Red Alert 3: Empire of the Rising Sun

I've finally gotten the game into my RTS-loving hands!

Funny story (that wasn't very funny at all when I was in the midst of it) before I begin describing my initial experiences. When I came home with the game, cracked it open, and began the install process, I discovered a serious error. The registration code printed in the manual was missing a character, the very last character of the code. Of course, after I got a little mad, I did what the very erudite individual Mart suggested to me: try every alphanumeric character.

I did so. It was a 3!!!

Anyway, be on the lookout for goofy serial codes.

On to the game proper. Love the intro movie, I have high hopes that the campaign is going to be a heck of a good time. But I wanted to get right into the game, and test out the new faction: The Empire of the Rising Sun. Obviously inspired by Japanese history, the faction has units such as convertible mecha vehicles, sneaky scouts, and massive warships.

The base construction with the Empire is a little bit different in this game. Each building starts live as a vehicle, which you can move to a spot on the map, any spot in fact, and drop it in place, where nano-machines fill out the building from the vehicle's framework. This allows for great flexibility in base layouts and expansion.

The units aren't too out of the ordinary, but they do have interesting tweaks. All units have two combat modes or some kind of special ability. A couple of the cool units are the Mecha Tengu and the Sea Wing. The Mecha Tengu is great versus troops and light vehicles when in ground mode, but can transform into an anti-air unit in its secondary mode. Similarly, the Sea Wing is an aerial bomber in its primary mode, but can transform into a light attack submarine. These units allow for a greater flexibility in the field by transitioning fewer units to more specialty roles. Plus it's just awesome.

The Empire seem to be a perfect fit for players who crave flexibility and customizability, and who are able to micromanage transforming units into the perfect foil for their enemies' tactics. Definately a faction I inted to deeply examine! More to come as I check out the Allied and Soviet sides in the global Red Alert 3 war.