RA3: Uprising nails its by-the-numbers C&C gameplay yet sadly trips itself up when it attempts any changes to the formula. Most missions in RA3: Uprising will be feature some fairly routine early-game challenge which may require a few resets, but ultimately nothing too taxing. However, similar to C&C3: Kane’s Wrath, Uprising will pull the trick of expanding the map-size mid-game and immediately turn the tables.

The first Soviet mission for example, Raid on Lost Castle, features an intense left-field difficulty spike that will take most players by surprise as your units get annihilated by off-map artillery. However, the most memorable mission is ‘The True Shogun's Stand’, which suddenly launches endless Giga Fortresses - the most overpowered unit in RA3 - ripping through your base with zero warning once you reach a certain point in the mission.

On the one hand, this is unfair. In fact, it’s comically unfair. Yet this weird abusive twist has become so synonymous with C&C expansions - dating back to the brutal C&C95 ‘The Covert Operations’ - that as a veteran fan I had an absolute blast getting briskly annihilated off the map following a brief period of over-confidence.

C&C is one of the most conservative franchises in history, and so I feel really bad condemning EA Los Angeles trying something new for once. However, the experimental ‘Yuriko’ missions are by far the dullest and most uninteresting C&C campaign I’ve ever played. Like the 1997 misfire ‘C&C: Sole Survivor’, the Yuriko campaign puts you in control of a single unit with which to complete the entirety of a mission similar to an action RPG. However, C&C is notably not an RPG and this minute level of micromanagement is wholly uninteresting - consisting of you slowly inching yourself across a map made up almost entirely of scripted events. When you’re not activating one of the small numbers of powers you have, you’re waiting for them to cooldown so you can progress further. Visually it’s boring, and gameplay wise it’s just as bad.

However, I ultimately grant grace over Yuriko’s inclusion considering it’s only one of three campaigns and has no bearing on Uprising’s story. Therefore, you can simply treat it as a fun optional extra - or preferably ignore it entirely. The rest of Uprising is a solid RA3 expansion which ticks the usual boxes and is worth playing if you enjoyed the base game.

GRAPHICS
- GOOD MUSIC
- GOOD SFX
- GOOD BALANCE
- RESPECT
Was it worth it?

More complex missions and you don't have your useless AI companion in each battle which is nice. Great new units and FMv scenes. You can tell they actually cared about this release.