Saracen

EA are heading towards the low end of Ultra High Definition imagery now.... Very interesting. I think they should go the full 7,680 × 4,320.... that's a Full Ultra High Definition image

Heh, I laughed at that. You read my mind. Yes, I was going to quote about the game speed. This gets EA my highest respect. I'm preferential to a good solid real paced game with no arcade style strategy like in C&C 3 or Red Alert 2. Of course if the pacing is going to slow down, then this game is going to need more micro and macro management. Just so you're doing more strategically and physically. I'd prefer if the gameplay avoids the typical C&C path of just creating an optimum build order than spamming 1 or 2 particular unit types en-mass. But these units do look crazy.... Multiple abilities should bring some great strategic depth. And I can tell that the modders are going to have a field day. But there are 2 concerns I have though... Firstly (at this early stage) Naval warfare seems to be getting a lot of attention. I'm probably guessing that the Devs are finally happy to get fully working Naval combat, and really want to go nuts showing it off. But I don't really want to see it being the main emphasis of the game. When it comes to games where there are multiple stages.... it can be in space, in the air, in the water or on the ground. But everything needs to have equal treatment throughout the game. The previous Red Alert's did exceedingly well at this, and I hope the trend continues and doesn't wander off on a tangent. This campaign, while it's an interesting mechanic to have co-op... I'm not someone who'd wish to team up with an AI, when playing solo. The AI might be great, it may even be better than me to start with. But having to work as a team with anything in th campaign isn't my idea of fun. This is probably my traditional RTS player mind kicking in. But if there's an option to go it alone without the help... (even if it's against 2 tough, highly co-operative AI all the way through...) I'd like to have the option to do that. If not, well if you don't fail the mission for losing your Co-op partner ... I'll have to act like the American army and use Friendly fire every mission on my ally until I am on my own. But yeah, I'm starting to gain some interest in this game now. I just hope the game brings enough to the table and then some, to be a great modern RTS. Then maybe myself and Apoc will get along once again.

Anyone remember these? I used to play these games religiously... Especially Syndicate wars, while waiting for Red Alert to come out. Lead Producer of these games was the infamous Peter Molyneux..... I really wish EA would give this Franchise a new breath of life... as RPG/RTS Hybrid's go, these games were just pure awesome. As PC Zone UK put in their review for Syndicate Wars at the time. And it was! So has anyone played them, or at least remember them?

Most of the older games don't stand up to the playability factor that most modern titles do. But the great thing about Retro goodness is the memories they provide. So in many a sense it it very much worth it if you can get a good library going. I can sit playing Syndicate Wars and all the old memories, joys and problems (irk!?) come flooding back from that era. It's great stuff! In fact I was talking to Zee just the other day about a particular favourite: And thanks to Zee, I found out that it's been recreated too!

In theory Black & White was the Spiritual Successor to Populous. Populous is another owned EA franchise that could have made them a lot of money, but obviously didn't have the community like this one to sustain the game. Still, I think if EA could get the talent... creating new sequels to these great Bullfrog titles wouldn't be a bad move.

I was waiting for someone to say this before I said anything. This is a direct quote from someone who's read the info already in one of the mags at the Petro forums: So what I can make of it, this happens almost straight after Yuri's revenge... In the Chaos of the aftermath the Soviets use the time machine (possible canon error already??) to go back in time (like they did in Yuri's revenge) to sort things out... but of course, get back, and have messed up the space time continuum, and re-entered a parallel universe where Einstein still erased Hitler from History... But Einstein was never rescued from the Soviets, The Soviets ran Europe uncontested, and the Allies were too weak to contend... Japan gets all upset about the whole issue, and so we're seeing an alternative Red Alert 2 in Red Alert 3. Confused? So am I!!! This story isn't right!? Let's wait for the announcement shall we?

The Tesla and Amphib boats are a nice touch... although I would like to see a bit more diversity than just these. You could argue that the Soviet barracks is a little too inspired from C&C 3, and you could that there hasn't been much evolution... But I've heard from someone who's read the mags that this game is supposed to take place very soon after Yuri's Revenge.... So it can be justified.

HAHA, I wish, damn I wish so much.... But EA in their infinite Wisdom doesn't hold much interest in the Syndicate Franchise that they own, and the only guy that really has the team who developed it is Peter Molyneux and his some of his team at Lionhead Studios. The only way you can play these games is if you follow the (small) community's walkthrough for running Syndicate Wars on Single Core machines. Or you find an emulator for the PSone version and stick that in your PC. Syndicate is the same, except for an emulator on the SNES version. The game is also part of the EA Replay collection (which I own) on the PSP. That contains the lesser superior SNES version, but it's still a classic in it's own right.

Nope, EA have asked GameReplays to take the images of Red Alert 3 down. As part of respecting EA's request on the matter, I have removed the news post which show's off the screenshot(s) in question. Just proof really, I may have had a turbulent past with Apoc, but I know when certain rules have to be abided by.

They should announce Generals 2 in May then.... maybe the 2nd C&C 3 expansion in August. EA will soon be on a role....... Cash Cow this bitch into the ground until it even brings The Sims into the realm of Normality.

To be honest Red Alert 3 can keep the Iron Curtain, Chronosphere, and Tesla coil... regardless what EA may do to this we can see them staying... But anything else can go.... goodbye Tanya, attack dogs, hell I don't even care for Naval units.... But yeah I have to agree, it needs to be a realistic RTS.... I think the pace of the game needs to slow down too from what C&C 3 gave us... that was a little too fast in some respects.

If this is the case, the community need to butt the hell out of this game and let EA make it how they want to. Forget Dolphins and mind controlled squids, forget the cheezy rubbish that RA2 built. If Red Alert 3 is to be a decent game EA need to tell the comunity to STFU and come out with the goods themselves.

Your argument should not be against Scientology itself, it should be against the Church of Scientology..... The Freezone (IFA) operate under the same rules which Hubbard laid out but believe that the CoS has strayed from the path of true human enlightenment... it also believes that Scientology be practised freely outside and independently of the church. This includes the non-essential need to pay for your path to being a true clear, and creating your own universe. All the IFA ask for is donations. I've done all my research, it appears that Hubbard himself was not the bad person. The church itself was clear and moral up to the point of his death in the late 80's. But since that point things have changed and accusations have been placed on Scientology as a whole, and not the purpetrator, which is the church itself. Now I have done my research, I can safely say with 100% certainty that Scientology is not bad. It's just the church. And it's the Freezone who are suffering. (because they oppose the church, just like everyone who thinks I'm not doing my damn research here) The IFA want a clear and conscious Scientology without any of the cultist crap.... But of course, as I've said before you have not looked at the bigger picture and therefore don't understand what Scientology is about. You're too quick to point the finger on this one and therefore that makes you the Jackass!

I once had a game Named SunAge... I then sold it on eBay.... to quote a small review I did on it when someone asked me about the game: It sat on a shelf gathering dust for a while, but even after patches were brought out "apparently" fixing the issues that I had problems with, the game still had way too many problems... So short of giving it the sledgehammer followed by blowing it up with some home-made explosive... it went on eBay and got sold to someone who I hope is having more fun with it than I had. The game is different, but it's not refreshing, it's hugely frustrating!

Only in America... That's all I can say. People need to worry more about born again Zealot Christians, Crazy Jihad Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses and the KKK before they go after this... there are more pressing concerns than stopping Tom Cruise and his gang bang boys. The fact that YTMND, 4chan and this so called Anonymous is making this out to be a big thing is only giving Scientology the power it needs to grow stronger. And I find it Ironic that all this so-called contraversy is coming from the net and not from your everyday people and the news. I've done the research, I've seen the concerns, but all I can do is laugh because it appears to be another conspiracy theory blown out the water. Hundreds of people die for Religion everyday, many religions are surrounded in certain secrecies. The case of that guy whos mother chose not to help her schtizo son on the grounds of belief... That's no different from Jehovah Witnesses refusing blood transfusions on the grounds of their belief.... Call me a Jackass, fine. But until this gets on the front page of every global newspaper and becomes more important than any news story in the world, it's just a load of over the top BS that internet users consider the most important thing in their lives as the Numa Numa guy was once.

You should have included what Apoc said about me in the 2nd Paragraph... Just so you know guys he wants to threaten a Tiberium Meteror at me. My reply is simple: I love being the ***hole in this relationship!

It's like the same thing with Freemasonry.... for god sake guys, I'm a Freemason, my father was one, and my grandfather was one. There's nothing cultist about Freemasonry... Scientology, like Freemasonry is just another thing that you're all too scared to understand. Hell I believe in 9/11 conspiracies and you can tell me to shut up... I say that this war on Scientology is nothing more than a conspiracy theory in itself.... so who's right or wrong here?

zOMG teh n3rd5 of teh Int3rn3t will br1ng d0wn teh Rel1g10n th3y d0n't und3r5t4nd!!! T1m3 4 3l1t3 h4X0r! A new religion starts up, people get scared of what it could bring.... It sounds like the Romans getting pissy about Christianity, only 2000 years into the future... my god people panic and get a life already... so what if Scientology wants to become a religion... people have rights, freedom of speech and a will to do what they want in a democracy. If this was the 2nd movement of Nazism, then I would be worried. But since these demonstrations are organised on the internet by nerds with nothing better to do... The average joe doesn't care... I never heard of Scientology before the other day. Zee tells me that there have been huge protests here in England and such.... well, no there hasn't been, it hasn't made the news... so that one bloke wandering London shouting "The end is nigh, Scientology will kill us all!!" needs a reality check, so does everyone else who protests.... Go Scientology is all I can say.... people have a right to become part of new movements so long as they're not harming people in a sadist way. Scientology has some interesting values in my opinion. I say let it flourish, it might be worth something in the future... or it may die and float away from people's memories.... who cares!

True, I have a job, I work my way, pay the bills, get nagged by the wife and there should be more pressing concerns in life... But I am and always will be a gamer. I blame my mother as I said for allowing and encouraging me to play games (against my father's will) but she did it.... That's why I am like I am. Many children will follow the footsteps of what their parents encourage them to do (providing the child is willing) and hell I was very willing! Before I even got into school my parents had bought me my first computer. I was playing games like Manic Miner and chuckie egg on the commodore 64, and had over 300 games for that machine by the time the tape drive packed in and I was then given a Sega Master system, then a Mega Drive (Genesis), then a SNES, then a new PC, then a PSOne etc.....You're getting the picture now. But this wouldn't be the habit it is if I wasn't constantly given consoles and PCs by my parents.... Nowadays, it's just habit. Right now in this room I have 2 PCs, a PS2, PS3, a PSP, a DS, then all the other machines mentioned above and their games packed up in boxes. There's a lot of stuff here!

Maybe not to you, but I've been around since when Pong was still one of the best game in the arcades, and 16k computers were the X-Box 360's of their day. Yes I may be old, But I've had a gaming controller in my hand since the age of 2... I remember the day Super Mario Brothers came out on Arcade machines back in 1985... I was there to put pennies in the machine.... sure I could never get past the first mushroom or the first pit at the age of 2, but my mum encouraged me playing on games machines, she thought they were the future, and she was right. So as you can see, I've seen 23 years of gaming history. There have been huge innovations along the way and many changes have been made, as well as many things that have stuck. This issue is big business when you've been playing games as long as I have, and in another 5-10 years, you'll probably see what I'm talking about. Every advancement, every innovation and every new idea counts. Do you think if Westwood decided to keep making and recycling Lands of Lore games instead of coming out with Dune 2 and C&C, that we'd be here now having this discussion? I think not.... It takes great minds to create new avenues in gaming.... Some are well known games designers, others are companies like Westwood and Ironclad games. So despite what you might think right now, it is an issue that matters.

True but then I can just revert back to C&C 3. It's the same old recycled formula with a less inconsistent edge. But then we'd just be going around in circles regarding the discussion, so it's important to move on in many respects and look at the wider picture.

To be honest, I don't want the games industry to become the movie industry. Remakes can sometimes work, but that feels like a step back as opposed to a step forward. Everything needs to move forward and evolve to survive... Do you think BioShock would have been as good if it was just a straight System Shock 2 remake? Ok that's a little bit defensive of the game, because it was system shock 2 But can you understand where I'm coming from... the games industry has got it into its head that it can just recycle the same old crap every 5-10 years because for the most part a whole entirely new Generation of gamers will be playing it. Therefore why on earth should a company spend a few extra million dollars creating a worthy successor or something intelligently fresh, when you can just keep pumping out the same old more mutated ****ard child every so often? It's tiring and for us older gamers it's just not clever.

I can understand it, and yes you're probably all right on that matter. There's a difference with SoaSE though and that is it's a game I found myself, played myself and got drawn into myself... The game reminds me of Imperium Galactica 2 in so many ways, and that 's still a great game you will hear me go on and on about from time to time even though it's a 7 year old game. So expect me to go on about SoaSE for another 7 years even after other RTS games come and go. But it's not really my attention span. But like Hagren says I do get excited about new games, and get bored quickly. A lot of games these days are very much like peaches, they look nice, they taste nice but once you get to the core, there's a giant stone... It's then you begin to realise the problems, the shortcomings and the rather disappointing areas that can cloud what first appears to be a truly excellent game... Sure I may be on the SoaSE bandwagon, but I've found it's shortcomings, I've played close to 40 hours of it already since Thursday, and I'm still not even tired of this game at all. I'm even losing sleep over this game, I haven't done that with any RTS game since Imperium Galactica 2 in 2001. I'm a Multi-format games player and reviewer in my spare time now guys.... as much as Universe at War kept me going, I've played the campaign, I've played a Skirmish series.... Global Scenario, done all the Skirmish maps, conquered 7 hard AI, and played Multiplayer to death as much as I could... the game is done in my eyes, and I'll move on... there's no replayability in my opinion. C&C 3 was like that, SupCom was like that, World in Conflict was like that. If the game is not replayable beyond multiplayer then I don't care for it, I need a reason to keep playing, the game needs to keep entertaining long after it's hit the bargin bin and died out. I'm repeating myself but games like Imperium Galactica 2 and Sins of a Solar Empire can do that... C&C and UaW cannot. No arguing to be had... C&C was once a true love and a dedication beyond words. When C&C 3 came out it got me upset with what they did to the lore and canon, the game didn't feel right in my eyes at all. So naturally I was pretty miffed about it... It may appear that I've turned my back on UaW as well... true to a certain extent, but that's why I chose not to review it for Petro-Gamers... I probably would have just ripped it apart after playing 50 hours worth over a few weeks and just end up making the game look worse than it was. But with the shortfall in UaW I've come to realise (as I approach quarter of a century old ) that the games industry lacks so much multi-talented people. My hand goes up to the devs of Sins of a Solar Empire for trying new innovations and a new sub-genre (which actually works). Despite the long delays of Spore, my hand goes up to Will Wright and his team at Maxis (EA) for trying to be different... People like this, like Sid Meier, Peter Molyneux etc who try to be at the forefront of gaming innovation. These are the people who are our future and are the people we should watch and be following... not some RTS or FPS game which happens to be based on an old tiring franchise, or games from passed it developers who used to create that said franchise. Times change, and it's taken almost a year since the release of C&C 3 to find a niche I'm happy with. But I'm not afraid to tell anyone anything, I'll still speak my mind.... just in a more constructive and less inflammatory manner.

oh, I couldn't agree more!

No that's the collective voice of the SoaSE community. They are mostly made up of 18-45 year olds who consider themselves quite a rather hardcore bunch of RTS and strategy gamers. There's quite a few n00bs coming into the official forums saying how tough and complicated the game is, how it's too slow and boring cos they want it to be like C&C... All the community do is laugh at these people, ridicule them for expecting it to be like C&C 3, and then they tell them to literally **** off. So no, it's not just me.