Sometimes you sit down to a closed beta for a game and feel as though you are the most special person in the world; here you are, playing this great game months before release, and it all seems to be working really well and is a hell of a lot of fun.
This was not one of those times.
After receiving my beta key for Red Alert 3, I proceeded to use the recommended FilePlanet software to download the just-under-a-gigabyte game; it then promptly corrupted. I downloaded it again, and once more after that, always getting the same error. Jumping onto the official forums revealed that there had been some people having issues with the installer and Vista Ultimate, so I was forced to try something else. Unfortunately, the repeated downloads and attempted installs were enough to cap me for the month, which somewhat defeated the purpose of playtesting a multiplayer beta.
Finally September rolled around, and with it the realisation that I would have to find and download patches manually as well due to the updater ALSO hating my PC. As you might imagine, my opinion of the game at this stage had been more than a little tarnished, even though I hadn’t even made it as far as the main menu yet!
These technical difficulties were not enough to distract me from my duties, however, and in the end I was glad I stuck with it; sure, there are definite issues with the Red Alert 3 beta, and it doesn’t feel as polished as, say, the Dawn of War beta did before release, but this game nonetheless looks like it is going to be the goods. Let’s talk about why.
The biggest change for the campy, alternate-timeline RTS is the introduction of a brand new team to play as (no, Yuri’s faction in RA2 does not count), the Japanese ‘Empire of the Rising Sun’. Where the Allies use interesting technology seemingly inspired by 60s spy and sci-fi movies, and the Soviet Union are just big and scary, the Empire is every Saturday morning anime cartoon come to life, with mecha transformers, lasers, and even some samurai swords.
The other big change to the game (although it is more of an expansion on an existing concept) is the addition of a large naval element. Besides the obvious naval vessels, many units are amphibious, and indeed whole bases can be built above the waves; this is often necessary in fact, as resources are spread fairly evenly over land and sea. This focus on rapidly shifting from water to land has the potential to lead to some really exciting battles, although during the beta this has not really been the case (more below).
Red Alert 3 Gameplay Footage
The most noticeable thing when you first start up the game is that the graphics, despite technically being quite similar to Tiberium Wars, look very exaggerated and cartoony. Bright colours and oversaturation are the norm here, and this combined with the highly amusing unit design (armoured bears!) leads to a unique looking game, not to mention one that is remarkably gorgeous to look at. The fact that Frank Klepacki is back onboard providing music just makes the presentation of Red Alert 3 that much sweeter.
In terms of balance, the three sides feel remarkably close to each other (although this is again hard to judge in the beta, really see below), with the Allies having clever, combined-arms units and a superior air force, while the Russians have brute force and a powerful offensive navy, and the Japanese have units with multiple functions (a boat that transforms into a plane on the ‘fly’ [oh ho ho ho!], for example) which make them the ‘jack of all trades’ team that can adapt very rapidly to different situations.
But now we have reached the aforementioned ‘below’. The Red Alert 3 Beta has been, unfortunately, rather poorly structured, simply due to the fact that the two included maps are really very small in size. This, especially when combined with the unfortunate ‘tank-rush’ nature of the C&C series (I love it, but it doesn’t make getting into multiplayer against more experienced players easy), means that games rarely go long enough for advanced units to be used effectively; in fact, most of the games I played in were won or lost with under a dozen units on the field, and these were often low tech.
When combined with the complete lack of bots or any ability to practice and get to know the different teams, it is really quite difficult to judge the balance of the teams, or get into the sorts of tactical usage and micromanagement that you need in big games; knowing that Unit X works very well with Unit Y against Unit Z becomes kind of irrelevant when Units Y and Z are Tier 3, and are thus never encountered.
The good news is that in the few games I managed to organise where we held off attacking each other to explore the options a bit, the different sides felt remarkably entertaining to use, with no side being a clear and overwhelming winner (although I have found the Empire and Russia give me the most wins so far, even though I like the Allies best). The fact that practically every unit has an alternate ability leads to a degree of micromanagement that manages to be fun, but never gets to the annoying stage of some other RTS games. The pretty graphics and camp design also means that getting to see all your units and structures is quite awesome, and the battles are really quite spectacular to look at.
The main faults I have found with the Red Alert 3 beta have mostly been due to some technical issues and a few poor testing choices by EA; the fact that Gamespy is notoriously buggy and laggy didn’t help matters either. When the little niggly problems were bypassed, Red Alert 3 was certainly a fun game, and should be a must buy for RTS fans when it is released at the end of October. The beta is coming to a close next week, so if I encounter anything mind-blowing I will amend this preview accordingly.
- Tim Sweeney
Red Alert 3 Image Gallery (courtesy IGN)
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