This one or Red Alert 3?

[Dashurohem]

I’ve never played Command and Conquer games before, but I did (and still do) play StarCraft/Brood War which seems similar to this game.
I’m wondering though, which is better? I’m going to buy one while they’re on sale, but don’t want to buy both.

[Noodlesocks]

If it has to be on Steam I'd go with C&C 3 with the Kane's Wrath expansion.

The remaster is a good remaster of a very old game and it will feel like a very old game. Only reason I'd recommend remaster is if you want to experience where RTS largely began or if you had fond memories of playing these games when you were younger. Not to say the original C&C games are bad but they don't have the depth of later RTS games.

[Cat]

This one has 2 of the earliest C&C and all 3 of their expansion packs. They are also the first games in chronological order and they are more fun than other RTS games.

But the non-remastered version of these games are free so you can play them and spend money on other game if you like.

[kuromi]

since you say you play broodwar i would go with the remaster over ra3. these games are a bit simpler than starcraft but from the same era so you should be right at home.

[Dashurohem]

Thanks! I think I’ll go with this one.

[Paladestar]

I find RA3 hard to replay, simply because I hate the AI co-commander that you're forced to play with in the campaign. I wish they gave us the option to turn the co-commander off.

[Punished Rusty Shackleford]

RA3 is where they poured more money into the cutscenes than actual gameplay. Sure they're pretty memorable but why buy the game when you can just watch them on Youtube.

[startrekmike]

Originally posted by Dashurohem:

Thanks! I think I’ll go with this one.

Red Alert 3 is going to feel a lot more like StarCraft and while that might be good for StarCraft players, it isn't so good for those who stuck with the Command and Conquer franchise from the start. It isn't a bad game but it isn't nearly as good as the C&C titles that came before.

The Remasters are going to be a tricky one. The primary audience (thankfully) for the Remaster release is very much the folks who vividly remember playing the originals and want something that evokes that feeling that can run well on modern systems (and look like our rose-tinted nostalgia remembers). If you are coming from the StarCraft scene (especially the competitive PvP side of it), you will probably have some problems with the remasters since they are based on games that predate competitive play and even mainstream online PvP. They are single player focused (thankfully) and while there is multiplayer, it isn't balanced the way competitive players might expect.

I would go with RA3. I don't prefer it myself but since you like StarCraft, it is going to be more comfortable for you.

[Dashurohem]

I agree, I ended up choosing RA3 after watching some Youtube videos comparing the two games and seeing how they looked. Also, the star studded cast helped me decide on that one too.

[Park_Triolo]

Well, the games are dirt cheap now on Steam, so get both C&C remaster and RA3. Yes, I used to play C&C A LOT back in the day, so it's just great to play again now and with updated visuals. RA3... I loved that game both for the gameplay and for the delightful B-movie acting cut-scenes... it's a must. :)

[CthuluIsSpy]

Eh, I wasn't a fan of RA3. Whilst I did like Tim Curry and Takei's performance, I found the overall aesthetic and gameplay to be a step down from RA2. I didn't like the cartoony style, I didn't like the color pallet, I didn't like how the ore fields were replaced by strip mines and I didn't like the special active abilities that everyone had. In retrospect, it was a stepping stone between Tiberium Wars and Tiberium Twlight; it still had some of the core CnC mechanics, but it also introduced more "MOBA" mechanics and "mobile game" aesthetics.

Aesthetics wise RA3 has more in common with Rivals than Tiberium Wars or even Generals, and that's not a good thing in my book.

That said, for a new player RA3 will probably be more comfortable. Tiberian Dawn is a pretty old game and has it's limitations, and to compensate for those limitations the AI cheats pretty hard. Also there are some pathing issues and placing wall segments one at a time is pretty annoying.
The original is even more tedious because it doesn't even have tabs or unit queues; that was something they ported over to the remaster from the later games.

[Paladestar]

Originally posted by CthuluIsSpy:

I found the overall aesthetic and gameplay to be a step down from RA2. I didn't like the cartoony style, I didn't like the color pallet

Yeah, they definitely went a bit too cartoony in places. The Allied and Rising Sun designs were okay for the most part. I didn't like the Allied bombers, they looked more akin to a WW2 bomber than a sleek modern bomber.

The soviet designs were pretty ridiculous. The Apocalypse and Hammer tanks looked so cartoony in their design and their animation, they both looked like they were going to shake themselves apart when just sitting there idling. The sickle looked stupid too and the infantry launcher, literally straight out of a circus. The exaggerated shaking was just totally ridiculous though, it annoyed me the most. The Tesla Coil guard tower looked stubby too, with such a large brick base and just a few small actual coils. The Spectrum Tower also looked stubby and had a backwards design compared to the Prism Tower from RA2, which had 6 emitters on a rotational hub. The Spectrum tower had 4 emitters on a fixed hub, so how does it hit things 45 degrees between each emitter? - I find that amount of refraction from the small emitters and hub unlikely!

I think the allied artillery suffered from the same stupid shaking (Athena Cannon). The Mirage Tank had the field projection panels on its sides flopping all over the place too as it moved - which didn't just look stupid, but I'd imaging projecting a believable false image with the emitters flopping around at random, until they stabilise after the tank stops moving, would be a difficult task, actually impacting the functionality of the tank and the panels themselves don't need to move when projecting a false image, so they should just be fixed rigidly in place like they were in RA2!

[Cat]

Originally posted by Paladestar:

I didn't like the Allied bombers, they looked more akin to a WW2 bomber than a sleek modern bomber.

At least they look realistic, which is a lot better than most units in the game looked. I also didn't like the aesthetics of most units, especially how the tanks are needlessly wobbly. The most annoying part is the unit voicelines. Conscripts sound like idiots ("they have guns too?") Or clowns... Probably why they gave Soviets a circus campaign level and the circus cannon unit or a bear that performs tricks.

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, I was really disappointed in the conscripts. They had such a cool design in RA2, but in RA3 they just looked like Russian cartoon stereotypes, complete with AKs and ushankas.

[Jiang Ziya]

If you don't mind graphics and prefer gameplay over graphics, then Remastered is the way to go (RA 3 is a childish cartoon wannabe)