Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
	;
Game Series	Command & Conquer series
Type	Real Time Strategy
Developer	EA Los Angeles
Release date	28th October 2008

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is an RTS game produced by Electronic Arts(EA), intended to be the eighth game in the Command & Conquer series, and the third in the Command & Conquer: Red Alert universe It is seen as a continuation of the Red Alert series, using the style of Red Alert 2, and it's expansion, Yuri's Revenge. For this reason, the game is seen as cartoony and humorous, styles which were not present in Red Alert, which has led to many members of the public decrying this as a not a true continuation from the original Red Alert Series. Red Alert 3 like it's predecessors features the Allies and the Soviets with the Empire of the Rising Sun making their début. The release date was dubbed by the EA marketing department as 'Red October'.

Gameplay

Red Alert 3 makes use of the latest improvements in the SAGE engine to allow for several new forms of gameplay, compiling them into a new engine known as RNA. The most obvious of these is the use of water to a far greater degree than in any other previous RTS. The game allows the player to build on both land and water to equal effect, as well as allowing the player access to many amphibious units that can traverse both the seas and the land to target their enemies. Following in the vein of Red Alert 2 there are many strange and 'wacky' units that can be produced by the player. These include vehicles such as the Allied Assault Destroyer, which has a main gun which is able to shoot submerged submarines, enemy units and structures. It's special ability is the "Black Hole Armor", which draws all fire towards the Assault Destroyer and not at the other, weaker Allied units. However, should a target stray beyond the range of the Battleship on the sea, the Assault Destroyer is able to move to the edge of the water and uses treads to gain access to the land, thus becoming an equally dangerous force to reckon with out of it's initial environment. Other original units include the Bullfrog, an amphibious Flak-spitting Anti-Aircraft unit, that can also transport troops, ejecting them from the vehicle with the use of a man-cannon, shooting them into the air, and then letting the troops paradrop to their intended destination, but gains a weakness they normally shouldn't possess: They can be shot down while flying and parachuting.

Storyline

The storyline of Red Alert 3 revolves around the concept of time-travelling. In the first of the Red Alert series, Albert Einstein went back in time to erase Adolf Hitler, and hence prevent World War II, only to create an alternate future where the Allies and Soviets fight for world domination. This is used as a catalyst for events in Red Alert 3, in which the Soviet Empire returns to the past to erase Albert Einstein. Unfortunately, by doing so, they again create an alternate future, where a third world power, the Empire of the Rising Sun, becomes as equally dominant and aggressive as the Allies and the Soviets, plunging the world into another war against a very mobile and technologically advanced faction.

FMVs and Cast

The Red Alert series has always been noted for it's FMV sequences, combined with graphical effects, to portray the story to the player. Red Alert 3 is no exception to this rule, and has hired many well known professional actors and actresses to portray the characters of the storyline.

Allied Nations

Special Agent Tanya, played by Jenny McCarthy - the Allied 'Hero Unit', Special Agent Tanya is an elite agent capable of demolishing structures and tanks with C4, as well as defeating entire squads of infantry with her impressive pistol skills. She also has a device known as a Chrono-Belt, which can transport her back in time by five seconds, meaning that she can avoid sticky situations even after she gets into them
President Howard T. Ackerman, played by J. K. Simmons - the President of the United States of America
Field Marshal Robert Bingham, played by Jonathan Pryce - a British General
Lt. Eva McKenna, played by Gemma Atkinson - intelligence officer.
Commander Warren Fuller, played by Randy Couture - a Commander in the Allied Army

Empire of the Rising Sun

Yuriko Omega, voiced by Lisa Tamashiro - the 'Hero Unit' for the Empire of the Rising Sun, Yuriko has psionic abilities, and is capable of devastating any unit on the battlefield by such use. She resembles no more than a mere schoolgirl, and it is thought that she was subject to great scientific experimentation before her abilities developed.
Emperor Yoshiro, played by George Takei - Lord of the Rising Sun
Suki Toyama, played by Kelly Hu - the Japanese officer who briefs and assists the player.
Crown Prince Tatsu, played by Ron Yuan - the Crown Prince of the Empire of the Rising Sun

Soviet Union

Natasha Volkova, played by Gina Carano - the Soviet 'Hero Unit', little is yet known about this character beyond her status within the game and her abilities as a great rifle markswoman.
Premier Cherdenko, played by Tim Curry - the Soviet Premier, he is the successor to the Romanov legacy, and is responsible for the removal of Albert Einstein from the timeline, and as a result, is the creator of the alternate timeline.
Dr. Gregor Zelinsky, played by Peter Stormare - the scientist who created the time machine used to such devastating effects in the storyline.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is being composed by three separate artists. James Hannigan and Timothy Michael Wynn are to both score new sections of music for the game, and are credited with some of the new themes from the game. Much to the initial dismay of fans, Frank Klepacki, the composer of both Red Alert's and Red Alert 2's infamous soundtracks, including the immortalised Hell March, Klepacki was quoted as saying while he would love to return to score the game, his contract with Petroglyph games would almost certainly not allow it. To many fans' delight, Klepacki was later announced as the third composer of the ingame score, and was also confirmed to be re-working his Hell March theme for the game.

Public Beta Testing

Prior to the release of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars - Kane's Wrath, Electronic Arts revealed that on the game manual would be Beta Keys that would allow the possessor to access the public beta of Red Alert 3 if the key were registered prior to September 15th 2008. Seen by some as an advertising ploy for Kane's Wrath, the beta program has nonetheless been both popular and fruitful, with the community having reported many hundreds of bugs and balance fixes back to EA Los Angeles. On July 24th, the beta version was rolled out to Key owners, based upon the time at which they registered, and their geographical location. Following a month of successful testing, on 22nd August, FilePlanet.com revealed that it had a limited number of Beta Keys that could be distributed to it's members. The public response was high, and the website had run out of Beta Keys within 24 hours of posting the news. Initially scheduled to end on 26th September, the beta testing period was extended for three days longer, eventually closing on 29th September 2008.

SecuROM

Red Alert 3 is currently scheduled to come integrated with SecuROM technology, which has in turn led to great public outrage due to the immense unpopularity of the scheme. The SecurROM technology dictates that this game can only be installed four times, at which point the game cannot be installed again without first contacting EA customer support. This process must then be repeated every following time that the game wishes to be installed. Furthermore, activation of the installation must also occur, and these are in turn limited in the number of times in which they can be obtained. This has lead to people talking of not buying the game, but simply 'renting' it from EA until their uses have been used up.