Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - first look

Amer next took the battle into the ocean, first packing up his construction yard and redeploying it on the water, away from the enemy’s tanks. Three Allied Hydrofoil ground-to-air boats were launched towards the enemy’s new Kirov, which had just emerged from a nearby football stadium. Soviet Stingray vessels were protecting the waters, and it took a fleet of Allied Assault Destroyers to sink them, leaving the Hydrofoils clear to blast the airship out of the sky and pepper the stadium with rockets.

Finally, the third launch facility was attacked by six Guardian Tanks, a vehicle with a cannon and a secondary laser rangefinder that can be used to paint enemies and give nearby units an extra damage boost. The base was strongly defended by two Russian Apocalypse Tanks that soon decimated our forces with their dual cannons and a mean magnetic harpoon that drags captured units into a metal grinder mounted on the front of the vehicle.

So, our commander was given clearance to use a Time Bomb, which was chronosphered into the base. “If you’re playing against another person in multiplayer, you can chrono the bomb back to the enemy like a hot potato,” adds Amer. “Whoever has it when that clock hits zero is the loser.” This is demonstrated when the bomb displays a smiley face with the words ‘Have A Nice Day!’ before unleashing a massive explosion, that in this case flattened the Soviet stronghold and won the mission for the Allies.

While we only witnessed the Cuban mission, Red Alert 3 also has missions in locations including San Diego, Cape Cod, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Easter Island, Mount Fuji and Santa Monica, the latter so that Chris and Amer can “assault their home.” There are also plans for a public beta of the game over the summer (with keys given away free in the forthcoming Kane’s Wrath C&C3 expansion), so that EA LA can hopefully avoid any bugs and server problems when the game launches later this year.

EA LA have certainly delivered on the checklist of must-haves for the next Red Alert 3. Now all they have to do is deliver the game.

Mar 20, 2008