One of the games key sales pitches was its top notch cast of TV actors and models. They are the likenesses and voices of the heads of faction and other commanders you will meet with George Takei, Jenny McCarthy and Tim Curry as some of the more prominent names among the cast. These characters are all very well played. Though I will say, your intelligence officer that briefs you on your mission, no matter what faction, is rather distracting when they are describing your scenario. Apparently all intelligence officers are strong beautiful women showing plenty of cleavage except for the more sophisticated Japanese equivalent. The special character units in the game make appearances in the mission videos and are even more stunning than the intel officers wearing the least functional uniforms imaginable that will leave any red blooded male hot under the collar. But hey who's complaining and why should their outfits be realistic when the rest of the game isn't?

The Red Alert plot team decided to start off their storylines with the same principle as their previous iteration, with the elimination of a prominent historic figure via the use of their time machines. Last time it was Hitler and this time it is Einstein. The loss of Einstein having the greater effect of completely changing the technological advancement of each nation rather than just the political and military structure. For seemingly without the atom bomb Japan was never forced into submission and now rises to challenge the world as a new playable faction unlike any before. The impact of this time change also has had some hilarious side effects which include some major historic reversals such as America's forces attacking the Empire's moored fleet at Pearl Harbour as well as an unlikely alliance between the Allies and Soviets against common foes with the amusing tension that goes with it. Red Alert always pleases with its plot no matter how cheesy.

It is well known that the majority of console RTS games have terrible and clunky control schemes. Yet this is not the case when it comes to Red Alert 3 with a control scheme that feels like it was designed to fit around the 360 controller rather than being modified to fit onto the controller. This makes the controls feel more natural with radial menu's that no RTS should be without.

Red Alert 3 uses a similar graphical style and layout as Command and Conquer 3 yet is also very different. Red Alert 3 is very bright and simplistic in design not featuring any of the more gritty and realistic feeling terrain of Tiberium Wars. So too is the infantry grouping. With single men ready for production which does mean that it takes a while longer to produce that giant infantry horde to overwhelm your enemy through sheer number. To make up for this each individual man is more resilient as long as he doesn't come up against a large wave of tanks but then again what man can get run over by a tank and not be a red paste across the floor. The building of your base is key to any sort of attack or defence in the Command and Conquer series. Each faction now has its own way of doing so, this ranges from the Allies' "build before you set buildings" from the older C&C games to the Soviets' "place the buildings foundation then it builds in the field" of the Generals series of games. The 3rd play style for base construction is very new and interesting with many possibilities and that is to build a building as a small vehicle which you can unpack wherever you like. It is possible to make an entire base worth of these vehicles and set up an entire fortification when needed with a little building time after the unpacking. This tactic is very useful for ambushes yet these vehicles are very weakly armoured so susceptible to attack before they reach their destination. This new tactic has proven very amusing online including one such time were an enemy set up a line of defence lasers around my base.

On the subject of the multiplayer, the amount of different tactics people can come up with always amazes me. The array of units with their numerous special abilities and forms really allows you to do anything you can think of. It really is a treat in the online play with a fair amount of players and options for games you would expect from the Command and Conquer series, with other players taking the position of your enemies as well as your co-commander which is another new addition to this game, adding another strategic element.

Overall, this game is an absolute pleasure to play mixing excellent gameplay with a cracking storyline and some of the best game music you will ever find. This game really has revitalized the ageing Red Alert series and shows us once more why the Command and Conquer series is renowned in the field of the RTS.