Fun seems to be the keyword in 'Red Alert 3', the latest instalment of the 'Command & Conquer' real-time strategy spin-off series. Bright, brash colours in all the menus and a design reminiscent of 1930's style Soviet propaganda posters rounds off the tongue-in-cheekiness of it all.

The plot sees Soviet leaders, General Krukov and Colonel Cherdenko, use a time machine to travel back in time to change history so as to save the Soviet Union from downfall. Their mission: to kill Albert Einstein.

Without Einstein, however, the Russians don't have nuclear capabilities, and upon their return to the present time, the Soviet leaders find themselves in the middle of World War III where they have to join forces with the Allies to fight a third super power: the Empire of the Rising Sun.

Hence, you get to play through a Soviet, Allied and Empire (Japan) campaign.

Although the cinematics has the same B-movie acting and over-the-top characters that we've grown to love over the years, the general atmosphere and feel of the game is quite different to previous 'Red Alert' games.

It is quite refreshing to find that not only are there new weapons and innovative maps (upon which you can use your cute amphibious craft), but that the concepts of gameplay has also had a rethought. Your fighters, for example, get ejected from the amphibious Bullfrog craft by being fired human cannonball-style out the back. Your little soldier then floats to the ground with a parachute, albeit a bit slow.

Other cutesy vehicles include the Sickle, which can jump around like a flea. It does, however, need time to re-charge for its next jump. Other new fighting units include the War Bear (Allies), which are a bit useless.

A brilliant and very powerful addition is the Commando-in-hot-pants, Natasha Volkova (Soviet, obviously), who can do things like fire straight through several enemy fighters and kill them at once. She can also call in air-strikes on enemy vehicles, which makes a comic-book style bomber drop out of the sky and obliterate its target.

Co-op mode enhances the game greatly. The missions are different to the ones in solo mode and you and your ally won't have the same construction capabilities.

'Red Alert 3' features full high definition cut scenes, with big B-movie bad guy names playing parts: Tim Curry, Peter Stormare and J.K. Simmons all make appearances. However, they do nothing for the game other than elicit a slight chuckle. Couldn't EA have rather spent the money on something else? Such as improving the in-game graphics? It's all about marketing, I suppose, but the contrast between the quality of the cut scene graphics and that of the actual gameplay is deafening.

Useless actors aside, the game generally plays well and there are few hassles. Certain sub-menus have been hidden, freeing up more screen space, and zooming in and out is very smooth.

One advantage of having sub-par gameplay graphics is that the game is playable on older computers. One could argue that the programmers and designers kept these machines in mind when developing the graphics system. But it actually just seems like lazy design and programming, especially when you compare it to last year's 'Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars' which had superb in-game graphics while still being playable on older machines.

In the end 'Red Alert 3' comes across as Command & Conquer Lite'. Both 'Red Alert 2' and 'Tiberium Wars' were simply better games, albeit in different ways.

But, as the Soviet Conscripts put it so succinct in the game: "It's better than the gulag."

7.1/10