Before I begin this blog, a little history. As much as I love RTS games, few games have had the impact on me that the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert had. Everything about the game just appealed to me - from the kick arse music (Hell March especially), to the ridiculous cutscenes, to the gameplay. It all just clicked for me - even though it's a bloody hard game. I guess it was the fact that you could play as the bad guys - again, not a new feature (the original C&C let you do this), but for me, that was something awesome - and the Soviets were badass to boot!
I played one helluva lot of Red Alert and Red Alert 2 back in the day - it's the only RTS that I've dedicated hours to. So you could imagine my happiness when Red Alert 3 was revealed earlier in the year - I was delighted for two things. Firstly, it's RED ALERT 3. The second? It's not another Tiberium game! (you should also know that I can't stand the Tiberium universe - with the exception of NOD and Kane. The rest bores the shit out of me).
The initial skepticism that I had about the game quickly went as more and more news was known. Stuff about former C&C Composer Frank Klepacki returning to do the soundtrack, the addition of the Japanese faction (with PSYCHIC SCHOOLGIRLS AND MECHA), the Russians getting armoured bears....and then this:
In the space of two minutes, my fanboy instincts kicked in and I was blown away. I've always loved the C&C cutscenes, and RA3 seems to be stepping up. You don't get much more awesome than having Tim Curry as a goddamned Russian, or JK SImmons (aka Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman films) as the Allied commander or George Takei as THE MOTHERFUCKING EMPEROR. Sorry - film nerd. At least there's a lack of sci-fi TV actors (ala C&C3). This one trailer only has already made my month.
Then there's the gameplay. This is the one that I'm really sketpical about, because I wasn't too blown away with what you could do in C&C3. It felt too much like a revamped version of Generals. Not a bad thing, because Generals was a good game - but I was hoping for something more. Here's hoping that Red Alert 3 is a step up. The focus on naval combat...well, that is interesting.
Despite this - it's a Day 1 Purchase for me. Shame about the PS3 version...
That's all for now. I'm off to play some TF2 and attempt to get some Heavy Achievements. Or at least a SANDVICH (go watch the latest Meet the Team video - it's awesome).
Later.
Perhaps not the best way to describe why he's so awesome, but come on he's a well drawn character in one of the greatest shows of all time, played by someone who has also played an MnM.
What more do you fucking want? Some stupid woman who bashes people? MEH.