Red Alert 3, here's what's up

[Jon]

Red Alert 3 - Coming October 2008



Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is an upcoming real-time strategy video game in the Command & Conquer series published by Electronic Arts, and the first game in the Red Alert sub-series since Yuri's Revenge, released in 2001. Announced on February 14, 2008, the game is currently under development by EA Los Angeles for Microsoft Windows-based PCs and Xbox 360. A PlayStation 3 version was announced, but EA stated that the production for this version had been "put on hold"[3], and now may not be released, due to difficulties with the system's architecture.[4]

The game takes place in a parallel universe in which World War II never happened and the Soviet Union has become the world's dominant nation. A huge war is ongoing among the Soviets, Allies and a new third faction known as the Empire of the Rising Sun, which is derived from Imperial Japan.[5][6]

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.[5]

The factions in the game have been confirmed[8] 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 "macross-esque" 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. [9]

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[10] 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.

Full motion videos featuring real-life actors true to the C&C-style will be featured in the campaign-mode. Filming has been scheduled for April 2008.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the info!

[Ross]

I do hope it is better than C & C 3 Tiberian Wars. I brought that on the Xbox 360 and it was an absolute let down. I was a massive fan of C & C Red Alert 2 when it was out on the original PlayStation. Hopefully this game will bring back the game to it's glory days

[ThisIsATest]

yea i agree with you about cnc3 on the 360. i have always enjoyed the cnc series games on the pc, but never could really get into them on the consoles.

[seovb]

PC strategy games rock the console games. Why manufacture's even realase them on the consoles are silly.

[Jon]

My guess is they release the games on console to access a wider fan base and more money (especially with the latest consoles being computers themselves it's much easier to port the games over).