Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising is deemed to be a stand-alone
expansion to Red Alert 3, but it is really more of a Red Alert 3 mod than a
typical expansion. It certainly is stand-alone in that you don't need to own Red
Alert 3 to download and play Uprising, although if this is your first exposure
to Red Alert 3 you may find yourself wondering just what the heck is going on
with all of the over-the-top cutscenes, bizarre units, and crazy story line.
It's a bit difficult to think of Uprising as true expansion game, though. Most,
if not all expansions for strategy games add new gameplay to the original game.
While Uprising does include new missions, modes, and units not found in Red
Alert 3, it also removes multiplayer support and the co-op co-commander (both
for real people and the AI) focused gameplay of the mission. Don't get me wrong;
there's plenty of fun to be had with Uprising. I just want you to be aware that
it's not what you may be expecting out of an expansion game.
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The heart of Uprising is in the new gameplay found in the campaigns and new
Commander's Challenge modes. There are four campaigns in the game – or more
accurately mini campaigns – consisting of three or four missions each and that
each can be completed in a couple of hours. Three of the campaigns are each
dedicated to one of the factions in the game – Russian, Allied, and Japanese –
and feature self-contained mini-stories that only loosely tie into the storyline
of the original game. The campaigns each have the familiar hammy but fun live
action video sequences the series is known for, and the missions themselves are
fun if not a little to puzzle-like. The fourth campaign is rather unique in that
you control Yuriko, a Japanese school girl with enormous psychic powers. This
campaign plays like an old-school action-RPG and is so much fun that it's easily
the highlight of the game.
The Commander's Challenge is a series of progressively more challenging
scenarios that pit you against an AI general. You start with access to only a
few basic units and as you progress through the challenges you'll unlock more
advanced units to add to your potential arsenal ... and you'll need them as
things get progressively harder the farther you progress. You're given a score
when you clear a challenge, so there's some incentive to go back and try to top
your performance the first time through. Speed is also rewarded and each level
has a par time, so it not only pays to be good, it pays to be good fast. The
Commander's Challenge is fun and Red Alert 3 fans should enjoy the challenge of
making it through to the end.
With Uprising comes some new units and they definitely fit within Red Alert
3's crazy alternate reality such as the Gigafortress, a flying samurai head that
shoots deadly lasers from its eyes or the Harbinger gunship which is a
dreadnaught of a unit that can repair itself. The new units are fun, but they
come at the cost of multiplayer support in Uprising since they're not really
balanced for multiplayer gaming.
If you enjoyed Red Alert 3 and are looking for a little more, then Uprising
certainly fits the bill. The new campaigns are enjoyable and the Yuriko campaign
is a blast. So much so that I'd love to see an entire expansion dedicated to
Yuriko...
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
82%. Uprising features more live action cutscenes
filled with veteran actors having fun hamming it up, but it's little Yuriko that
steals the show. 
