The Red Alert branch of the Command & Conquer series distinguishes itself with a campier, lighter, approach toward the real-time strategy (RTS) struggle between opposing forces. This spin-off takes place years before the mainstream C&C game, where Einstein used a time machine to change the course of history, allowing Stalin's Soviet faction to rise up and invade much of the world. Similar to C&C 3: Tiberium Wars, a third faction will be joining into the mix - Japan.

Japanese forces will play very differently from other factions in that they don't have much of a land-based presence. For example, their construction yard is an offshore rig that produces hovercrafts. These hovercrafts can be deployed into power plants or other structures. Best of all, Red Alert 3 will have a strong emphasis on naval units, a feature that Tiberium Wars sadly lacked. All Red Alert 3 factions will have amphibious units to combat each other from a variety of different ways.

Aesthetically, the Empire of the Rising Sun uses a combination of anime inspired units mixed in with more mundane looking infantry. Riflemen look like peasants wearing large rice hats. Their secondary ability is to burrow underground, leaving only the hat showing, to launch an ambush. Although a series of conic hats on the ground is an obvious sign of a trap, players can choose to burrow their units behind trees or among grass to help provide camouflage. The infantry stands in strong contrast to the mechanized units that include robots that transform to fulfill different roles. The Tengu, for example, starts as a land-based unit that's vulnerable to air attacks. It can overcome this flaw by transforming into a high-tech jet fighter, but the ability to attack ground units gets lost in the transformation. An added benefit of transforming is that Japan won't need air fields to rearm its aircraft, making it the perfect faction for swarming tactics. Structures borrow a lot from Tiberium Wars, with a Japanese barracks that look identical to the GDI version except with a different paint job and a few enhancements. However, buildings like the power plant look fantastic, with a cloud of electricity crackling over it. While the look is highly stylized and makes the Japanese faction stand out, it's a little weird to have infantry that essentially look like peasant militia fighting alongside transforming mechs. Hopefully the units will have a more consistent look as development progresses.

Resource gathering will be more streamlined in RA3 than in any other C&C game. The gold resource, gold ore, come from mines. Players set up resource refineries facing these mines and let it run instead of producing an army of resource gatherers to pick up fields of gold. This makes defending resources much easier while providing obvious targets to strike to help starve a player out. Income starts to slow down as the mine depletes, but it can never be completely used up.

In traditional Red Alert fashion, the single player campaign will feature plenty of time travel, although we were told that it's probably unlikely that players will be fending off dinosaurs this time around. A short glimpse of the rival Soviet faction reveals that it will be employing units like armored bears and broad shouldered Tesla troopers that look like they walked off the Iron Man mark 1 production line, ready to fry enemies with streams of electricity.

Beta testing starts soon and those who purchased Kane's Wrath early had a chance to register for a testing spot. Hopefully, it won't be long before Red Alert 3 brings its unique perspective on the C&C universe to fans again.