After getting early word that EA is releasing a Red Alert 3 expansion with four new campaigns (each with three to four missions), we called Senior Producer Amer Ajami and demanded answers to our burning questions.
PCG: Which of Red Alert 3’s three endings does Uprising assume really happened?
Amer Ajami: Uprising continues the timeline according to the Allies’ particular version of the game’s events. Truth be told, we tried flipping a coin, but we realized we still liked the idea of the Soviets being the underdogs, and the Empire of the Rising Sun losing the chip off their collective shoulder. The stories of Uprising are told in the aftermath of the RA3 war, with the Soviet Union reeling from the crushing defeat of its scheming leaders, and the Empire of the Rising Sun struggling to regain its honor and identity. The Allies will have their own new problems to deal with, too.
Are any of the game mechanics (such as the new harvesters) being tweaked or revised?
The core mechanics of Uprising are going to be largely similar to those of the base game. We’re happy with how easy it is for players to set up a base and get an economy rolling in, and want to keep the spotlight on intense, fast-paced tactical battles. We’ve got several powerful new units available to each faction, some of which can serve as the cornerstone of new build orders and overarching strategies.
We’ve placed an increased importance on some of the secondary structures in the game to allow players more lateral teching options. Apart from that, we’ve made lots of tweaks to the returning units and interface; many of these changes have already been patched into Red Alert 3. It’s important to us to support our community with ongoing updates, so they know they’ll be getting a lot of value for their money from our new releases.
What types of new units can we expect to see in Uprising?
We’ve added 11 new units, ranging from low-tier infantry to third-tier heavy-hitting behemoths. We wanted to create toys that our audience would find fun and engaging, but more importantly, we wanted units to fill some gaps in the tech trees of all three existing factions. For example, the new Archer Maiden addresses the Empire of the Rising Sun’s relatively insufficient anti-aircraft weaponry in their early game.
The Cryo Legionnaire is a spin on RA2’s Chrono Legionnaire (a unit that many fans of that game wanted to see in RA3). He’s effective at freezing both groups of infantry and individual vehicles. Once frozen, the Cryo’s victims face certain death at the hands (or feet, actually) of his secondary stomp ability. He’s also one of the most micro-intensive units we’ve created. We’ve also given Yuriko (who, not coincidentally, is one of our favorite units from RA3) a suite of new abilities. There are story considerations that we don’t want to give away just yet, but suffice it to say that she has received a significant buff and a campaign of her own.
