Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 Review

The buildings are also varied and imaginative. Still, as the emphasis has been set on action, they have been somewhat neglected. The irritating silos have completely been thrown out of the game. Super weapons and super technologies will finally justify the "super" in their names. Nukes and storms will now truly be devastating for the opponent, and you will frequently have to chronosphere and iron curtain when planning attacks. The timers are ticking away seconds till the next nuke attack only to warn you that your opponent is serious about turning your soldiers and tanks into radioactive waste. The game also features neutral buildings which you can occupy and hence acquire some bonuses.

The single player mode includes two campaigns with twelve missions each. The allies will mostly perform diversions and rescue/capture actions, whilst the Russians concentrate on using brute force. The briefings are, as usual, high budget FMV sequences. They are a mixture of rendered graphics and live actors, and the main motive for finishing the campaigns. Westwood hired some very famous and attractive actors (Ray Wise-a as President Dugan and Barry Corbin as General Carville are the famous ones, and Kari Wuhrer as Tanya is the attractive one). This choice of actors was obviously meant to make US army popular, because when you see a soldier like Tanya you surely want to share a tent with her.

Even though they paid special attention to the single player campaign, the authors developed Red Alert 2 as a primarily multiplayer game. The game disks include about thirty multiplayer maps for 2 to 8 players, and the game includes a random map generator. You can set a number of parameters and choose one of the several mods in order to play the game you want. It'll take some time to get used to all terrain types and become proficient on all of them. The game can be played over LAN or internet as instant Quick Match (sever automatically finds another user with similar connection speed and game settings), Custom Match (You determine who you want to fight), and World Domination Tour we first saw in Tiberium Sun (you pick a side and fight, and at the end of the day victories all other generals add up, and the server determines which territories have been won by the Russians, and which by the allies). The direct modem connection has not been included. I know it seems a bit outdated, but it's still the quickest way to have some fun with your usual neighborhood enemy.

The in-game music is mediocre, and doesn't irritate you too much while playing, whereas I do have some objections to sound effects. Explosions and shots don't sound convincing at all, and each unit has three lines, which it keeps repeating. This minor flaw won't affect atmosphere, nor make the game less fun; I just wanted to point out that not everything is perfect and that there still is room for improvement.

AI is very good. The computer still uses the same stupid tactics and keeps attacking in waves from the very start, focusing attention to a single target. If it weren't that way, massive clashes would be impossible to control. The path finding algorithm has been upgraded, so the units don't get lost anymore, the harvesters find ore as soon as they leave the refineries, and dogs are now capable of finding their own prey. The only problem left there is that units remain calm even when under enemy fire, but hopefully that will soon be corrected.

Far too simple gameplay, a relatively small number of commands, lack of formations and levels of unit aggression are features that certainly make Red Alert 2 what it essentially is (You figure out this sentence. I just didn't get it -Ed). This serial acquired its popularity because it is as interesting to great tacticians who even consider wind intensity when firing at the enemy, as it is to players who mostly enjoy driving or arcade games, mostly because both types of player would equally enjoy casual mixture of explosions shouts, speed and action. Red Alert 2 has great advantage over all other C&C games, as well as over the rest of modern RTSs.