Game Previews: Command and Conquer - Red Alert 3

In the Red Alert games, it is asserted that Adolf Hitler's rise to power was thwarted, which prevented Nazi Germany from forming and averted World War II as we know from taking place. In this timeline, Joseph Stalin is the main aggressor against Europe.

After the events of Red Alert 2 the leadership of the doomed Soviet Union devises a plan to travel back in time and assassinate Albert Einstein (whose own time travels led to the events of the previous two games) in order to change history and restore the Soviet Union as a world power. However, during the mission, something goes quickly and horribly wrong and an "alternate timeline" is inadvertently created, erasing the events of the previous two games, which alters the technological evolution and creates a new, technologically advanced superpower in the East, known as the Empire of the Rising Sun (i.e. Japan). And thus, a World War breaks out among the Soviets, the Allies and the Empire and is fought with exotic weaponry such as "Tesla coils, heavily armed War Blimps, teleportation, armored bears, intelligent dolphins, floating island fortresses, and transforming tanks"



Red Alert 3 features a fully co-operative campaign mode where the player can team up with another player, or one of several AI characters such as Major Giles, a stiff upper lip British commander, to complete the campaign. The game brings back the Red Alert series' light-hearted style and classic action-oriented gameplay, while maintaining the fast-paced C&C gameplay of the latest titles.
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The factions in the game have been confirmed by executive producer Chris Corry to emphasize Red Alert's traditional "light-hearted, colourful" feel by making their differences even more pronounced than in previous Red Alerts. Corry says Red Alert 3 will "[play] up the silliness in their faction design whenever possible". New units for the Soviets include an armoured attack bear, Tesla boats known as "Stingrays" (that can also travel on land, making them a replacement for the Tesla Tank), anti-infantry spider-like tanks called "Sickles" that have the ability to jump over terrain elevations and a transport unit called the "Bullfrog" that evacuates its passengers using a large "man cannon". The Allies receive a new Tanya unit that is equipped with a "time belt", allowing her to transport herself to the past in order to regain health, and "Cryocopters", helicopters equipped with a powerful freeze ray. The Empire of the Rising Sun has transformers-like units that have the ability to transform, should the need arise. This idea of secondary abilities is common to each and every unit in the game, although how each ability is employed may vary slightly between units; some may be toggled on and off, others may apply instantly and some may have a cooldown, requiring a period of time to pass before the ability can be activated again.

Naval warfare has also been reintroduced. Corry has stated many units are now amphibious, trading effectiveness for increased flexibility compared to ground-only units. In addition, bases are now able to be built mostly on water with the MCV featured in every Command and Conquer RTS, as it is now able to move and deploy on water, so that all buildings - excluding barracks and war factories - can be built on water and players who "ignore the ocean [are] likely forfeiting a significant part of their potential economy to their opponents". Further stressing this is the fact that, despite some campaign maps being entirely land based, all multiplayer maps will have significant bodies of water in them.

The RNA engine (the engine used by Red Alert 3) was created from the rewritten SAGE engine.

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