Red Alert 3 has been one of the most anticipated titles this holiday season, promising players the classic tongue-in-cheek approach to strategy that this series of games, part of the Command & Conquer universe, has offered us throughout the years. The single player campaign shines by the means of a pretty intricate story portrayed by the use of very well known actors.

But one of the most fun aspects of the game is the multiplayer one, mode that I have tested along with my colleague Andrei Dumitrescu in a series of fierce matches. The battles were hard, with either side having the advantage in key moments of the game but, in the end, we had a great time. Here are the impressions after having played with the Soviets.

The units are pretty massive and a bit slow, but a lot cheaper than the other sides, which means that you can overcome your opponent with the number of units. A pretty interesting, but hard to get used to fact about the Soviets is that you have to choose the place where you want a building to be placed immediately after you give the order, after that a small building site is erected and you can see how the process takes place.  

The units are pretty classic, with most players recognizing a few from the previous Red Alert titles. One of the most useful and versatile units of the Soviet side is the Twinblade helicopter which, in great numbers, can easily massacre a full base of units, the only drawback being that it isn’t capable of air-air combat, and you must always carry a few MiG fighters with the helicopter battalion.

The super powers of the Soviets, which you unlock by fighting and earning points, are very useful, especially the Magnetic Satellite and Orbital Dump ones, which can help you take out key buildings of your opponent. The Soviet Super Weapon, the Vacuum Imploder, is extremely useful against large numbers of enemy forces, effectively sucking them into a vacuum and leaving the once mighty army of your opponent crippled. 

The naval part of the combat can easily be won by the Soviets thanks to the submarines and the feared Dreadnoughts, which can level a base with their long range rockets. Sadly, the giant squids of Red Alert 2 don’t make an appearance in this game, leaving dolphins the only animals “exploited” by this title.

A downside of the Soviets is that a lot of units and buildings have pretty low hitpoints and you really have to invest a lot in the defense of your base. The most useful units are also pretty expensive and require a lot of secondary buildings to be built before they are unlocked, meaning that you must hold off enemy attacks before you can create an Apocalypse tank or a Kirov Airship.

All in all, the Soviets are a very fun faction of this game, and players should definitely test them while battling.