Well, I finally bought Red Alert 3, giving my money to Evil Arts - but it's not like I swore to boycott them or something. Not yet, anyway.
I finished the Soviet campaign, and I'm leading the Allies now. I'm almost at the end, I think. I gotta say I'm enjoying the game, only... it is so easy! Too easy. It's like they moved the diffuculty levels one level down. Hard is Medium, Medium is Easy, and Easy... well, I haven't played on Easy, but I can only imagine that your co-commander (AI) can win the whole game by himself, while you read the manual, sipping tea, or something.
Oh right, the co-commander. I suppose the idea in itself is interesting, but I think it could've been implemented better. I mean, he/she plays the role of cannon fodder, constantly sending waves of units to their deaths, but exhausting the enemy in the process. In a few missions this resulted in a situation where my forces encountered almost no resistance at all, obliterating the enemy base without any losses on my side. Not fun. Too easy. You can give your co-commander some orders, which is nice, but what I really miss is a "stay put in your base and don't interfere while I have my fun killing the enemy" order. Instead, I have to order him/her to send their forces to the middle of nowhere, but that buys me only a few minutes.
Despite my initial fears, I like the various units in this game. Some of them are more reminiscent of the Tiberium series than of Red Alert. Unfortunately, some of them are also unbalanced (some Soviet units in particular), which only added to my feeling that the game is too easy. Build a couple of overpowered units of your choice, and you've won the mission (well, I must admit, not always). And anyway, I barely got to use some of the units, because they appeared too late and/or weren't useful at the time. I built 20 Apocalypse tanks, just because they looked nice in front of my base, but they didn't get much action, 'cause my choppers had already crippled the enemy ten minutes earlier when that darned co-commander rushed into battle. *sigh* Same goes for the support technology. Some of it was unlocked so late in the Soviet campaign that I didn't get the occasion to use (or even see) it. Maybe that was meant as replay value, I don't know.
Another thing which makes the game too easy is the fact that the enemy almost never rebuilds or repairs destroyed or damaged structures. I've only seen it happen three or four times. What the-? It's really strange, and probably the biggest reason why the game is too easy.
So I played through the whole Soviet campaign on Medium difficulty, annoyed by how easy the game is, but enjoying it nevertheless, when suddenly I remembered that there is also the Hard difficulty setting. Now I'm playing Allies on Hard, and... wow, there seems to be a world of difference! The game became a lot more challenging and satisfying. I actually have to plan my attacks now, though the enemy still refuses to repair damaged structures. I should have played on Hard from the start.
I liked how during most of the missions there is a moment - usually when you complete a goal - when the battlefield is expanded, sometimes becoming even twice as big, and you receive new objectives. Very nice.
The movies are nice, although I wouldn't mind if there were more movies full of tanks & explosions and stuff. The actors who play Cherdenko and Krukov do a particularly good job. Oh, and I thought it was rather funny when I noticed that Tanya has permanent wave... I mean, with her swimming and all? Heh, it could be a commercial: "Even after blowing up a Soviet base, my hair stays perfectly permed!"
Overall, I think Red Alert 3 is a good game. It has it's flaws, but the gameplay is so good that those issues did not bother me *that* much, actually.
I finished the Soviet campaign, and I'm leading the Allies now. I'm almost at the end, I think. I gotta say I'm enjoying the game, only... it is so easy! Too easy. It's like they moved the diffuculty levels one level down. Hard is Medium, Medium is Easy, and Easy... well, I haven't played on Easy, but I can only imagine that your co-commander (AI) can win the whole game by himself, while you read the manual, sipping tea, or something.
Oh right, the co-commander. I suppose the idea in itself is interesting, but I think it could've been implemented better. I mean, he/she plays the role of cannon fodder, constantly sending waves of units to their deaths, but exhausting the enemy in the process. In a few missions this resulted in a situation where my forces encountered almost no resistance at all, obliterating the enemy base without any losses on my side. Not fun. Too easy. You can give your co-commander some orders, which is nice, but what I really miss is a "stay put in your base and don't interfere while I have my fun killing the enemy" order. Instead, I have to order him/her to send their forces to the middle of nowhere, but that buys me only a few minutes.
Despite my initial fears, I like the various units in this game. Some of them are more reminiscent of the Tiberium series than of Red Alert. Unfortunately, some of them are also unbalanced (some Soviet units in particular), which only added to my feeling that the game is too easy. Build a couple of overpowered units of your choice, and you've won the mission (well, I must admit, not always). And anyway, I barely got to use some of the units, because they appeared too late and/or weren't useful at the time. I built 20 Apocalypse tanks, just because they looked nice in front of my base, but they didn't get much action, 'cause my choppers had already crippled the enemy ten minutes earlier when that darned co-commander rushed into battle. *sigh* Same goes for the support technology. Some of it was unlocked so late in the Soviet campaign that I didn't get the occasion to use (or even see) it. Maybe that was meant as replay value, I don't know.
Another thing which makes the game too easy is the fact that the enemy almost never rebuilds or repairs destroyed or damaged structures. I've only seen it happen three or four times. What the-? It's really strange, and probably the biggest reason why the game is too easy.
So I played through the whole Soviet campaign on Medium difficulty, annoyed by how easy the game is, but enjoying it nevertheless, when suddenly I remembered that there is also the Hard difficulty setting. Now I'm playing Allies on Hard, and... wow, there seems to be a world of difference! The game became a lot more challenging and satisfying. I actually have to plan my attacks now, though the enemy still refuses to repair damaged structures. I should have played on Hard from the start.
I liked how during most of the missions there is a moment - usually when you complete a goal - when the battlefield is expanded, sometimes becoming even twice as big, and you receive new objectives. Very nice.
The movies are nice, although I wouldn't mind if there were more movies full of tanks & explosions and stuff. The actors who play Cherdenko and Krukov do a particularly good job. Oh, and I thought it was rather funny when I noticed that Tanya has permanent wave... I mean, with her swimming and all? Heh, it could be a commercial: "Even after blowing up a Soviet base, my hair stays perfectly permed!"
Overall, I think Red Alert 3 is a good game. It has it's flaws, but the gameplay is so good that those issues did not bother me *that* much, actually.