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All right C&C fans, we’ve spent quite some time with the Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 beta (arriving sometime Monday reportedly to the first 2,000 people who checked in their Kane’s Wrath offers), and we’ve got great news: it’s the most Command & Conquer the series has been since Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge.
That’s right; the game feels like Red Alert 2. Not like Generals or C&C 3 (though some of the same elements are intact). This time around, the pacing, the balancing, and the focus on point-counterpoint strategy set it clearly apart from the last few iterations the series has seen. In this article, which is the first of a two-part series, we’ll be exploring the things that make Red Alert 3 the purest Command & Conquer evolution you’ll have seen since the Westwood days.
I won’t be focusing too much on things like secondary abilities and power points in article as, quite honestly, I haven’t delved deeply enough into those topics over the course of my five or six hours of gameplay just yet. Stay tuned to part 2, coming very soon, for more information on all of that. Regardless, however, I think you’ll find a very eye-opening overview of what to expect in this write-up. Comments, of course, are always welcome—at DigitalChumps, we’re all just regular gamers like yourself.
First off, let’s talk about what’s in the beta. As you might expect, it’s pretty thin on actual content. There is no single-player mode to choose from, and in online play, you can only challenge other humans; the AI hasn’t yet been implemented (though we hear it is absolutely vicious—it’ll “micro you to death” says one EA employee). But here, things are pretty straightforward. Log on with your EA Account and choose an online handle (which can be different each time if you so choose) and you’re taken straight into the beta chat lobby, which, in our case, was rarely filled with more than eight to ten people. From here, you can either create your own game or join someone else’s (if one exists, heh) through either an automatic match or a custom selection of the available games.
Next, the host chooses the map—there are only two available in the beta. The second map, which I won’t be covering too heavily in this article, is designed primarily for four-player action. It’s a small land mass surrounded by a series of other scattered, smaller islands that play home to capturable resources such as naval yards and oil derricks. A central raised location separating all the bases also provides capturable Communication Posts which provide a view of your enemies’ bases if you’re lucky enough to secure them.
The other map, however, is a large, two-player, standard-type island map with a bordering sea around its edges. The two base locations are at the bottom-left and bottom-right of the map on the beach, and you can select which one you wish to claim when creating a game. The key to victory here is to quickly expand your base with the usual Ore Refinery and Barracks, and then immediately walk Engineers to the two Oil Derricks on the map (both on the mid-north side). Once you’ve captured those, it’s a good idea to take some dogs along and position them outside of both derricks to ensure opposing engineers meet with little success (it also helps to place some dogs in the other passes nearby, as they’re fairly narrow, to pick off engineers headed to other locations). If you’re playing as the Soviets, you can take some comfort in the fact that your Combat Engineers are “men of science” packing iron; they carry pistols to protect them from such threats as enemy dogs, which is, of course, extremely helpful.
The Ore Refineries, as you might know, are now most ideally constructed directly in front of a nearby ore node, which is where the harvesters (er… Ore Collectors and Prospectors) now must go to collect the ore. They basically ping-pong back and forth between their two destinations, collecting the ore and depositing it in your refineries until the ore node is dry (which takes probably a solid fifteen to twenty minutes of typically uninterrupted collecting). Once an ore node is dry, you have no choice but to go and find another one. It’s best to set up a refinery directly in front of it to minimize the collectors’ commute to and fro, but that requires you to take an MCV to the area, which is both slow and worrisome (however, it’s worth noting that in RA3, MCVs can be purchased either from the War Factory or the Naval Yard, yielding either land- or water-based units). This is where it helps to play as the Soviets, who have their Sputnik units, which can set up expansion bases (in other words, they’re the same as an MCV except they cost just $1,200 versus $5,000 and they don’t open up another structural production queue). Rolling out a few of these babies toward the two Ore Nodes at the top center of the map and then also to the other two closest to your base will improve your cash flow dramatically. Of course, the Allies can also use their Prospector’s secondary ability to deploy a temporary outpost as well (thanks stephanovich). Or, if you’re playing as the Japanese, all of your structures begin as mobile vehicles , so you can simply drive them to the unused Ore Nodes and set up Refineries wherever is convenient.
At first, I was a little concerned about the Ore Node mechanic, as I, like most Command & Conquer purists, have always truly enjoyed the ore/Tiberium field harvesting and the extra depth that such elements provide, such as the presence of precious gems. However, after having played several matches on the RA3 beta, I have to admit that I rather like the new arrangement. The nodes do indeed run dry, and when they do, your collectors will go hunting for the nearest untapped Ore Node… meaning that, contrary to popular concern, you actually can still plan and attack stray harvesters/collectors to severely crimp your opponent’s supply chain management routine.
