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The Red Alert Mod for Red Alert 3 Released

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The long wait is over. CNC Labs have released version 1.0 of The Red Alert mod for Red Alert 3. This mod is based directly off the seminal Red Alert's art and gameplay. While not aiming to model realism, the mod instead endeavours to recreate the essence of the original title. The Red Alert will bring the addictive heart-pounding gameplay of this C&C classic to a world-class 3D engine, complete with all the original units, including those from the Aftermath expansion.

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Visit The Red Alert official site for the various download mirrors. While it's downloading, enjoy the new launch trailer below.


In some other The Red Alert mod news, Planet CNC have a great interview with Blbpaws, it can be found right here. We have plans for some extra coverage of The Red Alert mod right here on CNCNZ.com soon as well.

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The intro was sort of lackluster for me. Very dark, difficult to make out details. I appreciate that they were trying to re-create the original RA intro sequence, but it falls flat for several reasons:

 

The units only somewhat resemble their RA counterparts. If they used the cutscene models to build the vehicles, they would get a perfect representation of the in-game SHPs. I've tested this years ago by taking RA:APB's V2 launcher and shrinking it down to the size and perspective of the RA V2 - it looks identical. I hope they put visuals as a higher priority; mods like this will look much more impressive if they use current gaming standards as a yardstick by which to measure themselves.

 

Their camera movement and focusing really lacks some punch. The original intro video got it right. They tried re-creating the intro but didn't use the same camera sweeps, so it looks static and feels stale. The camera only follows units, it doesn't dynamically move to showcase them. Therein lies my problem.

 

In the beginning, when the (I assume) Medium Tank breaks down a fence, the whole thing is black - except for a huge Allied logo on the front, replete with the original brushed metal appearance. It looks as if someone spray painted the tank black and copy-pasted the Allied logo on it. It would have looked better if the mod was using proper lighting to showcase their work, along with using the logos as a stencil instead of as a pasted overlay.

Edited by Aircraftkiller

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The units only somewhat resemble their RA counterparts. If they used the cutscene models to build the vehicles, they would get a perfect representation of the in-game SHPs. I've tested this years ago by taking RA:APB's V2 launcher and shrinking it down to the size and perspective of the RA V2 - it looks identical. I hope they put visuals as a higher priority; mods like this will look much more impressive if they use current gaming standards as a yardstick by which to measure themselves.

This!

The Red Alert is a great mod, but I really don't understand why they didn't used cutscene models to build the vehicles, i.e., light tank - bradley, medium tank - abrams, etc. Only few units look like they should (i.e. mammoth tank).

Edited by mirza044

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This!

The Red Alert is a great mod, but I really don't understand why they didn't used cutscene models to build the vehicles, i.e., light tank - bradley, medium tank - abrams, etc. Only few units look like they should (i.e. mammoth tank).

Yeah this mod was epic! And I love it that it was design around the ingame units instead of their real counterparts. And is the medium tank really an Abrams? Red Alert takes place during the fifties.

 

 

EDIT:

 

:ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra: :ra:

Edited by Trukem

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Downloading now, can't wait to test it out! :drool:

Not aiming to model realism, the mod instead endeavours to recreate the essence of the original title.

THIS. :rolleyes:

 

We have plans for some extra coverage of The Red Alert mod right here on CNCNZ.com soon as well.

We do?

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Might actually reinstall RA3 to try this.

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The videos aren't epic, but the overall mod is very good. Some players have criticized that the unit and structure designs should have gotten more detailed.

 

RA3 was cartoonish but the remake of RA1 is very much not.

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Not aiming to model realism

 

Red Alert isn't realism. They could have used the art from the original game, which would have pleased everyone and looked very good to boot.

 

Yeah this mod was epic! And I love it that it was design around the ingame units instead of their real counterparts. And is the medium tank really an Abrams? Red Alert takes place during the fifties.

 

It isn't about the time in which it takes place, but the fact that killing Hitler changes history and the pace at which technology develops. I'm surprised you didn't know that the Medium Tank is an Abrams - have you played Red Alert yet? It's clearly prominent in the purchase icon, the in-game unit, and several videos showing it. This idea about only creating the "essence" of the game, which is quite a nebulous statement and you could infer almost anything from it, makes me wonder. What about the Longbow? It was clearly an Apache in-game and in the icon. Is it going to be a completely different unit for some unknown reason?

Edited by Aircraftkiller

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It isn't about the time in which it takes place

What makes you think that way? :huh: It's well known that it's set in the 1950s.

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It's an alternate history so the time where it takes place doesn't make as much difference because it's not based on reality. I went and checked some models and to be honest, they look like ****. I don't see Red Alert anymore, just something that kinda vaguely resembles that game we know as Red Alert.

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To be honest I don't think the unit designs are that bad. Artistic direction is up to the team and I think every unit in Sonic's post can be recognized easily. I think it's natural that they'll take a few realistic details from real-life counterparts rather than just stick to grainy cinematics from the 90s. I would love to try this out, but unfortunately I gave my RA3 away.

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I think it's natural that they'll take a few realistic details from real-life counterparts rather than just stick to grainy cinematics from the 90s.

 

There are units (vehicles) with realistic details in this mod? Really?

Edited by mirza044

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If I made this mod, I'd say to everyone that thinks units must look a certain way and I am permitted no artistic freedom; screw you, then don't play it.

 

If they went for FMV designs, people would complain they don't look like the actual in-game units, or the unit cameos, or how Wikipedia images depict the units they think the game was modeled after, or how they remembered them when they last played the game six years ago, or how they imagined them when they were hallucinating from oxygen deprivation and jenkem highs due to their heads being shoved so far into their colons.

 

I can see how the trailer is too dark, the angles are a bit off, and some minor flaws in the unit designs, but some of you are taking this way too seriously, like a personal insult to your narrow idealism and tunnel vision view of what Red Alert should be.

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Hey guys, interesting discussion. I do always like to hear feedback (I read literally every word of fan feedback on our mods), and on this question I think I ultimately agree with Nmenth's viewpoint: it's basically impossible to please everyone, as much as we try. This doesn't delegitimize people's perspectives but just may mean this is not the mod that corresponds to exactly what you're looking for (and of course, you can always start your own if that's the case). One of the really neat things about Red Alert is that everyone has their own memories of it, which shows their deep engagement with the C&C series. This was a huge issue we confronted when we did C&C All Stars, and we got the same feedback about the art not corresponding to exactly how people remembered it or imagined it today, so I'm used to hearing it. Ultimately, we can just do what feels right to us and I'm grateful that the reviews on balance have been very favorable, and on the strength of them the mod has spread to the front pages of most of the C&C sites as well as gaming sites like FilePlanet and atomic gamer. I know the C&C team at EA will be playing this in their weekly playtesting, just like with The Forgotten and I'll be curious to hear their input on the art.

 

I do recommend the PCNC interview I did, though, if you want to hear more on our perspective on this. You can hear how we approached some of these questions and how we were thinking about it, even in advance of getting this feedback. But yeah, in case you are wondering about our intent, the bottom line is we deliberately sought to recreate the in-game art, not the FMVs or purchase icons or modern day US Army equivalents.

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If I made this mod, I'd say to everyone that thinks units must look a certain way and I am permitted no artistic freedom; screw you, then don't play it.

 

some of you are taking this way too seriously, like a personal insult to your narrow idealism and tunnel vision view of what Red Alert should be.

 

Contradicting yourself in a single post? That's got to be a new record! ;-) In all seriousness, you shouldn't take artistic critiques as a personal attack. If you do, modding games is not a good idea. Perhaps a disclaimer would be in order: "I only wish to have praise, I would prefer not to have any critiques of my work." DeviantART does something similar to this, you can make each art piece have a disclaimer that's set to "Critiques welcomed" or "No critiques, please." There's really no reason for you to take this personally at all. The only way people learn and grow is to be given honest feedback of their work in a professional, respectful manner.

 

If you disagree with this, I can certainly understand why - however, it would go against traditions of art dating back many hundreds of years.

 

the bottom line is we deliberately sought to recreate the in-game art

 

I'm curious why you would want to re-create pixelated images? Unless you used the SHPs themselves as a 3D model, by turning your vehicles into planes that use the SHP artwork, I can't really imagine them looking like the in-game art. It's just not possible to re-create them without using your imagination to push it farther. We live in 2011, game art is an art style in its own league. I would be greatly impressed if you and your team pushed yourselves to achieve more!

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Contradicting yourself in a single post? That's got to be a new record!

I see no contradiction.

 

Note the italicized words, they are important, people that think Red Alert must be a certain way are not helpful, nor qualified to critique.

 

 

In all seriousness, you shouldn't take artistic critiques as a personal attack.

Constructive criticism is fine, but this topic has quickly devolved into "Slam The Red Alert Mod".

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If you continue attack the mod author, it UP to you responsibility.

 

If you continue this, mod author will upset. And he WILL stop making mod! :thumbsdown:

Edited by General Recon

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Please define your view of "constructive criticism" because after four years of art college, this is the type of critique that I've given and received on many occasions. The objective is not to praise you overwhelmingly, but to identify the flaws in the hopes that your work will improve. As I said to my department director, when I wanted my indie game Parhelion critiqued, "Don't tell me what looks good. I know it looks good, that's why I made it. Tell me what's wrong with it, so I can make it as good as it possibly can be."

 

Perhaps we have differing opinions that cannot see a middle ground. Regardless, I will continue to freely give my opinions and advice to those who post their work for public view, and encourage the same for anything I create. It is the only true way to grow and learn as an artist and an individual.

 

Regarding your contradiction, you said this: "If I made this mod, I'd say to everyone that thinks units must look a certain way and I am permitted no artistic freedom; screw you, then don't play it." You further went on to talk about narrow idealism and tunnel vision. The only way to read your post is that your opinions are the only ones that matter, and that the rest of us have tunnel vision for wishing to see improvements made to this project. Which is contradicting yourself, since you've mentioned that "no artistic freedom" would piss you off. Artistic freedom is essentially the opinion of the mind's creative side, so you're telling me that if you made this mod, everyone should tell you what you want to hear, not what would help you grow as an artist. I doubt many people would appreciate that viewpoint, and rightly so.

 

/Apologies to anyone who's offended by this. It's not my intention to start a ****-fest.

Edited by Aircraftkiller

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Thanx, I feel good now.

Edited by General Recon

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Please define your view of "constructive criticism" because after four years of art college, this is the type of critique that I've given and received on many occasions.

Actually, I don't have much of a problem with your posts, its mainly mirza044 and Doctor Destiny's censored out description of how he thinks the units look that I find unhelpful.

 

 

Regarding your contradiction, .... You further went on to talk about narrow idealism and tunnel vision. The only way to read your post is that your opinions are the only ones that matter, and that the rest of us have tunnel vision for wishing to see improvements made to this project.

Narrow idealism and tunnel vision is in reference only to those that think there is only one acceptable design for a mod.

 

 

/Apologies to anyone who's offended by this. It's not my intention to start a ****-fest.

Note that regardless of how I may word my responses, it would be virtually impossible for someone on these forums to offend or anger me since I rarely experience these types of emotions.

 

 

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Thanks for clearing that up. You weren't really making it obvious. ;-) If they wish to design their mod like this, that's fine. I don't have RA3 anyhow, but I hope that they find the critique to be of some use.

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I'm not sure how much of ack's last two posts were directed at me, but I'm not trying to ban criticizing, especially not constructive criticism. I'm just noting that as someone who's now made three big mods, not everyone is going to like everything and indeed, that's one of the things that makes C&C neat. People want different things, and the whole value of modding is that it can create a whole multiplicity of options for players.

 

But I'm not in any way against feedback, provided people have given the work a fair shake and experienced it pretty fully. In fact, I just PMed someone at moddb because he left us a low rating but didn't leave any comments go with it and I want to hear what he didn't like. Again, there are many players, and the neat thing as far as I'm concerned is that I get to hear from a lot of them about what they thought when they played our work.

Edited by Blbpaws

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To be totally blunt with you, I've never seen anyone who disliked the cinematic models that they used to create the in-game SHPs. Would be silly anyhow considering that they used those models to create the SHPs that you're building your work from, so essentially you're building models from a blurry photograph instead of using the freely available higher res photos to work with. ;-)

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