Next, the strategy. While we encountered plenty of old standbys - Tiberium harvesting, energy management through power plants, super weapon charging - there were also a few twists we weren't expecting. Like the Brotherhood of Nod's Avatar, a humanoid killer robot that can take the wreckage of other units off the battlefield and attach them to itself. Pick up a defunct tank and absorb its firepower or grab a crashed stealth plane and become invisible. Don't worry if you're GDI, however, because you can always bring the Avatar to the ground and send an engineer in to commandeer it.

And if that's still not enough newness for you, did we mention the entirely playable third race? The aliens are, for the most part, still being kept a mystery. The developers say they like it that way, as they are hoping that gamers will slowly discover these invaders' powers for themselves. Having now seen them and played them for ourselves, though, we can tell you that they are nothing at all like the GDI or Nod.

Their basic unit isn't a soldier - it's a buzzing hive of razor sharp extraterrestrial fish. Seriously. Instead of tanks, they have shiny organic tripods with flailing tentacles; instead of airships, they have what look like floating prehistoric fossils with regenerating, detachable insects; and instead of barracks, they have shimmering portals. By the time we discovered that the deadly fish swarm could attach itself to the tripod's spindly pulsating legs, we had no choice but to abandon logic and just enjoy the crazy alienness of it all. These... things... could end up being people's favorite faction.

Check them out for yourself by clicking the Movies tab above and looking for the video entitled "Command & Conquer 3 - Alien Units in Action 01-12-07." And watch this space for further coverage in the coming weeks.