Red Alert 3 is an average real time strategy game that looks like a better than average real time strategy game. It has all the EA and Hollywood polish, with nice sound and graphics and a few nice ideas here and there. But the pacing is all off, there are limited factory placement options and the maps all put an emphasis on chokepoint tactics that the computer opponents can’t really deal with. If you throw down some guns, you can deal with the first five rushes with little to no trouble.

It’s not the breath of fresh air that Tiberium Wars was and isn’t sure if it wants to be all about deft use of your individual units or massing a Grand Army for that big push. So, sometimes formula isn’t enough. It’s clear what EA LA is trying to do here, but it’s almost like someone is putting donuts on a chocolate cake, pushing the recipe a bit beyond where it was meant to go.

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