Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (SPOILERS)

[Hermiod]

Beat the Allied campaign earlier today. There's a cameo at the end that is so funny I can't believe they managed to keep it a secret.

Spoiler: The Cameo

David Hasselhoff appears at the end as the new President of the United States, giving an incredibly corny speech.

Something else they kept quiet, virtually all single player missions have you playing alongside a secondary commander who autonomously controls their own forces, builds their own base etc and can take general orders from you - i.e. build a force and attack that area etc. Each side has one of these Co-Commanders for each specialty - ground, air and navy. Autumn Reeser, Randy Couture and Vanessa Branch's characters are amongst the Co-Commanders.

However, if you choose you can have another player, either online or on a LAN play the second commander in a co-op game.

The nine Co-Commanders make up your opponents in Skirmish mode as well, appearing in video messages during the game.

I've completed all three campaigns, the Empire one is probably the most fun and their units are the most fresh and fun to play with. The usual annoying missions where you have to take down entire bases with limited units are still there, but they're not as painful as normal.

The cutscenes are great, typically overacted and silly but that's what we C&C fans like. I think they've given up on the idea of women playing these games as there are a lot of short skirts and less than fully buttoned blouses on show.

 

[firehawk12]

Actually, they've been pimping co-op play a lot. It was pitched as the first co-op RTS, which is somewhat interesting to me.
But, I'm just not interested in the old EALA/Westwood/Blizzard type of RTS anymore. I still have a copy of Kane's Wrath that I haven't bothered playing yet.

Although, that cameo seems very interesting.

 

[The Evil Dead]

Are you playing on a PC? I am curious how demanding the game is, system resource wise. I would like to play it sometime but I'm worried I'd have to use crummy low settings and I don't want to bother if it's not going to look nice, haha.

 

[Hermiod]

Actually, they've been pimping co-op play a lot. It was pitched as the first co-op RTS, which is somewhat interesting to me.

Huh, I didn't hear about that. Strange.

But, I'm just not interested in the old EALA/Westwood/Blizzard type of RTS anymore. I still have a copy of Kane's Wrath that I haven't bothered playing yet.

Kane's Wrath is one of the better expansion packs I've seen. Global Conquest is a good idea, if not completely fleshed out (maybe they'll have another go later).

A GDI MARV with two Missile Squads, an Engineer and a Sniper Team in the hardpoints = Win.

Are you playing on a PC? I am curious how demanding the game is, system resource wise. I would like to play it sometime but I'm worried I'd have to use crummy low settings and I don't want to bother if it's not going to look nice, haha.

It actually feels a lot faster than C&C3 and Kane's Wrath did with the game set to the Medium preset at 1680x1050. The loading times are a LOT faster than Kane's Wrath.

 

[The Evil Dead]

That's good to hear, that's actually why I was asking, I was feeling a little put off after how poorly C&C3 seemed to run and I don't have a crummy system at all.

 

[Twilight]

Super attracted to the idea of this AI / Friend coop general in each mission.

You can play the full campaign cooperatively over the net? Nice.

Might have to pick this one up. Gameplay wise I'm not expecting much different than C&C 3 .. which is fine.

 

[TheRealNaveed]

I can't wait to pick this up! Red Alert 2 is tied with Freedom Force and Armada for being my all-time favourite computer game. And it's not that I can't decide between those three, it's just that it switches from year to year between them.

 

[Shurik]

I bought it yesterday, started with Soviet campain. So far I enjoy the gameplay, the co-commanders is a great addition and I'm pleasantly surprised that the game runs pretty well with medium settings on my year-old laptop.

The annoying thing is that the game crashed something like 6 times during third soviet mission, even with the latest patch. Anyone else experienced it?

 

[Hermiod]

^It crashed once during the second Soviet mission for me but was fine after that.

There have been three or four patches out for it already. The biggest problem I've had was that, before the latest patch, it was somewhat aggressive about checking for patches and as such it took forever for the main menu to appear while it did so.

I've completed all three campaigns now, the Empire one is definitely the most fun. I've found that in Skirmish mode, if you have an AI player on your team you get the same co-Commander options as you do in the single player campaign.

I think most people who play multiplayer will be glad that the Shogun Executioner is not available.

 

[Shurik]

The biggest problem I've had was that, before the latest patch, it was somewhat aggressive about checking for patches and as such it took forever for the main menu to appear while it did so.

I had the same problem and the patch fixed it. The loading times are also shorter.
I updated the video card drivers, hope it helps.

 

[Shurik]

Well, do yourself a favor and don't try to play it on laptops. Apparently, RA3 "may run on mobile graphic chipsets, but they are not supported". Crashes every 10 minutes are not fun.

Guess reading the stuff in small letters on boxes is sometimes useful.

 

[flux_29]

Looking forward to buying it for the Xbox.

 

[Shurik]

BTW, I've found a solution (sort of) for the frequent crashes - setting graphics to minimum settings. Now, instead of crashing once per 10 minutes it crashes once an hour ...

Also, playing Soviets is much more fun than playing Allies. Still haven't got to Japanese.

 

[NCC1701]

I bought the Premier Edition online last week, seeing as I've bin a Command & Conquer fan since 1998. I'm up to the fourth Soviet mission so far, I must say I hate the fact I'm being nannied through the campaign by the co-operative AI, wish there was a way to deactivate it. Also, placing buildings seems to be ass backwards - for a C&C game - you place the structure and then it starts building? Note to the producers: This isn't Generals 2 you're making here! And again there's no way to change the song that's currently playing, something I've missed since Red Alert 2. Which all makes this game seem like a giant step down from the franchises' high point in my books, which was from the release of Firestorm until after Yuri's Revenge, if anyone is wondering.

 

[Shurik]

I must say I hate the fact I'm being nannied through the campaign by the co-operative AI, wish there was a way to deactivate it.

The AI commander can be very helpful, especially in later missions. I don't know if there's a way to turn him off, but if you don't want to use him, just tell him to attack some random point in the middle of nowhere.

Also, placing buildings seems to be ass backwards - for a C&C game - you place the structure and then it starts building?

The Allies build differently.

 

[Hermiod]

^All three build differently.

Soviets, as you've seen, build in place. The Allies build the old fashioned C&C way, building the structure in the bar and then allowing you to place it. The Empire builds "Nanotech Cores" which travel to the unpack location and then build.

The Allies and the Soviets can only build new buildings near their bases, using Prospectors or Sputniks to expand. The Empire's nanotech cores can build anywhere where there's space for the building on the map, assuming they survive the trip.