they were funnier. But sadly I don't think I laughed once, aside from at the pervy premier ogling a woman's bum.
5) Too easy, too short.
I'm talking about the campaign mode here. I found the AI on the offline skirmish mode to be very good.
But damn... the campaign mode in this game is a cakewalk. On hard mode, I tried to go through the game doing all the bonus objectives, and I only struggled on Japan's pearl habour, and that's more because Japan is a weak faction than anything.
I think this is because of the co-commander. Another AI on your side lets you sit by and build up while the AI deals with most of the early pressure which is what made other games in the series really tough at times.
Too short speaks for itself. IIRC, each faction has 9 missions each. That isn't enough to tell a story or to get a player used to their units. IMO, 15 missions is a good amount, and I think that was the amount used by the older games as well as C&C3 (minus the scrin).
6) Characterization
Some of the characters for these units have been seriously botched. To be fair, I like about as many as I dislike, but they should all be likeable. I liked them all in RA2, so it isn't impossible to do.
Examples:
Conscript - Sounds like he's fresh out of clown college, spouts lazy communism parodies
Flak trooper - You were in prison, we get it
Rocket angel - When have Japanese women ever acted like they were members of Destiny's Child?
Yuriko - You're a schoolgirl, we get it
Cyrocopter - You're experimental, we get it
Apocolypse - Looks like a cuddly toy
Hammer tank - You're named after a hammer, we get it
I think the factions aren't as well characterized as they could be. They all have individual traits, but I think they should be accentuated a little more. The Allies need a little more space age technology, the Soviets need to be a little more toothless in the air and water and a little stronger on land and the Japs need more stealthy units and mind control devices.
so yeah, I'm a big nerd when it comes to my red alert. Shoot me.
