Greetings and welcome to read another review where i talk about classic game. This time i take arguably one of the greatest RTS games under the scope. Game is Command & Conquer: Red alert
Basic introduction
Command & Conquer: Red Alert (from now on as RA or Red Alert) was released in 31st october 1996 for PC (in 1997 to PS2 and 2008 in PSN) by Westwood studios and it was prequel of highly successful Command & Conquer: Tiberian dawn (my review here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-Tiberian-Dawn). Game takes place during alternate reality WW2. Are you ready to lead your forces to victory or will you surrender when first bayonets appear?
System requirements (from gameFAQs.com):
** WINDOWS 95 VERSION :
Pentium Required
Windows 95 Required
8MB RAM (16 recommended)
30 MB HD space
Double-Speed CDROM
1MB Local BUS video card with MS DirectDraw compatibility.
Sound Card: Sound Blaster (all models), ESS: 488, 688, 1488, 1688
Mediavision (most models), Aztech: Nova 16,
Washington 16, Rocky 2 or any Microsoft DirectSound
supported card
Keyboard & 100% Microsoft Compatible Mouse
Multiplayer requirements:
* 2 players over Winsock 1.1 compliant Winsock
stack (requires ISP connection over 28.8 baud
modem or direct Internet connection such as ISDN or T1).
* 2-8 players over IPX compatible Network
* 2 players over null-modem cable
* 2 players over minimum 14.4 baud modem
In case you are not sure if your system can run it, then dont worry- unless your PC is a lot weaker than average smartphone, you can run it with ease. Though you may have problems running it because your system is too new (nothing that compactibility settings wouldnt help though).
Story
Logos of Soviets (left, RA1) and Allies (RA3)
The story, as said in introduction takes place in alternate reality's version of World war 2, or as its called in c&c universe- The Great World War 2. Intro (im only spoiling intro, so dont read if you dont like 20 seconds of game spoiled ) shows us Einstein travelling back from 1946 (New Mexico) in time to 1924 with single goal- to prevent horrors of World War 2. In 1924 he meets with young Adolf Hitler being released from Landsberg prison. Einstein speaks with him briefly and shakes Hitler's hand, but by doing so he eliminates Hitler from timeline, preventing World War 2 as we know it from happening. After returning to 1946 it becomes clear that nazis never rose to power and Germany stayed on democratic course.
However he didnt forsee the sideeffect- with Hitler gone to keep soviet power in check and to weaken them, soviets under Stalin began to grow in power. After taking over some lands in China soviets begin invasion of eastern europe. By 1950, where game starts, soviets have taken over eastern europe and remaining european nations have formed alliance against soviets. Their only hope is that their desperate guerilla war will turn tide against soviet steamrolling war machine.
Both campaigns, unlike in previous c&c title (TD), take place only in Europe. Both campaigns also start about same point and most of the plot is same. There are few key differences in campaigns though, that allow for totally different endings. Some hints of Tiberian dawn game are also ingame, as it should as this is supposed to be prequel. One prominent Nod character appears in game and there is solid reference of creation of GDI. There are also many notable differences between real history and this game, but its expected as most technology is very advanced.
About the endings- i will not spoil them by telling their contents, but since RA has probably most discussed endings in c&c universe, then i just have to tell something about them. Originally, scenario that was supposed to lead to events of Tiberian dawn demanded allied victory, as it was confirmed by Westwood studios. However, over the years, especially after new games arrived, fans have debated long and hard over this. Most part, fans do agree that soviet ending will lead to events of Tiberian saga (as opposed to original intent of Westwood) and allied ending will lead towards Red alert saga, thus making Red alert as split-point between Tiberian universe.
Some fans, however still believe that ALL events of tiberian and red alert series (with exception of RA3) take place in same timeline. I know there is even a mod in progress that will try to fit both tiberian and red alert universe into same timeline (dont ask me the name, as i dont know. i also dont know progress of the mod, though i do discuss story with mod leader)
Cinematics are also quite well done, though there is fair ammount of disturbing mistakes (such as why tea makes table look awfully sexy, plus dead men blinking) and as its case in earlier c&c-s, there are also bonus clips unrelated to story. One other flaw with story cinematics was over-acting at times. In my opinion, TD story cinematics were bit better done, but truth be told, they didnt have as much action in them.
Red alert also spawned 3 expansions- namely counterstrike (which included giant ants missions), aftermath (added units and gamemodes) and Retaliation (basically compilation of PC expansion packs (as it originally came out to PS2), but with additional extra content. available to pc using mod).
Gameplay
Allies attacking soviets near soviet base
Gameplay is very similar to the one in Tiberian dawn, though many things have improved. Controls are of classic RTS, i.e your main tool is mouse, but Red alert also introduced hotkeys and also queueing. But more on that later.
Your base's heart is construction yard that you can deploy using MCV. Troops are trained in barracks, vehicles are built in weapons factory. In this game, air combat takes bigger role, so air units are built using helipads/landing strips (yes, soviets also have planes! MiG-s!). Red alert also introduces naval combat, so you need shipyard as well to move units across water. There are also many special buildings, but i let you discover them yourself. One very important structure i have yet to mention- ore refinery, where ore trucks load down ore, that can be used to purchase units/structures and repairs.
Only resource you have to worry about is ore and unlike in Tiberian dawn, where tiberium hurt and there was only one type, red alert has 2 types of ore from what neither hurt. There is gem ore, that is composed of blue and red stones. This type of ore gives more credits, but does not replenish, so make those deposits secure and use them for quick expansion. Second type of ore is very common- just regular golden ore. This doesnt give as much credits, but it will replenish over time, making them virtually unlimited source of income- provided you arent going to deplete them too quickly, in which case you have to wait.
And of course, should you need quick money, you can always sell few buildings for fraction of the cost. Credits are also used for repairs of vehicles and buildings.
Also, as it goes with base, you also need power, so make sure your power plants are secure and plentiful- should power go down, so will defenses and also speed and radar, making you very vulnerable.
As said previously, this game introduced naval combat to series and it was done quite well, though it could get bit annoying to hunt subs.
As promised before, i will return to improvements compared to TD now. Besides previously mentioned things, there was also grouping units, escort function (never used it myself, but as i understand, it demanded little trick). Basically whole user interface and control system is very user-friendly and its considered for a reason one of best control systems for its time.
Battle mechanics are quite usual for RTS games, based on rock, scissors, paper principle.
Now, more about the factions. As said before, there are 2 sides, allies and soviets.
Allies first- allies fight guerilla style, so army is built on base of hit & run strategy- whole army is very fast and stealthy but fragile and will often lack firepower. On plus side, however, that makes army cheaper and faster to construct. Still, one-on-one encounters often end with allied loss, unless hit & run tactic is employed- or if you happen to have upper hand in rock, scissors, paper principle. For example- strongest allied tank, medium tank will lose 1vs1 encounter with cheapest soviet tank, heavy tank due to lesser firepower. Also infantry is generally weaker (with exception of fabolous Tanya- her only weakness is anti-infantry defenses and also vehicles and air units- in this game she doesnt swim either) than soviet infantry and airforce gets its butt whooped by soviet planes. Only area where allies have the advantage is naval combat- allied navy is very strong. Yes, even superweapon (chronosphere) is generally weaker. Though to be fair, if correctly used (and with luck) it can be much deadlier- it transports units across map (only vehicles, so infantry must be packed inside APC-s), but overusing it may cause chrono vortex, deadly sight that jumps across map destroying everything in its path.
Soviets are focused on en masse attacks with heavy firepower. They make wide use of Tesla technology from Tesla towers to tesla tanks to tesla infantry (latter 2 with expansions only if i remember correctly), but they also have strong airforce (Hind, MiG- only weakling in it is yak plane), have attack dogs, large (but slow) tanks, including mammoth tank, also they have dogs and they also have robotics program, which is topped off by volkov and super tank. Their aim is to steamroll over allied forces, but their main problem is that they require large ammounts of energy and money, plus they are slow, so if enemy manages to draw main forces away from base, then its game over for soviets. Their super weapons (yes, you heard me, weapons) are also actually pretty good- iron curtain, which covers one vehicle (you can apply it to infantry too, but they die) with invulnerable layer for certain time. Nukes are, however, naturally purely offensive weapon, though not as strong as you might suspect. For long range, soviets use V2 rockets.
About Gamemodes: in singleplayer you have access to campaign and extra missions, but without mods, you dont have skirmish. But as red alert also had multiplayer you had your skirmishes there.
Music and graphics
Video is taken from Thekhanly's channel
Music, like its in most cases of c&c games, is excellent. Klepaki did real good job of composing the music. Red alert was also the first game to feature iconic "Hell March", which is undoubetly one of finest pieces of game music. I really like that most tracks are like that they create suitable atmosphere, but are real nice to listen when you are thinking what to do next. Soundtrack is 1,5 hours long, which is very good length for 1996 game.
Graphics- for 1996 game, again, quite good, though snow portion can get disturbing to watch at. Other bit disturbing thing was color scheme- in TD, faction colors were bit less bright and also mixed with metal paint, making them look better, but in red alert, colors overdone- i find big chuck of red pixels very disturbing, same goes for blue (though better). They just gave up with trying to find color balance. That added to annoyingly white snow that in older monitors (but also newer ones) can make your eyes hurt, is definetly one of most annoying things here (whoa, probably first time in these reviews where i dissed graphics). Original cinematic graphics (from what i've seen) are not so good quality either, but they have long been enchanced in quality, making them good to look at.
Summary
Red alert is one of the finest RTS games ever made. Despite few shortcomings, like overacting in cutscenes, timely annoying graphics in winter and disturbing (though accurate) color scheme and clear advantage to one side, it still offers a lot of fun and interesting story with one possible outcome (of course with crazy weaponry added) of what would have happened without Hitler. Music is great, weaponry is satisfactorily crazy and diverse, missions vary in style, naval combat- all this makes this great game to play even today.
Command & Conquer: Red alert is also freeware since 2008, so im posting few download links (again, im referring to permission staff member gave me in terms of freeware games), as they can be hard to find these days as official site went down and there are many virus-infested copies out there.
Allied disc (required to play allied missions, with videos): http://www.fileplanet.com/197426/190...me---Allied%29
Soviet disc (required to play soviet missions, with videos): http://www.fileplanet.com/197427/190...me---Soviet%29
of course there are other sites too, but since i have had few encounters with virus-infested ones, i tought i give few safe ones.
Score: 10/10
Last edited by Meelis13; August 02, 2015 at 04:23 AM.
Reason: typos...
Heidinn veor- dark age mod for M2TW now recruiting scripter/coder
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
) shows us Einstein travelling back from 1946 (New Mexico) in time to 1924 with single goal- to prevent horrors of World War 2. In 1924 he meets with young Adolf Hitler being released from Landsberg prison. Einstein speaks with him briefly and shakes Hitler's hand, but by doing so he eliminates Hitler from timeline, preventing World War 2 as we know it from happening. After returning to 1946 it becomes clear that nazis never rose to power and Germany stayed on democratic course.
