After the success of command & conquer 3: Tiberium wars, EA (who took over the command & conquer franchise from the defunct Westwood studios back in 2003) decided to make a third red alert game this time adding a new powerful faction called 'the empire of the rising sun' a militarized and futuristic version of japan. the game isn't a direct sequel to red alert 2 released in 2000 instead it focuses on its own time line. The Soviet Union is falling apart and in one last ditch effort colonel Anatoly Cherdenko (played by Tim curry) and general Nicolai Krukov (played by Andrew Divoff) goes back in time with the aid of Dr. Gregory Zelinsky's time machine. Zelinsky (played by Peter Stormare) tells the men not to touch anything fearing that it may disrupt the space time continuum but anatoly Cherdenko disregards his orders and shakes hands with Albert Einstein which disintegrate him — thus giving the soviet union an advantage over the allied forces in his time line. They leave 1927's Brussels and head back to their time line which they discover that the soviet union and the world is significantly different from theirs. Anatoly Cherdenko is premier that makes Krakov jealous the soviets are far superior in this time line marching across western Europe from the weaker allied forces, all seems well until a message from Emperor Yoshiro (played by 'oh my!' George Takei) threatens the sovereignty of the Soviet Union and masses an army to invade it. Now the USSR has two mortal enemies and without nuclear or atomic weapons their dreams of a socialist utopia is in vain.
The problem that i had with this game isn't so much the game itself (although I would prefer it if they didn't shrink the infantry units to just one rather than what they did in the Tiberium wars where you had 20 or so soldiers in one unit.) No, it's more the storyline which is littered with plot holes, I don't understand why they didn't just continue on from red alert 2 acknowledging the fact that the events of the second game had devastated and exhausted both the allied forces as well as the soviet union, the empire of the rising sun would of come to power anyway due to their counterparts weaknesses and would of taken over the whole of Asia with little response from the allied forces whom are already at war with Soviet Russia. Adding the time travel story done better in the First Red Alert Game (First Game was getting rid of Hitler before his rise of power) so they) can have the empire of the rising sun is really pointless.
The other problem I had was the Characters, they are just so goofy and silly so much so they are irritating. Granted this is a tongue in cheek series from the command and conquer games but when you have badly over acting from otherwise well respected actors like J.K. Simmons (who plays the president of the United States) and Jonathan Pryce (playing as an Allied field Marshall) it's not a good thing. The females characters especially the military advisers are over sexualized to the max, I keep half expecting that one of them is going to bring me a cup of coffee mid game wearing a bikini and high heels. The military advisers for both the soviets and the allies have shirts and outfits that reveals their cleavage as with most of the women characters in the game, Speaking of the costume design, they look fake as hell. The second red alert game the outfits look real convincing and didn't look overdone. Yet in this game the outfits all look like they got them from a fancy dress shop. Examples: The Allies generals and commanders wear bright navy blue sometimes blue camouflage clothing – the Soviets wear an awful black leather outfits with red stripes on it and Japanese wear mostly samurai like outfits with plastic looking armour on them.
I probably sound like I really hated this game but in honesty I actually enjoyed it. there's nothing wrong with the game itself, the quality is good and the military in all three factions are interesting from unit types to technological advancements and disadvantages, but the story acting and even the dialogue is just cringe worthy. Still it is nowhere near as bad as Tiberian twilight which pretty much destroyed the Command and Conquer series.
