command and conquer red alert 3 uprising skirmish

This is a similar feeling to RA3, which obviously falls into the RTS category but doesn't actually let you do any strategizing - there is usually one and only one solution to the obstacles set before you, and it becomes more of a point and click action game. Not to mention that you roll your protagonist completely from scratch, with an appearance and development path entirely customized by you. Compare this to a true RPG such as Baldur's gate, which has so many sidequest diversions and such freedom of exploration that the multiple methods of advancement are absolutely staggering. The role is already defined, you just step into control of a brooding spikey-haired protagonist with an oversized sword and set about advancing the plot in the exact same sequence of events every single time with absolutely no open-endedness whatsoever.

See, in most of the Final Fantasy games, which are billed as 'RPGs,' you don't actually pick a role and play it. Perhaps I'd better explain that before I upset triple the fanbois in one sentence. It makes the game not feel like quite up to being called an 'RTS' in the same way you can't quite really in an unqualified manner call a Zelda or Final Fantasy game an RPG. Some missions, the gimmick is a simple tech handicap (only lowest tier vehicles, or no tanks, etc), and others it's the C&C signature 'you have 1 unit and 1 unit only and if it dies before you pass all the scripted checkpoints you LOSE' horseapples. Only in the last mission of each campaign do you actually get unfettered access to the whole tech tree and every other mission also gives you dozens of little hoops to jump through (some admittedly fun, some aggravating in the extreme). The single player campaigns, however, are unforgivably gimmicky.

RA3 doesn't make a whole lot of improvements over C&C3, but it slathers on the kitschy alternate-timeline jingo cut scenes and really amps up the amusement factor, transforming a mediocre RTS into an enjoyable show (if for not all the right reasons). The reasons my expectations were low was because of my disappointment in the Wrath of Kain expansion for C&C3. Whether or not that had some kind of buoying effect on the final outcome, I'll leave to you to decide. Well, I have to say that my expectations going into this were not very high.

Command and conquer red alert 3 uprising skirmish