Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 Preview

The news that the sequel of a legend is about to reach us, is by itself worth our attention. The official web site is available for some time now, and a large number of gamer sites have come up with previews and giving information they came across concerning the game. Its time to do the same thing, with a twist. I'm a great admirer of originals, so ill share some of my expectations in this article based on my imagination and a large effect of alcoholic beverages.

Red Alert captured our attention with an interesting plot and hypothetic conflict which is (to a lesser extent) still possible. The multitude of, more or less, realistic formations, the variety of tactics and the simplicity of commanding have the virtual generals neglecting their families and philosophic needs and turning them into sleepless zombies that imagine mammoth tanks even when they shut their eyes. The programmers of the sequel claim that the appeal of the first part is preserved, and the dynamics and the sequencing and action is boosted. So until September (when the release date is set), sleep as much as you can, flex your fingers and off to battle you go...

Destroy'em, boys!

Oh, Paris...

Twenty years after the victory of the Allies and the death of Stalin, the world is harmonious. The wars are over and everyone is into gardening. The World Socialist Alliance (WSA) is founded, which is supposed to help the developing countries in which democracy hasn't taken roots yet. In this utopia nobody pays any attention to a General Romanoff, the leader of WSA, and his plans to bring old glory to Russia and pay back the Allies for the destruction of Russian cities. The civil war in Mexico (a member of WSA) served as an excuse for Romanoff to deploy "peace keeping" troops on the American continent. As soon as they hit the shores, the WSA Army (mainly consisting of Russian troops) began the invasion of USA. The Americans, caught with their pants down, declare war and reach for nuclear weapons, but anticipating that Romanoff has strategically dispersed beacons for mind control and prevented the launching of deadly weapons. To make things worse, brainwashed Americans take arms and side with the assaulters. In the general chaos the player steps in, who will in 12 missions on the side of WSA try to take over the White House and make USA a Russian colony, or on the side of the Allies fight the conquerors and while "defending" USA destroy the main emitter for mind control located in Moscow.

This means that the conflict of the white and the red star is continuing in the sequel, while the caption is added to the combat in urban environment. Every city is recognizable by its landmarks, so the siege of New York, Washington D.C., Paris or Moscow will be easy to distinguish.

The engine used in this game is borrowed from Tiberian Sun. Its adaptation to a new environment started a couple of months before TA was released, hence the relatively short development period of the game. Everything is still 2D, but this should make the battle scenes faster with large number of units taking active part. The graphics is not bad, the units are depicted bigger an the surrounding more colourful. There was a lot of attention given to details so the picture will be clear on all supported resolutions: from 640x480 to 1024x768.

On the other hand, Westwood will stick to the old tradition of incorporating high budget FMV sequences in the game. Like for example the briefing sessions, which prompt you to finish the game, and watch all the sequences to the end. This time, the talent endowed (is it only talent she is endowed with...?) Kari Wuhrer is playing the role of the popular Tanya. The other roles are played by actors of not so "resonant" a name, but recognizable from the media.

To the quality of gameplay will mostly depend on the multitude and the diversity of the units. It was a conscious effort to create very powerful and destructive weapons, and when you combine that with the time it takes to build them and the ease with witch they are operated, you have spectacular battles and wars in which the outcome is uncertain to the end. Some unique units are taken from the original, but their names or appearance have been changed. Buildings are pretty much the same, so the novelty list should look something like this:

Russians:

The Military:

Conscript: basic infantry from the original got a new name, but held on to old characteristics. Their firepower is the worse, but they don't cost a lot and are easy to assemble and horded into larger groups they can defeat enemy infantry, dogs and terror drones.

Paratroopers: equipped with parachutes, and are ideal for infiltration deep behind the enemy lines. They will probably be cannon bait when the time comes for reconnaissance of cloaked base of Allied troops.