Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising Critic Reviews

Challenging, but not infuriating.

If you enjoyed Red Alert 3 and are looking for a little more, then Uprising certainly fits the bill.

If you're the Command & Conquer fan who can't get enough, or feel like your skills haven't properly been tested, then Uprising was made for you. There's plenty of single-player gameplay to churn through, and no one tops the series' blend of live-action cinematics and candy-colored, fun gameplay.

It's not recommended for the beginners, who will likely get stuck very early on, but the C&C veterans will fall in love with it. It has new cool units, but the most delightful part is the mini campaign in which you get to play as the insane and hot Yuriko.

I’m a fan of the Red Alert series, warts and all. It’s just too much fun for me, whether playing with people through the co-op campaign of Red Alert 3 or the single-player aspects of Uprising, it’s all goofy fun. And that’s mainly what I want from my games: fun.

A great expansion pack. It adds new units that everyone is sure to love. The only bad thing is the lack of multiplayer and co-op that made the original so fun. After players get through all the single-player missions and the challenge mode there is nothing left, and that is a true shame.

The question is: Is the new material of the add-on really enough? Yes, for about 20 euros it is…. But could be more.

Uprising, as the first expansion of Red Alert 3, achieves an interesting result by breaking its gameplay standards. Its budget cost and the Red Alert feeling could get more fans by offering a more compelling campaign mode, and an on-line multiplayer.

I have to say that I was hoping that Uprising would have been the third Real Time Strategy game which I could absolutely love this year but it has left a bitter taste in my mouth. This is an expansion only for those who are die hard Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 fans who are looking for more single player fun but do not expect the same level of quality as the original Red Alert 3 had.

The first expansion for Red Alert 3 comes without a multiplayer mode. Producer Amer Ajani said there was need to care about game balance in single player missions. But in Uprising, some missions are highly frustrating and unfair, mainly because of the starting conditions and scripted encounters, others are almost boring. EA has gone too far disregarding game balance.

Totally uninspired gameplay, technical bugs, design flaws – everything just for the sake of showing off some fancy new units. Uprising is EA’s guide to self-adulation. Whoever seeks an enthralling game with innovation: Look somewhere else.

Although even with its problems I still found myself having fun, trying to figure out your plan of attack when the enemy could drop a satellite on you at any moment, or freeze half your base, and watching those oh so iconic Tesla coils charge up and fry some poor soul who walked just a little too close is always fun.

Because Uprising doesn’t lack a certain charm, but even the people it addresses – devoted fans – will have to be very tolerant towards what the game can offer.

If you like the single player part of Red Alert 3 that you will love Uprising. New missions, units and a brand new Commander's Challenge offer plenty hours of gameplay. If you love the multiplayer part of Red Alert 3 than there isn't much to be loved in Uprising. Because there isn't any. You'll just have to wait until the inevitable multiplayer add-on.

When it's all added up, Uprising is a generous package. Not as extensive as Kane's Wrath, but released at half the price, it offers you about a third of the original game. It's not remarkable, by any means, and though it's never dull it also never escapes the feeling of being an expansion by numbers.

Uprising is the first expansion for Red Alert 3 and does a good job following the patterns that made the original a good game. Featuring a new set of mini-campaigns, new units and a special gameplay mode for the Japanese girl Yuriko Omega, this expansion is a good choice for those who liked the universe and the humour of Red Alert 3. On the darker side, a repetitive gameplay, not very solid AI and unbalanced armies can break the whole experience a bit.

Fun, but frustratingly contrived.

In all their sincerest efforts to perk up the single-player, the developers obviously haven't spent much time in optimizing the AI code.

Despite Uprising's many strengths in unit and map design, imbalanced units and lackluster AI mean it misses the mark.

Ultimately, Uprising’s existence is something of a mystery. Its single player campaigns (created due to the demands of Red Alert fans, according to EA) make for a diverting - though not particularly tactical - few hours, but the inability to play any of its new missions with a friend, or use any of its additional units in a multiplayer battle will severely limit its appeal.