Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 Preview

Allies

The buildings and units of the Allies have seen changes. As usual, they are technologically advanced to Russians, but weaker in the department of robust units for frontal combat.

GI: basic infantry equipped with heavy bipedal machine guns. Heavy guns give them advantage over Russian conscripts. If they don't receive orders for a while, they dig in and await combat. Lying down, they present a difficult target and are harder to defeat.

Rocketeer: the jet packs on these Allied soldiers make them airborne. Their most often deployment will be in exploring the map, and Hit and Run tactics. Although, in a major conflict they will use the Run tactics only.

Chrono Legionnaire: The Chrono technology has advanced to such distances that even suits are made out of this technology. Chrono Legionnaire are able to cross great distances in short time, thanks to the Beam Me Up Scotty, Star Trek mode. Their rate of fire is modest, but every hit annihilates the enemy.

Tanya: Apart from the body measures, her capabilities will be enhanced as well. In the twenty years that parts the time of the original story from the sequel, frisky Tanya didn't get one wrinkle. She did learn how to swim, thou. So now, not even the ships at high sea are safe when her chilling laughter is heard over battlefield.

Spy: these units that serve the King and Country are preserved from the original and probably upgraded the most and gained in their versatility. Apart from the usual wandering about the enemy base and stealing money from refineries, spies will enter power plants and each one of those penetrations will result in a power failure that will last for 30 seconds. Another speciality is the infiltration in enemy tech centres and theft of technology plans. The stolen plans will result in the development of hybrid units with specific advanced characteristics. The dogs will be the only effective prevention against these infiltrators.

Chronominer: Allied harvester with implemented chrono technology. When full with ore, it will teleport to the nearest refinery. Lucky for Russians, the teleport doesn't work in both directions, so this hulk will have to find it's way to ore in a more conventional manner--on wheels...

Grizzly Battle Tank: a pompous name for an ordinary tank.

Mirage Tanks: chameleon tanks with the ability to assume any given shape in the nature. If you notice forests or boulders, and they weren't there a moment ago, be assured that it is hostile and deserves lead. Mirage Tanks are unmasked only when they move.

APC: these carriers are fitted with standard issue light machine guns. It's upgrade is that the GI that is being transported can fire his automatic weapon while inside the APC, hence upgrading the firepower. If they pack a bazooka, you will get an armoured bazooka unit(?!?).

Intruder: Finally, the Allied forces are reinforced with airplanes. This light, spy airplane will be utilized in many a situation, and its efficiency will depend of the capability of the player.

Intruder: Finally, the Allied forces are reinforced with airplanes. This light, spy airplane will be utilized in many a situation, and its efficiency will depend of the capability of the player.

Black Hawk: your standard combat helicopter.

SEAL: special forces capable of swimming, SCUBA diving and most often appearing in a spot terribly inconvenient for the enemy. They are easy pray for Russian Giant Squids.

Dolphins: the Animal Rights activists will probably have plenty of complaints about these units, but I sincerely doubt that it will deter Westwood programmers to put trained dolphins on the side of the Allies. Smart as Flipper, these water mammals will detect Russian submarines and damage vessels with sonar weapons. The one thing effective against dolphins are Giant Squids. Duoglas Addams in his "Hitchhikers..." made an interesting comparison of man and dolphins: People always thought they where smarter than dolphins because they invented computers, weapons, wars, while the dolphins just hung around. The dolphins thought they where smarter because of exactly the same reason...

Aircraft Carrier: apart from it's main purpose to rearm and refuel aircraft, it can replace destroyed airplane free of charge.

Aegis Cruiser: an exceptionally expensive unit, but because of its efficiency very viable. Its basic deployment is destroying air units and its capable of tracking and destroying several units at the same time. With a couple of these around your base you wont have to worry about long range missiles or enemy aircraft.

Of course, the Allies have new buildings, too. Beside the already known we will be able to build:

Air Force Command: substitute for radar tower. It can act as landing site for 4 airplanes.

Prism Tank: huge mirrors that focus sun light on enemy units and damage them that way (fries, incinerates and burns).

Ore Purifier: once fitted, the purifier adds 20% profit to every load of ore.

Patriot Missile Site: efficient in destroying long range missiles and enemy aircraft.

Prism Tower: defensive towers, very efficient if there is a large number of them. If they are in range of one another, they relay energy to each other and enhance power.

Weather Control Device: as opposed to destructive Russians, the ecology-concerned Allies based their special weapon on nature. They have mastered weather and are able to create storms similar in effect to nuclear explosion.

Chronosphere: upgraded. It is able to teleport a group of units anywhere on the map. If I add that it can do the same thing to enemy units as well, a unit of tanks learning to swim won't be a surprise.

Neutral buildings such as oil rigs or airports will serve to the side that first gets to them.

This "short" list of new buildings and units promises a worthy sequel to a great original. But the programmers didn't aim at creating only a "made up" original, so they made the game a little more dynamic. First of all the lagging interface present in all C&C serial will finally be changed. Instead of 2 BAR (one for creating of units and the other for buildings) there will be 4 tabs (for standard buildings, for defence and "special" buildings and 2 for troops). This enhancement will provide speed and enable creation of several units at the same time. The real novelty will be the ADVANCED COMMAND BAR which carries the commands from the keypad to the screen. Selecting a certain group of units, instant return to base, grouping of units and such is possible with one click of the mouse. I don't know how helpful this will be to experienced fieldmarshals, but to the beginners this will be a salvation.

The classic strategy of combining multipurpose units will be enriched with a couple of novelties. Red Alert2 makes the infantry more significant and makes the interaction of troops and buildings possible. When a power plant fails, the Tesla Troopers will supply the Tesla coil with their energy. They can also boost its range and power. Also, the Allied Chrono troopers can, in case of a nuclear assault or similar threat remove the building temporarily and bring it back undamaged. Another novelty is the possibility of creating troops by buildings, which is an advantage in a mainly urban battlefield.

The multi player mode will also evolve. Instead of only picking one of two sides (in the original you could pick several nationalities, but there where two basic sets of buildings and units), part two will give you a pick of 9 nationalities (Koreans, Americans, Russians, French Libyans, Cubans, British, German, Iraqis), and with each nation a unique unit, building and weapon. The communication between allies will be made easy by planning mode-a mode in which there will be dispersed beacons all over the map for synchronizing and planning of joined assaults. There are also some un-standard modes promised for multi player games which will be a bigger surprise than the ones in the World Wide Domination brought to Tiberian Sun.

Enchanted by the promises and announcements made by the Westwood programmers, I wrote this preview in one breath. I doubt that my life story would be longer, but even if I would write it a good part of it would be dedicated to the original Red Alert. Everything that was good about it is expected in the sequel, so I'm a little worried about my future. Answers to the questions how will my girlfriend react to me paying more attention to the computer than to her, if it is healthy not to sleep, starving and postponing the visit to the bathroom, will be given when I get my hands on the sequel of Red Alert.