RED ALERT 3 COOP SERIES

Many of the naval units are actually amphibious, so my speedboats could sprout spider legs and walk on land, but I realized that I needed to get a dedicated land factory for some heavy units, like the devastating V4 rocket launcher. Later on in the mission, after I had pushed the Allied navy back, I realized I needed to help out on land. To help me out, Greg dropped a Tesla coil in my base, and I added another, so any dolphins that got too close got vaporized. He churned out tanks and infantry to defend against a large ground attack, while I churned out speedboats to battle oncoming Allied dolphins (yes, dolphins) and aircraft carriers. In a Soviet mission, we started out with Greg in command of a land base and myself in command of a base at sea. This is very handy, particularly in the second mission that we played.

While you can't directly control the buildings and units of your teammate, you can build structures in his base and vice versa. YES NO There's an interesting build mechanic in co-op. The battle begins with both players at opposing sides of the map, so you can each try and attack one flank on your own, or perhaps link your forces in the middle and attack together, or rush to another's aid if the enemy launches a powerful counter-attack.

RED ALERT 3 COOP SERIES

For instance, in the Allied mission that we played the goal is to attack a heavily-fortified Red Army base, the key is to take out a series of power generators that are powering the Iron Curtain, a formidable defensive barrier. And, yes, having a second player in the mix adds a new element to the standard C&C formula of resource gathering, base building, and tank rushing. So generally the battles are tougher than those found in earlier C&C games, as they're basically geared for two players. Each mission in the game has been designed with co-op in mind, whether it's with another human being or with a computer-controlled teammate. Anyhow, I got to play with Greg as my wingman in a couple of missions to check out how co-op works out. Disclaimer time: developers Greg Kasavin and Amer Ajami and I used to work together years ago at another publication, but they've been working on real-time strategy games at EA for years now.

The guys from EA LA stopped by the office this week to give us our first taste of co-op Red Alert. And if you don't have friends or your Internet access gets crippled, you'll still be able to run through with a computer controlled ally.

EA wants to introduce this same mechanic to the entire campaign for Red Alert 3 instead of wading into the battles by yourself, you can team up with another player and tackle the battles together. More and more games, particularly shooters, are coming out with co-op modes that let you and a buddy have fun blasting the enemy. Let's face it: gaming is more fun when you're playing with a friend.

Red alert 3 coop