Red Alert may just be the game that EA hasn’t spoiled the title for. Why?

‘Red Alert 3″ on October 31 for sale in the United Kingdom, as of Nov. 1 the week, only a two-day sale of “Red Alert 3″ among British computer game of the week ranked second in sales.’ – source

Was it reaaaaally a good game? Read on to find out! Sojourner will also input a few ‘thoughts’.

The P-Meister’s Opinion

Was the game brilliant? IMHO, I think its a good game with pretty high requirements and its kinda MEH when it comes to using Japanese. It does however appeal to the mecha fanboy side of me and I think EA should release a series based on mechas. their ideas aren’t terrible, except the realism and meshing of the pieces together ain’t done well enough. It feels as if the Rising Sun’s units were thought out by a weaboo. Oh well. Still, it deserves a proper rating.

Gameplay 7.5/10

The game is generally fast paced, but a lot of vehicles are amphibious and in many cases, having a naval base = win. I don’t really like the idea of having too many amphibious units. Still, it tries to mimic the importance of navy in the real world and probably a teeny weeny bit of credit should be given for that.

IMHO, things get built too fast. There ‘s always something to do without really considering strategy. Basically, if you can click fast, you already have a slight advantage over the enemy. This isn’t particularly bad, for after getting used to the controls, the commander will realise that he can’t do everything according to a perfect ‘strategy’, which is why he will need to consider the enemy’s work and scouting. Scouting isn’t particularly effective however for scout units die like ants, except in early game.

Early game units are also predictable, and thus a commander must consider what he wishes to focus on. This can be good for those who like to have a lot of option in their hands, but terrible for those who like to concoct a huge battle plan for the building/unit production rate is so fast that destroying a small army will only yield to further counter tactics. Don’t bother specialising. I know in RA2, a lot of players like to specialise, eg, build a lot of war factories etc. Since countering is much easier and faster, one should attempt to have a more balanced build rather than a specialised one.

Unlike certain C&C games, the engineers work via a 1 engineer 1 building system. Thus the engineer + transport rush is viable in crippling a base with weak defenses. However, if the vehicles die, all the engineers die. =( This is a part of the game where special care is needed for not all will be able to respond to an amphibious engineer rush. Some engineers can even swim.

Resource-wise, RA3 is very simple. The easiest way to get resources is to have a refinery. 1 refinery to 1 source. The second method is to capture oilrigs. Plain and simple, even better than Generals. A plus point.

CO-OP missions are a very special bonus. It can be really nice to be able to play with a buddy, two against one, especially the campaigns and not the skirmishes. This is one of the few reasons one should buy the game. Little RTSs provide such coop situations. If one doesn’t wish to coop, a cpu will manage the other team, and the cpu isn’t particularly bad.

Graphics 7.5/10

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VxRxBWvGPBM

Its meant to be watched in HD so I didn’t bother to embed it. generally, the graphics look nice and cartoony. It doesn’t suit all and it definitely doesn’t suit me either. Unit selection is made obvious due to an outline of your faction’s colour so you know who you are selecting.

As an anime mecha fan, I like the fact that there were mechas that can transform into planes(Tengus) as well as a humanoid mecha. The animation is pretty smooth too. One thing that bothered me was the map. The map wasn’t detailed.

I could have made an entire list of things but here are the stuff that bothered me the most:
Does the bear really fit into red alert?
The shinobis shurikens were too big.
The tanks look like toys.
Seriously, the King Oni would be no match to a Gundam. Make some Gundams!
The water animation looks too beautiful, which makes the rest of the world… uh, duller.

It certainly is not the best nor the worst, but reasonable. I give it an 8.

Storyline 4/10

Now, the storyline is shallow and makes little sense, so if you want something like Starcraft, then this is definitely not for you. RTSs generally don’t have v good storylines anyway. The Empire of the Rising Sun sounds like an anime fantasy put into a game with poor excuses of a distorted spacetime continuum. It does meet the bare requirements of explaining what happens and its user friendly. If you never played the previous RAs, its still ok to play the campaign.

Bonus points 10/10

The cinematics seemed to have been made by porn directors. Every mission was rushed so that I could see the girls in different poses. Lets look at the video.

Sojourner’s Input

Upon watching the allied ending, Sojourner spoke to me on MSN @ 3 am last nite.

‘OMFG! WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU GET THOSE VIDEOS!!?‘ – Sojourner

‘I’m going to sleep, gnite, what are u gonna do?’ – P-Meister

‘I’M GOING TO FIND MORE OF THESE ENDINGS!!‘

‘Pervert…’

‘Make sure you blog about this!!‘

Learning objectives 10/10!!

OF COURSE. TEH L@ST AND MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION: what can we learn from this game!?

Well, we can certainly learn that Russian girls don’t sleep with their commanders.

It is an important lesson and I hope you bear this in mind when you have a russian working under you.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

Apart from the precious learning objectives, it seems like we know something else, EA is changing their marketing strategy. Did they do it right? Uh… oh well. The girls sure hit the sales but DRM remains a problem. The patch that ‘helps nullify’ DRM is out. Still, it doesn’t do much to an angered community. I hope EA will know that DRM doesn’t help prevent piracy but hurt the legal buyers only. I certainly hope the upcoming EA game, Dragon Age: Origins will do very well. I have faith that EA will slowly change to care more about their customers.

To buy or not? If you have a buddy to play coop with, buy it. If you like sexy girls, buy it. If you want a personal epic experience like starcraft: I think such games don’t exist in RTSs anymore.