Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 user reviews (PC)

Pros Awesome music
Great cinematics (nice actors, great performance)
Third faction

Cons Not so clever idea of co-op, especially when it forces you to have active internet connection
Cartoonish graphics to depict war, what the ...?
Dumb units like armored bears and japanese schoolgirl; red alert 2 units were more real and serious, damn

Summary This game is an abomination; an abuse of the red alert universe. And a mockery to old fans. Taken from the red alert 3 review itself; "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 doesn't take itself seriously, but that's what makes it so much fun to play."
At least you are honest abour RA3 doesn 't take itself seriously. The concept of its units and their combat abilities is moronic at best. Red Alert was all about twisted science and secret technology, dealing with real or experimental scientific theories, like tesla weapons, time travel and mind control and even exotic or unreal units of previous games, such as giant squids attacking ships or dolphins, seemed to be way more realistic than paratrooping bears wearing armor and crazy stuff like this.

Even more irritating than this is the cartoonish graphics that ruin all the atmosphere; this is war you know, not some disney cartoon! But the plague of cartoonish graphics is a trend nowadays, because they ensure children will buy it too...

The most outrageous thing though about this game, is that the campaign FORCES you to play in co-op mode and maintain an active internet connection. A new idea, fresh and renovative, i admit, but it is a huge handicap. First of all, you do not have ready access to all of your faction 's technologies for each mission; you have some, and the AI controlled pc or your co-op buddy has some other. The AI is terrible at best, and finding a buddy is not a given. Also, the co-op "thing" is not an alternative way of play, it is the only one, which means NO SOLO (in a strategy, imagine that :O ) and no entertainment at all. Plus, some people do not have internet connection.

I personally disliked the idea of renaming buildings for each faction, red alert 1+2 style was better; having barracks, war factory and battle lab for everyone is way easier to remember and not confusing at all. Same goes for the changes in the style of structure construction depending on which faction you play; it would be easier to wait a little, then click on ready and build, as in red alert 2. Especially the japanese have the most difficult and time consuming construction method.

Generally, most of the changes would be nice, as long as they were alternative gameplay methods and not totally replacing the original style. I admit they are renovative, new and original ideas, but if you look behind that, you will also notice hindrance in gameplay and needless complexing of matters.

Another nasty "detail" is that sea now becomes the most important terrace of building and combat. It wasn 't underrated or something, in the contrary, sea was a major strategic part of red alert 2. It was out of the blue that it turned out that way, many people prefer sea to remain an extra option; ground conflict is more fun and less difficult to go through.

Now the good parts of it. The music was awesome! Outstanding! Few games boast a soundtrack like this one 's! The cinematics were really great, the actors good and their performance nice. At least something remains unchanged.

To conclude, i still cry for the 40 euros i spent on it; i am still playing red alert 2 and yuri 's revenge over the internet, and I have been doing so for the last 6-7 years that i play this masterpiece non stop. After beating red alert 3 with russians, i couldn 't stand playing even one more mission further and abandoned it; i gave the game to a friend of mine as a gift for his birthday, and after playing 2 campaign missions he abandoned it too. I feel sorrow and dissapointment, as this strategy was one of my most anticipated games ever, the second being diablo 3; but as far as i can see, both of them got mercilessly ruined by cartoonish graphics and needless/perplexing renovations that ruined the classic and legendary gameplay of their respected predecessors.