

The game features three factions, each with differences that dictate how they play. The game does away with the traditional fields of ore for resources and instead features finite ore mines that only require a single harvester. Naval battles play an important role in Red Alert 3, with almost all multiplayer maps featuring large bodies of water for naval units. When playing alone, players can give some generic orders to their co-commander, such as attack specific target. Players can play online with their friend, or choose to play alone, in which case an AI controlled Commander helps out.

New to Command & Conquer is the option for cooperative campaign play. The colorful, campy feel of the Red Alert series will returns in Red Alert 3, ranging from full-motion video mission briefings and story sequences, as well as outlandish units. There are three possible endings, each putting their respective faction as the victor of the war. The Empire campaign is locked until the player finishes the Soviet and Allied campaigns. The game features a roughly 10 mission campaign for each faction. Thus the world is plunged into a three way war. However, this time alteration has unwittingly created a new superpower, the Empire of the Rising Sun. Returning to the present, the Soviets are on the verge of conquering all of Europe. Using this time machine, Soviet leaders travel back in time and kill Albert Einstein, thus removing all the technology that he would have built to help the Allies.

The Soviets have secretly build a time machine underneath the Kremlin. On the verge of being defeated by the Allies, Soviet leadership executes a desperate plan. The Xbox 360 version was released a month later and the PS3 version was on hold until March of 2009. In early 2008, Red Alert 3 was formally announced for a "Red October" release on PC. EA's alternate-history real-time strategy series, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, has been dormant since the release of Yuri's Revenge in 2001.
