C&C: Red Alert 3 - Uprising

Preview - Loud and proud

Combatants better with eye-liner than battle tactics? Check. Absurd, over the top units based on deliberately cliched national stereotypes? Oh yes. A story so mad Clive Cussler might laugh and suggest it be toned-down? Damn straight. And, finally, gameplay focussed on huge, unrealistic battlefields with little respect given to realism or strategy. Yes, Red Alert 3 was a blast, and now EA are back with an expansion pack and promising to deliver even more.

We're taking a behind-closed-doors look at the new add-on pack with Amir Ajani, executive producer on the game, and a man who clearly knows his audience only too well judging by what we've seen of the RTS expansion so far. First we were offered Hollyoaks temptress Gemma Atkinson, and now Uprising will feature sexy war correspondent Holly Valance, camping things up in an even more unlikely fashion.

Assuming that the Soviet and Japanese forces were squished by the Allies at the end of the original Red Alert 3, Uprising sees us taking charge of the Allied forces once again, and once again we'll be taking on the might of these two old foes - across an implausible plot involving the UN, physic powers, new weapons, time travel and more madness than you can shake a bike-riding fish at.

The series has always been about time-travel induced visions of the future, complete with more plot holes than - well, your average Hollyoaks episode - but Uprising looks likely to take this tongue-in-cheek theme to new levels, the Soviets venturing back in time, planning to kill Einstein, only to return to the present to discover that several technical advancements happened anyway. But why? We've no doubt Holly will be helping us get to the truth...

Despite their previous defeat - in the Red Alert story cannon - the Empire of the Rising Sun are not looking as flaky as you might expect, and Ajani takes us around the new Yuriko campaign - a story campaign focussing on just one character, imbued with a range of physic abilities. The campaign was a joy to behold, a genuine departure from the staple gameplay of the series; harking back to the old Red Alert games of yesteryear. Gone are the complexities of resource management, progress, multiple units, instead, we'll be controlling Yuriko as she escapes from a secret milliary facility - garnering incredible and outlandish powers in manner the producer reveals is inspired by Japanese anime favourite Akira.

These commando-style missions will form three to four hour's of the new add-on, but never fear, if you're after more of the same we're promised total gameplay in excess of 20 hours - meaning that there's plenty of non-reinventing the wheel going on for us to sink our teeth into. New units will form a large part of the changes EA are making, and you'll be pleased to learn that these are frankly ridiculous. The new hover tank - the Pacifier - can float on water and ride across land, and like other new creations this beast will offer two very different fire modes - ideal for different scenarios.

Then there's the huge Giga Fortress, a Transformer-like rolling death machine, complete with absurd head-like stylings, and weaponry so powerful even the game's producer admits its nigh-on impossible to defeat. The Empire of the Rising Sun's new trick can also switch to become an enourmous floating battleship in the shape of a lotus leaf, which can roll out death from all angles and when 'closed' is very difficult to penetrate. The most 'OTT' Red Alert unit ever conceived?

Ajani reveals - with a grin - that Gemma is making a return in the game's story, and fans will also be titillated by the prospect of special rewards for completing the game in record time.

With 50 new skirmish maps adding lashings of new depth to the already first rate multiplayer action on offer, coupled with four full campaigns, this really does look like the Red Alert game fans have been waiting for. EA promise a download-only release on March 6th, and we'll keep you posted as this debut nears.