Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC)

Multiplayer in Red Alert 3 promises to be a huge part of the package

Here's a top tip for all you budding army generals out there: when you move into a new area for the first time, be sure to check the vicinity for psychotic, cybernetically-enhanced bears. Three or four games into the Red Alert 3 multiplayer beta, I made the fatal error of taking too long to get my base up and running. After what felt like 30 seconds, a pair of grizzlies showed up and parked themselves in front of my barracks; as soon as my troops walked out the front door, their faces were mauled off by one of the furry gits. Then an engineer ran in and stole my command center. Game over, better luck next time. Total. Humiliation.

If this was the sum total of my experience with Red Alert 3, this wouldn't be much of a preview - but thankfully the other battles were slightly less one-sided; I even managed to salvage my pride with a couple of victories. Having now spent some serious time with the game's three factions - including the otaku's wet dream that is The Empire of the Rising Sun - I can happily declare the good news that RTS fans have been hoping for: Red Alert 3 is the badgers' nadgers.

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If you've read the preview that Wez wrote you'll be aware that we had one mild concern with Red Alert 3, in that it seemed very similar to the previous games in the series. After a long spell of going toe-to-toe with the beta we're still largely of this opinion - but it's hard to see this as being too much of a problem. Evolution is important, but it would be all too easy to screw the pooch by excessively tinkering with the classic C&C formula. As things stand, Red Alert veterans will feel immediately at home with the new game, from the stomping rock soundtrack to the characterful voices as your forces report for duty. But the changes that have been brought in - the increased emphasis on naval combat, unique abilities for units and the streamlining of resource collection - seem to have created a slightly tighter experience. More than ever before, you'll have to give real thought to the armies you amass; it's important to know what the enemy is building, and to develop the appropriate counter unit - in this aspect, RA3 seems to have taken a leaf from StarCraft's book.

Because most buildings can now be constructed on water - and most vehicles have some form of aquatic mode - the player is forced to cover land, sea and air all at once. Neglecting any one of these areas is likely to leave a large hole in your defences, yet investing in all three areas will quickly bleed your cash reserves dry. The only real answer to the problem is to boost your cash flow by capturing more ore deposits, a demand which forces all sides to be far more aggressive in their base expansion tactics.

While the Soviets and the Allies are forced to build near existing structures, Empire players can quickly send two or three refiners to remote sites on the map.

Of the three sides to choose from, the Empire gets a clear advantage through the fact their buildings are initially deployed as a small mobile unit. While the Soviets and the Allies are forced to build near existing structures, Empire players can quickly send two or three refiners to remote sites on the map. If your opponent is not a particularly dedicated scout, these buildings can go undetected and unmolested during the early stages of a match. Whether or not this setup threatens to unbalance the game remains to be seen - but the advantage for us was that it gave us a fat wad of cash to spend on trying out all the units.

The Empire's array of troops feel like a genuine departure from the alternate Cold War aesthetic of the previous Red Alert games. Specialist ground units include stealth-based ninja shock troops (named Shinobis) and a levitating, psychic school girl who can hurl tanks through the air. Meanwhile the middle-tier mechanical forces have a refined, almost Protoss-like look and feel to them; these include the Mecha Tengu/Jet Tengu and Striker VX/Chopper VX - walker mechs with the ability to switch back and forth between two forms to handle different tasks. The first unit can take on infantry and aircraft in its two different forms, while the second shifts from being an air superiority fighter to a makeshift helicopter transport. However, our favourite entry in the Empire's arsenal is the magnificent King Oni - a fearsome, stomping robot with laser eyes and the ability to shoulder barge the opposition. When the King emerges from a factory his booming voice demands, "WHO HAS AWAKENED ME!". He's an awesome toy, and watching him tear a hole through enemy lines is the kind of pleasure that reminds you why you play RTS games in the first place.

Visually it's spectacular - especially when on the water

So far the Empire's robots have somewhat hogged the limelight as far as media coverage is concerned, but longtime Red Alert fans will be pleased to hear that both the Soviets and the Allies get their fair share of innovative toys. Both sides play the way they've always done: the Ruskies focus on brute force and strong arm tactics, while the Westerners get a range of spying abilities and stealth-based fighters - the effects on the camouflaged Mirage Tanks is particularly great, to the extent that you can almost lose your own troops. New options for the Allies include the cryocopter, an aerial support unit which freezes enemies, and the Athena Cannon, a long-range artillery vehicle that calls down a solar blast from space. As you might expect, these attacks are very powerful - but the trade-off is that the unit itself is pretty weak. You'll need a strong, thought-out strategy to get the most of precision tools like these, but Allied commanders do also get access to a few heavyweight weapons: aircraft carriers make a welcome comeback from RA2, while the enormous Century Bomber planes will allow you to rain down death from above - three of these babies will be enough to take out a construction yard.

The notorious Tesla Coils are a key ingredient to the Red Alert series, so few Russian generals will be surprised to see the return of their beloved shiny death poles. This time around we also get what is essentially a Tesla boat, in the form of the Sting Ray - a nifty scout vessel that can sprout legs and clamber about on land. In keeping with tradition, the Commies are given the biggest tank in the game - the utterly colossal Apocalypse Assault Tank. And while you're crushing the opposition with a pack of these monsters, you may like to launch a sea-based attack with a few Dreadnoughts - battleships which launch highly effective rockets from afar. We found these to be extremely good at taking down structures close to the coast, but the relatively slow speed of the vessel and its missiles meant we lost a fair few of them too. Still, if it looks like you're outnumbered you can always order your crew to overload the weapons systems, upping the attack rate while damaging the ship from within. You'll probably lose the boat - but at least you'll leave those capitalist pig dogs with something to remember you by.

The key to any good RTS is balance, and with beta-testing underway EA will be keeping a close eye on how the trio of forces perform in competitive play. As of this moment, our reaction is that all three sides have something interesting to offer but that the Empire's rapid-expansion ability is perhaps a little too strong. It'll soon be apparent if this is the case, since everyone seems fairly keen to try out the weirdest additions to the Red Alert franchise in the history of the series. For now it's enough to say that we're pretty stoked about the game. Details of the single-player campaign should be revealed in Leipzig this week, so it'll be great to see what other surprise may lay in store. Rest assured, you'll know as soon as we do.