For those of you who do not know the history behind the Red Alert series, allow me to recap. In the first game, Albert Einstein constructed a time machine so that he could travel back in time to murder Adolf Hitler, and as a result prevented World War II. An unexpected outcome of this action was the battle between the Allied Nations and the USSR, though the end the Allies won and the USSR became a vassal state. In the second game, the USSR is hell-bent on reclaiming its former status. To make a long story short, they fail to do so. The third installment begins as Premier Romanov is captured by the Allies and two of his leading officers decide to use their own version of the Allies time travel technology. They travel back to the 1920’s and kill Dr. Einstein, meaning the events of the previous two games never happened. Hitler could not die because Dr. Einstein could not kill him. If World War II were to have gone on as normal without Einstein, there also may not have been an atomic bomb, so it comes as no surprise that the Japanese became the third superpower in the Red Alert universe.

When you begin your campaign you are given the option to play one of three factions. However, the game discourages playing them out of order and doing so will only serve to confuse anyone interested in the story. Once the campaign begins it becomes obvious to anyone who has played Command and Conquer 3 that the tactics and mechanics are for the most part the same. The addition of naval units is by far the games strongest new feature, adding an entire new style of play. There are also more missions where you are forced to work with a limited number of units to achieve a specific goal. While this forces the player to become familiar with each unit and its abilities, it can become a little annoying. Each unit in the game has multiple abilities and you will find yourself creating an endless amount of hot keys to fully utilize them. While Ea has managed to provide several different ways to control the units the controls still feel a little archaic.

Graphically the game is every bit as impressive as Command and Conquer 3. EA has kept true to the bright and colorful nature of the franchise with Red Alert 3. The water is superbly rendered and by far the best that I have seen in any RTS games. The units are brightly colored and easy to differentiate and the explosions, and the missiles and lighting are impressive as well. Graphically speaking, the game sets the bar high for RTS games and likely won’t be surpassed until blizzard unveils Starcraft 2.

Almost all of the story telling in Red Alert 3 is portrayed through live-action cut scenes. EA spared no expense on the actors this time around. The game features a talented cast that includes George Takei, Peter Stormare and Jenny McCarthy. The majority of the male roles are goofy stereotypes of the respective faction, while the female roles seem to only serve one purpose. That’s right: eye candy. That’s not to say that the women are not just as stereotypical as the men, because they are — they just do it with their shirts slightly unbuttoned.

For fans of the RTS genre Red Alert 3 will keep you coming back. The game is built on a co-op mechanic allowing you to play online with a buddy or with an AI opponent. Also included are the standard Skirmish modes, as well as LAN play. Unfortunately EA dropped the ball when it comes to co-op LAN support. The ability to play through the single player campaign with a friend is limited to the horrible Gamespy interface and was often more of a headache than useful from my experience.

Red Alert 3 features an in-depth story line as well as three unique factions complete with unique abilities. While I am very pleased to see Red Alert make a comeback it does have its flaws. While the game does introduce some new mechanics little has actually changed from Command and Conquer 3. Also with the exclusion of co-op in LAN I can’t help but feel that EA rushed this one out the door.