command and conquer red alert 3 uprising skirmish

They’re for players who’ve honed their skills on the main game. RTS expansions usually begin with nary a care for newcomers. This isn’t a criticism it’s more of a warning (although why the Allied Nations and Empire mini-campaigns need to be unlocked at all is beyond us). It’s a tough challenge, even on the easy difficulty setting, and sets the tone for the rest of the game, but it is doable. With a small infantry force you’re charged with rescuing captured scientists integral to the resistance effort. Uprising is hard, as the very first mission, one that unlocks the Allied Nations and Empire of the Rising Sun campaigns, proves. It exists of course, as we soon discover, and we’re in charge of making it work on the battlefield, with a little help from the returning Intelligence Officer Dasha Fedorovich, who’s still showing just enough boob to distract us from the Days of our Lives acting. European Union president Rupert Thornley, played by Malcolm McDowell, is addressing the media, downplaying rumours of a Soviet resistance force. The Allies, having dealt with the Soviets and the Empire of the Rising Sun, and with Tim Curry’s Premier Cherdenko safely behind bars, are wallowing in the glory of their victory. The Soviet campaign begins with a trademark tongue-in-cheek live action clip (Uprising brings half-an-hour’s worth of new footage). At first only the Soviet mini-campaign and the bonus dungeon crawl mini-campaign are available. True or false, what we have here, for £15 from the EA Store, is an expansion that at times impresses by making you feel like an RTS god, then disappoints because it falls short of the high-quality spectacle that was the original, and feels, well, just a bit lonely.

That there is no multiplayer in Uprising suggests that most people who bought Red Alert 3 played it on their own. RTS expansions exist to give fans more of what they liked from the games they’re expanding upon. Perhaps the decision to provide four new single-player mini-campaigns and a vast single-player Challenge mode is an indication that we were wrong.

The best thing about Red Alert 3 was the co-operative campaign – well, that’s we we thought anyway. Which is a strange choice from developer EA Los Angeles.

That’s right, we said entirely single-player experience. It’s a download only, standalone, entirely single-player experience. Uprising, the first expansion to last year’s excellent RTS Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, is a curious beast.

Command and conquer red alert 3 uprising skirmish