Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Adds New Elements

C&C: Red Alert 3 Adds Robots!

Chris Corry, executive producer of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, told SCI FI Wire that the real-time SF strategy video game is adding a Japanese campaign that will add robotic battle mechs and transforming vehicles. The Japanese faction, dubbed Empire of the Rising Sun, is the latest addition to the game, set in an alternate-universe Soviet Union in which World War II never ended.

“The Japanese faction definitely is the most technologically focused of the bunch,” Corry said in an interview. “They do have a lot of cool transforming units and a lot of things that you would expect from a Japanese side that has all those cool pop-culture references, like ninjas and samurais. Certainly mechs are a big part of it. So they’re a pretty effective side.”

Previous Red Alert games focused on the Allies versus the Soviets. The third faction and their new weapons may involve a learning curve for players who are used to the familiar Soviets and Allies.

“They also have some mechanics associated with them that are perhaps a little bit more advanced, so it takes a bit more time to spin up on that,” Corry said. “It’s a little different compared to Allies.”

While the new Empire technology recalls similar tech in the Robotech and Transformers franchises, it still operates in the realistic world of Command & Conquer.

“I wouldn’t maybe go quite so far as to say they’re full on super-sci-fi but they are certainly the most sci-fi of the three factions,” Corry said.

Corry added that the new installment has other SF elements. “The kind of fictional conceit that puts the events of Red Alert 3 into motion is a time-travel event,” he said. “The game opens with the Soviet leadership going back in time and killing Einstein, who is most responsible for their enemies’–the Allies’–successes.” Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is in development for the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. –Fred Topel

Source: SciFi Wire