Red Alert 3: Uprising Officially Announced

[Sonic 295]

The expansion for Red Alert 3, called "Uprising" has officially been announced on the Official C&C Site. Check out the first screen shot and concept art along with the press release below. Red Alert 3: Uprising is scheduled for a March 2009 release. And for the first time ever for a C&C expansion, it will be a stand alone game, meaning you won't need Red Alert 3 installed to play it.

 

EA's COMMAND & CONQUER RED ALERT 3 RETURNS WITH AN UPRISING

 

Epic Campaign Expansion for Award-Winning

Real-Time Strategy Favorite Hits PCs This March

 

The third iteration of the Command & Conquer franchise's beloved Red Alert series is returning with Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising exclusively for the PC. An epic single-player campaign expansion, the standalone title catapults players deeper into the Red Alert universe, giving them more of the action-packed gameplay they have been clamoring for, while offering a gauntlet of new and compelling challenges with the new Commander's Challenge mode. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising will be available for digital download this March.

 

"Uprising is a game that in many ways reflects the feedback we have gotten from the Command & Conquer community," said Amer Ajami, Senior Producer at EA Los Angeles. "We're giving gamers more of what they want - more of the fast, fluid and fun gameplay, more of the story we began to tell in Red Alert 3 and more cutscenes featuring top-notch Hollywood talent. At the same time, we're excited we're going to be able to bring new things to the mix, including new units and the Commander's Challenge, which is a great way for players to hone their skills and get deeper into the combat."

 

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising takes players into the aftermath of the epic battles in Red Alert 3, with the Soviets still reeling from a crushing defeat, the Empire of the Rising Sun desperately trying to regain both honor and identity and the seemingly victorious Allies finding themselves in the midst of corruption and deceit within their own ranks. In addition to four mini-campaigns, one for each faction and one bonus campaign centered on the origins of the Empire of the Rising Sun's commando Yuriko, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising will also introduce the new Commander's Challenge, enabling the players to test their skills against a set of nine commanders from different territories and difficulty levels in 50 unique challenges with their own special rules and unique conditions.

 

In true Command & Conquer fashion, top Hollywood talent will be delivering the gripping story in full HD live-action cinematics. Fan favorites Gemma Atkinson and Ivana Milicevic will make their stunning return to the high ranks of the Allied and Soviet leaderships and will be joined by an all new set of stars, who will be announced soon.

 

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising is a standalone game and does not require Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 to play. This product has not yet been rated by the ESRB, PEGI or USK. For more information about Red Alert 3, please stay tuned right here at RedAlert3.com.

[Luk3us 63]

Ahh the much awaited expansion.

 

Should be interesting. Though do they really need all this "Hollywood" talent tbh? Kinda seems like an epic waste of dosh for a game which will have like 10 odd missions or whatever. :s

[Sonic 295]

A few different features but this expansion is not on the scale of Kane's Wrath or even Yuri's Revenge. From what I've heard it's going to be about $20 US at the most, and apparently you will only be able to get it via a digital download at this stage with the possibility of a retail (DVD) release later.

[Luk3us 63]

Yeah they're trying to be like a DLC for an RTS.

 

I'd prefer a proper expansion imo. But we'll see how this goes I guess.

[Duke 0]

I like it. I've always thought someone should make an expansion that's not dependent on the original game (despite that meaning it probably isn't an expansion as such).

 

Uprising will also introduce the new Commander's Challenge

 

Wow! Sounds REALLY ORIGINAL.

[Nmenth 291]

not dependent on the original game (despite that meaning it probably isn't an expansion as such).

That's what I was thinking, isn't 'expansion' and 'stand alone' a contradiction? It's more like a tiny RA3 sequel.

[drunkill 2]

It'd be good if they chucked this on the xbox 360 marketplace as downloadable content. for a couple of hundred points you can downloads the mission pack. Shouldn't be too hard to port over.

[Koen 2]

From a technical standpoint, every C&C expansion since Yuri's Revenge has in fact been stand-alone. They just re-used some of the art files from the original games, which were not included with the expansion. But the executables and everything else was not shared; Tiberian Sun was the last game to do this with a shared executable (Firestorm). So now, they're actually packaging it this way as well.

[Malevolence 6]

Howdy! I'm back and just in time to see this news!

 

Great news, a new expansion in March, three months from now, new campaigns, new units, and Generals's... er, I mean Commander's Challenge!

 

Ok the bad news. No signs of multiplayer other than skirmish? So please don't tell me EA is doing its silly incomplete product tactic again?

 

The ugly news. I was on the verge of laughing my arse out when I realized that EA is still in consideration of planning on selling in retail. Seriously, why must they always ruin products by having something short here and there? If you remember, we had Kane's Wrath featuring only Nod campaign and multiplayer, deliberately omitting other faction campaigns. Now we have a decent expansion with no multiplayer support? Why are they doing this?

 

Talk about originality, Generals ZH's stuff are reinvented yet again! Generals's... er, I mean Commander's Challenge, modified Commander's abilities strengths and so on. Can't they come out with something, a little more original?

 

I'm currently more concern over the retailing issue for now.

[Koen 2]

By the way, I am really starting to doubt whether a RA3 Mod SDK will make it in time before this expansion, if at all. And would the SDK support this expansion as well? Probably not...

[Malevolence 6]

And I wonder about DRM as well.

[Sonic 295]

Ok the bad news. No signs of multiplayer other than skirmish? So please don't tell me EA is doing its silly incomplete product tactic again?

More multiplayer support is coming later in the year.

 

By the way, I am really starting to doubt whether a RA3 Mod SDK will make it in time before this expansion, if at all. And would the SDK support this expansion as well? Probably not...

Yeah don't hold your breath for the Mod SDK.

[hagren 0]

This is a deliberately SP-only expansion, Malevolence, I'm sure there's going to be stuff for you MP-buffs as well

 

For instance, the skirmish maps from Uprising will be made available for RA3.

[ORCaLoVeR 0]

I rather have a proper expansion wich costs 45 dollars then a small expansion with 3 or so new units and some minor things

 

 

Zero hour and kane's wrath had these so called ""unique armies"" but really, did they changed much??

 

2 or 3 new units, an unique upgrade and that was probaly it.

 

If i would have designed the steel talons for Kane's wrath, i would introduce a fully mechanised walker based army.Trowing out the Pitbull and slingshot, and replacing it with a quadruple walker with a large AA gun for example.Probaly the only wheeled vechicles would be the harvester and the repair APC, wich can be easly replaced by a repair walker.

 

The shockwave mod of Zero hour, has this.But since EA wont release a MODsdk, i doubt i will ever see a Shockwave mod style Kane's wrath.

 

 

But then again, if it is only 20 € or so , i guess ill be buying this

[Nmenth 291]

If i would have designed the steel talons for Kane's wrath, i would introduce a fully mechanised walker based army.

The Steel Talons wasn't a walker based sub-faction, it was a Second Tiberium War based sub-faction. The Wolverine, Titan, Juggernaut, and Mammoth Mk II were the only walkers from that period.

Replace the Slingshot with a Hover MLRS and maybe trade a Disruptor for the Mammoth Tank would have been closer to their theme. Actually that doesn't sound too bad, I really dislike the Slingshot and the Disruptor was always one of my favorite GDI units.

[ORCaLoVeR 0]

Exactly, altough i think the disruptor would be a better unit for ZOCOM.

 

 

U might be right bout the Steel talons, But if u look at the other factions...not really that much change

 

 

I'de rather had it if EA designed the steel talons to be a walker based faction, ZOCOM a True Sonic faction (The Shatterer and the Disruptor are not comparable to eachother, trow out the shatterer, and give a true disruptor ), and maybe even a third faction, like a hover based faction.With almost all, if not all Hover based vechicles.Like a hover tank, hover harvester and so on.

 

If EA made KW like this from the beginning, and a proper campaign for all 3 factions, it would be much more recieved by fans and other people, and it would have been a great ending and a warm looking forward to C&C 4 SHOULD that ever be built.

 

 

I HOPE that they will implent more of this in Ra3 uprising, but i have my doubts

Edited January 9, 2009 by ORCaLoVeR

[Nmenth 291]

I don't know... if your theme is too thoroughly implemented, it takes out the uniqueness of unit variety and well just create a certain blandness. Some of the Zero Hour generals had that flaw. You can't have everything in a faction based on only one tactic or technology.

[PurpleGaga27 40]

Ahh the much awaited expansion.

 

Should be interesting. Though do they really need all this "Hollywood" talent tbh? Kinda seems like an epic waste of dosh for a game which will have like 10 odd missions or whatever. :s

 

 

Well there is a misstatement that EALA never used all of Hollywood talent stars to be in those RA3 FMVs. Only a fraction of all the stars appearing in RA3 FMVs came to Hollywood or came as originally Hollywood stars, which proves that Gemma Atkinson and Ivana Milicevic aren'tl really Hollywood stars. EALA still hired foreign stars but most foreigners aren't Hollywood stars. Moreoever, star talent looks weaker in RA3 than in C&C3/KW. So in my opinion, the stars in C&C3/KW were very much better than the ones in RA3.

 

I may agree on the idea that RA3 Uprising may be an epic waste of time since production quality and concept is too simple and enough for a quick rush release plus the new units have just gotten wackier. So I am guessing there might be 12-20 missions in this expansion plus the skirmish maps and the 50+ commander's challenges. Either 4 or 5 missions for each campaign and I believe the fourth campaign as the fourth faction may be Yuriko related.

 

I hope EALA releases a Mod SDK not for RA3 but for the expansion so that both the expansion and the original can be used together.

 

There is another thought that came to my mind, would there ever be a chance that EALA will release a second expansion pack for RA3? Generals 2 is already rumored and C&C3 (confirmed by EALA) is not going to have a 2nd expansion.

Edited January 9, 2009 by purplescrin

[ORCaLoVeR 0]

I don't know... if your theme is too thoroughly implemented, it takes out the uniqueness of unit variety and well just create a certain blandness. Some of the Zero Hour generals had that flaw. You can't have everything in a faction based on only one tactic or technology.

That depends.Ofcourse not everything, but most of it yes.

 

And just because, lets say, Steel talons are based on walker technology, that doesnt mean that they should be set on one pure tactic

 

 

Example=Shockwave mod.USA armor and China Tank.Both sides have many diffrent set of vechicles.They still retain a airforce (USA Armor=Black widow Ground attack fighter and F16XL and starlifter and China Tank Razor bomber and Heavy helix)

 

 

[Inferno 22]

Commander's challenge is actually the thing I've been waiting for! General's challenge was epic, but with this stealing units from conquered commanders it should be even more fun

[Chronojam 3]

While I'm certainly no Generals fan, the Generals Challenge was one part of the game that I found interesting to go through using all the various sides. It was actually interesting to me, and it's going to be interesting again here and a worthwhile addition to the game. RA3 is a step above C&C3, so I can only assume the Commander Challenge will be quite a step beyond the Generals Challenge. The idea of having different rules and conditions is great, alternate gameplay modes appeal to me. It screams replay value.

 

Well, at least I can hope that it'll be so great. I like single player in a game, so $20 for a bit more of it does not sound too tragic even if it's just "more of the same." It doesn't need to be too revolutionary.

[Gben 20]

As a mainly SP player, I'm happy for the focus on me. I liked the implementation of the General's challenge in ZH, and I look forward to seeing the RA3 version. Hopefully this means the AI co-commanders will finally get some battle-personality as well.

 

Less enuthusiastic about the yuriko 'dungeon crawl'... but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

[Malevolence 6]

Seeing all the negative comments all over the community crying out loud over the "digital download only" issue... and the official reply was:

 

Uprising will be available for digital download at first release through the EA Store this March, but please rest assured we are looking in to other distribution models which does include retail

 

I hope EA wakes up and make some sense only to realize that retails are a necessity to sell their products, and should not be taken out of the equation.

 

As for me, if the expansion pack's not in retail version, honestly I'll take no hesitation to get a free copy through illegitimate means.

 

This is a deliberately SP-only expansion, Malevolence, I'm sure there's going to be stuff for you MP-buffs as well

 

For instance, the skirmish maps from Uprising will be made available for RA3.

 

Howdy, Hagren. Yea, for your info, I'm more of the single player story-based fan than a multiplayer competitor. I believed an ideal expansion should be complete in terms of supporting both SP and MP, with additional bonus features. But the direction of making a "deliberate SP-only expansion" kind of hints EA is getting lazy, or "cutting effort to achieve high profit and yet piss of consumers but EA don't care" political strategy.

[ORCaLoVeR 0]

Many of the players are underaged, i doubt they can buy stuff of the internet

[Gben 20]

How is getting new fmv, crafting missions, testing maps etc being LAZY?

I'm pretty sure you got that in the wrong order.

 

What would a MP only expansion be?

Simply maps and balancing???