Let's start by making it clear that this isn't exactly the Red Alert world fans are familiar with. The story takes place in a completely different timeline, where the Soviets go back in time to eliminate Einstein, removing the Allied faction's technological superiority and rescuing the USSR from the brink of defeat. The plan works, but as usual, messing with time comes with major consequences. While the Soviets and Allies were busy fighting over Europe, a new faction called the Empire of the Rising Sun (the Japanese) seized the opportunity to improve their technology and become a superpower. Now it wants to take over the world. Fans can try to wrap their head around the story's paradox, since it was originally Einstein's trip back in time to remove Hitler from the world that created the whole Red Alert universe to start with, but it's tough to fault that plot hole when the shooting starts.

The game follows the usual Command & Conquer conventions. Soviets use heavily armored tanks and firepower to win through brute strength, but aren't big on healing or repairing units. Allies rely on technology, a superior air force, and some stealth. The Japanese anime inspired Empire has a strong navy and some of the most versatile units in the game. Yes, RA3 put the ocean back into C&C and expanded on it by allowing some structures like power plants and construction yards to be built on the water. To keep things on the lighter side, all factions have crazy over-the-top units like armored Soviet War Bears, dolphins with sonic weapons strapped to them, giant robots and a Japanese school girl with devastating psychic powers taken straight from movies like Akira.

Additionally, the Empire has the unique ability to build structures anywhere on the map, since its buildings start off as small, lightly armored, and unarmed cars. It means some extra clicking, but this brings a major advantage for the Empire when grabbing up resources. However, this is counterbalanced by the fact that the Empire is the only faction without tier 1 anti-air infantry units, leaving its bases extremely vulnerable to air assaults - almost to the point of absurdity. In fact, the Empire technically doesn't have an air force at all. Instead, some of its units pull double duty, transforming from one type of unit to another. Even defensive turrets need to transform from attacking ground targets to becoming anti-air. The problem with this is you really need to baby-sit these transforming units to ensure they adapt to each skirmish, otherwise they quickly get wiped out.

Red Alert 3 is also the first Command & Conquer game to have a cooperative campaign built-in from the ground up. Every mission will have you teaming up with another player, either human or computer controlled. Resources are split between the two players, so there's never a fight over players hogging all the ore mines. This is a fantastic feature that brings a lot of fun to the campaign, since players can coordinate with each and focus on different aspects. One player can focus on defense while the other builds up armies for attacks, and so on. Some missions only allow some players to control specific units. For example, in a mission where the player needs to sneak in with a commando unit, only one will control the commando while the other controls more standard ones.

We wished that the setup screen allowed players to choose what role they want to play, instead of having it automatically assigned, but that doesn't diminish gameplay much. Our biggest disappointment with the cooperative campaign is that it's an online-only feature. Players do not have the option to set up a LAN game for the campaign like they can with the skirmish modes. Playing online requires an EA account, and logging in automatically registers the game to that account, which is a sneaky way of putting in an extra bit of DRM on top of what's already there. From that point on, only that account user can log in with that copy of the game to play cooperative campaign. This leads to a number of different issues, the least of which being players will be unable to play co-op campaign if there's a problem with their connection. Also, the feature would be rendered almost completely useless if the RA3 multiplayer servers ever go down. Although the computer is mostly competent, it has the tendency to build structures in inconvenient spots, blocking in troops, and will destroy enemy buildings you're planning to capture. There's no way to turn co-commanders off and control everything yourself.

Lastly, there are the FMV sequences. Red Alert 3 has a slew of recognizable actors like Jenny McCarthy, Tim Curry and George Takei who take on over-the-top roles from an equally quirky storyline. It's weird listening to Tim Curry's Russian accent - an accent that occasionally gets dropped by some of the other actors - but the issue is easy to forgive since the Red Alert series isn't meant to be taken too seriously to begin with. Although we'll always think of Kari Wuhrer as Tanya from playing Red Alert 2, Jenny McCarthy gives an acceptable performance and has a lot of fun with the role.
Our biggest issue with Red Alert 3 is the online-only co-op campaign, which requires both an internet connection and mandatory registration. Those who are a little more forgiving can look past it and play an otherwise very enjoyable and well thought out cooperative mode. The new Empire faction is way too vulnerable to air units, but players might adapt to it, given the faction's strengths in other areas. Overall, the game keeps up the tradition of humor matched with the deep real-time strategy gameplay that the Red Alert series is known for.

Check out the Red Alert 3 downloads