Grin and bear it: As far as real-time strategy simulators go, Red Alert has been at the top of the food chain for some time, and with good reason.

While Starcraft II boasts hybrid alien units with the Zerg, and Dawn of War allows you to control 8-foot-tall genetically enhanced super-soldiers, Red Alert 3 gives you what you always wanted: parachuting battle-bears.

Yes. Please.

Red Alert 3 takes you into an alternate universe where Albert Einstein was assassinated by time-traveling Soviets. Now, in a world without atomic and nuclear weapons, there have been severe repercussions on the timeline. America and European forces are on the brink of destruction, and Soviet Russia dominates Europe. Only Japan, the Empire of the Rising Sun, came out unscathed. A huge military brawl consumed the planet.

The combat is relatively the same, though there are new and upgraded units from the previous installments. Most have dual-use tech allowing most basic armor units the ability to be deployed amphibiously. Base defenses allow for quick and easy “turtling” of forces.

A great addition to the game play allows players to build up research points and sink them into special powers, which run over any and all base defenses you may have created. Campaign mode allows you to play co-op with a friend, though player vs. player is what it’s all about.

If there was anything to criticize about this game, it would be the live-action cut scenes. The stable of actors they recruited for this game is great, but Tim Curry as Premier Anatoly Cherdenko is a mixed bag. He plays it great, but in the end all I really see is Frank N. Furter.

The mind recoils in horror. Rocky Horror, that is.

Price: $49.99

Rated: “T” for Teen

For: Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

Justin Arnold

Big Game Hunter

jarnold@heraldnet.com