14 DAY TRIAL // Note: This article is best read while playing, as loud as your neighbors can stand it, all versions of Hell March that you can get your hands on.
The premise of Red Alert 3 is simple. Facing defeat, the Soviets decide to use a time machine in order to go back in time and kill Albert Einstein, the guy who powered the technological advantage of the Allies. Doing so means no more nukes but one more Empire which wants to take over the world, the Empire of the Fading Sun. Throw in superweapons, impressive cut scenes and you get what might be the best Red Alert yet.
14:00. Loading screen looks nice. Intro begins.
14:05. The intro cinematic is well put together although Mister Takei, aka Zulu from Star Trek, is trying too hard to be the Emperor.
14:10. Whom to choose for the first campaign? I'm thinking the Allies mainly because I need some good guy karma in order to balance out issues related to my current play session with Fallout 3. So, Allies it is.
14:17. Damn, that was some rather bad acting in the first cut scene. The chick especially should get the boot after that first take. Let's see some game. But no, there's another mission briefing, this one taken from a tactical perspective. Because I am not getting anybody to do co-op with me, I receive an AI controlled partner named Price. He seems a bit too aloof for his own good. I hope the Russians get him and I take all the glory of defending Brighton for myself.
14:20. It seems like a mission with no base building. I was expecting something like that but not on the first mission.
14:25. Scratch that. There's base building. I must defend myself against paratroopers and I guess later we'll also be having some Soviet navy units showing up in time for tea (the reference is there because I am defending England, after all).
14:30. Putting people in garrison appears to make them too powerful. I lost one guy and took out three waves of Ruskies. Now I must man some beach guns.
14:35. Hey, it seems like I can unlock a superpower. Something Cryo, which means I can freeze people. And my little companion, Price, really does a good job of taking care of himself.
14:40. Is it just me or does Red Alert 3 seem a bit soulless? The buildings look more generic than anything I've seen in the second game in the series and the Soviets’ zeppelins, which I've just destroyed by the dozen, are somehow less impressive. Even the armored bears that drop from the sky seem more like a gimmick than a tough enemy.
14:50. I have managed to win the first mission and have been congratulated by the nice British liaison officer.
Will I play more of this? Yes, but mainly because it's Red Alert and I've had a thing for the series since the first game was released.