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Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 is, as you might've guessed, the third installment in the alternate history real time strategy series of Command & Conquer games. In this alternate history, Hitler was assassinated before World War 2, and in this third game the Soviet and American forces go to war against the Empire of the Rising Sun, also known as Japan.

One of the big changes from the first Red Alert to the second was the fact that the game became more humorous. The third in the series continues this feel — at one point, when playing as the Empire against the Soviets, I had a rain of scout bears come against my base. Even while shooting down the parachuting bears I couldn't help but laugh.

The Empire of the Rising Sun is a new faction and is intended more for the advanced Command & Conquer players due to the level of micromanagement involved with it. While the Empire's buildings come out as "nodes", or eggs, as the developers like to call them, which do not need to be within a "building radius" like the other factions have, they have much higher power requirements than the other factions.

They also do not have any air power. Instead, the entire faction is highly amphibious, being able to build in the water and on land and having many units that can traverse both easily. In fact, the Empire of the Rising Sun is a fan of units of that have multiple functions thanks to its transformable units.

Basically, many of the Empire's units are mechas of various sorts — giant robots that can take different forms. One of the most basic ones is an anti-infantry unit when standing on two legs, but can transform into an anti-air unit by changing into jet form. Conversely, when faced with more powerful enemies of one sort, it can change into the opposite to avoid them.

This flexibility comes at a cost. First off, the Empire doesn't bother with medics, so soldiers cannot be healed in the field while mechanical units can be brought back to certain buildings to be fixed up. Second, units require careful shepherding while in the field to be used to their maximum potential.

There are a lot of other neat things in this version as well. Civilian buildings can be garrisoned, giving armor bonuses to the units inside, while other neutral places provide bonuses. There are single player campaigns for all three sides - and you can play the entire game co-op, either with a human or AI partner.

In addition, on the PC you'll be able to play with up to six human players, and up to four on the 360. Both versions will have the full motion video you've come to anticipate and enjoy from the C&C series.