Voodoo Extreme: Red Alert 3 Preview

Voodoo Extreme: "You either love or hate it. That’s the general consensus regarding EA Los Angeles’ new graphical direction for the Red Alert franchise. But even before the visuals are finalised, avid C&C fans are turning their back on the third official instalment of Westwood’s smash-hit real-time strategy game. Citing reduced game speed, neutered economy gameplay, removal of certain units and even the menu music, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Red Alert 3 has gone a bit Pete Tong when looking at game forums.

The truth is, however, that it could go either way. Beginning with the fundamentals, EA has eliminated the unlimited-refinery-resource nightmare from C&C3, allowing their internal testers a much better chance of creating a workable ‘balance.’ Resources are now offered through specific points and only one refinery can service each, with the absolute optimum strategy being two harvesters at each node. This focusses gamers on action, but can also make the beginning of matches predictable, with only a finite number of strategies available, and each able to be memorised and countered."