.com
----
Dark experiments have permanently altered time. Or have they?
Now, Soviet tanks crush city after city while Allied cruisers
shell bases. Spies lurk, land mines wait, and strange new
technologies aid both sides in their struggle for ultimate
control.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert gives you the rtunity to be more
devious, cunning, and ruthless than ever before. Easy to play and
highly addictive, Red Alert puts the e of the world in your
hands.
From the Manufacturer
---------------------
World War II never happened. Hitler never rose to power.
Instead, Joseph Stalin and his Red Army are plunging Europe into
a bloodbath of terror. Do you command the Allied Forces? Or side
with the Soviets? The future of Western civilization is in your
hands in this adrenaline-pumping, tension-ing addition to
the award-winning Command & Conquer series. Over a that's
double the size of Command & Conquer's, you and up to 5 other
players will have complete control over action in the air, on
land, and at sea. Challenge the foes with an all-new arsenal of
destroyers, bombers, coils, mobile radar jammers, and submarines.
Set up patrols with multiple way points and units in formation.
No more relying on old strategies and cheats--you will have to
keep changing your tactics from moment to moment, game to game.
Red Alert's advanced artificial intelligence comes at you with a
vengeance, making each game a whole new challenge.
P.when('A').execute(function(A) {
A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse',
function(data) {
window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100);
});
});
Review
------
The real-time strategy genre is a victim of its own success,
suffering the same unfortunate e as first-person action games
in the post-Doom era. Publishers know the category is hot, and
have responded by firing salvo after salvo of copycat designs and
lookalike games at unwary players. There will be no less than a
dozen new entries into the real-time strategy market this holiday
season alone - and trying to pick the right one is like playing
Russian Roulette with five chambers loaded.
That is, unless you pick Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Developed
by Westwood Studios - whose seminal Dune II created the real-time
strategy category, and whose Command & Conquer (along with
Blizzard's Warcraft II) represents the highest achievement in the
genre to date - Red Alert has the pedigree of a champion and a
premise to match: Albert Einstein applies his theories of
relativity to time travel, hurtling back in time to assassinate
Hitler before he ever comes to power. The plan works, and with
Hitler out of the picture, Nazi Germany never materializes. But
unfortunately, the Red Menace does, with Russia's Stalin turning
a burgeoning war machine towards the West, raining destruction
and terror on those unfortunate enough to find themselves
standing in his way.
And that's where you come in, on either the Allied or Soviet
side. Allied players will rely on stealth and surprise, while
those aligning themselves with the Soviets will place their bets
on brutal force. Overall, we like the Soviet side better,
especially since players are given the freedom to play the bad
guy to the hilt. In the first Russian mission, for example, the
player is informed of a partisan uprising in a small village, and
gets marching orders that only a sadist could love. "They are
enemies of the people," intones a cold-hearted Stalin, "Destroy
the town, and kill everyone in it." The meeting room slowly
dissolves to the now familiar overhead , covered with tanks,
soldiers, and assorted other perpetrators of mass mayhem, all
eagerly awaiting the player's command to exterminate the enemy.
The design and functionality of these units is arguably the best
ever in a real-time strategy game, and certainly the best since
the aforementioned Dune II. The variety of forces and structures
is unmatched, providing players with an almost unlimited palette
with which to paint their strategic strokes (the only flawed unit
is the Soviet sub, which inexplicably will not attack ships that
come within its weapons' range). Better yet, the units of the two
sing sides aren't mere copies of each other, but instead
maintain a sort of karmic balance. For example, the Allies'
aptly-named Destroyer, which can relentlessly attack land, sea,
and air units from long distances, is countered by the Soviet
MiG, which packs a powerful punch and is absolutely devastating
in numbers. The Allies' Medic, who can literally restore life to
the barely breathing foot units, is eerily matched by the
Soviet's brutal Attack Dogs, calamitous canines that can wipe out
a half dozen troops in matter of seconds. This
not-the-same-but-somehow-related unit design permeates the game,
and gives Red Alert a level of depth and complexity that will
keep players occupied for months on end.
Another huge plus is the level design found in Red Alert's
one-player game. The forty or so levels consistently strike the
right balance between long, drawn out wars of building and
attrition, and short intense bursts of behind-the-lines conflict,
convoy protection, and hostage rescue. The levels are also fair:
You won't need to send troops out to explore the undiscovered
regions, then restart the scenario with this illegitimately
acquired knowledge. You also won't be forced into using any
particular strategy to "solve" the "puzzle" a mission presents -
the number and variety of units means there are literally dozens
of ways to take any given piece of territory. And last but not
least, Red Alert doesn't require overwhelming force to win. With
the right mix of troops, the right plan, and the right timing,
you can handily win battles that would otherwise appear to be
heavily tilted against you. All of these factors encourage
exploration and risk-taking relatively early in each scenario -
bringing a sense of unpredictability and adventure to Red Alert
that is all too often missing from games of this type.
The action is punctuated by cutscenes which dramatically
illustrate a key moment from or result of the previous mission -
an Allied bridge being blown to smithereens or a Russian sign
being crushed by an Allied truck. As you might expect from
Westwood, the animated cutscenes are simply awesome. The mission
briefings with live actors are less impressive - the writing and
story are fine, but the acting is awkward at times (Stalin's
romantic interlude with a female aide is particularly difficult
to watch).
The cutscenes are beautifully complemented by Red Alert's SVGA
gameplay graphics. Whether the smoke trailing behind an
air-to-air missile, the fiery glow of an explosive chain
reaction, or swarms of HIND helicopters mercilessly ning down
a land-based target, the visuals are consistently smooth and
convincing. The higher resolution also means that a large portion
of the battlefield is visible onscreen, allowing quick and easy
monitoring and control of units over relatively vast stretches of
territory (Luddites who disagree with the above are welcome to
play the DOS VGA version of the game, included at no charge for
nostalgia's sake and for the benefit of those with less advanced
systems). And Red Alert is as much fun to listen to as it is to
watch, with crisp, realistic sound effects and more of the
Westwood's trademark techno-cum- musical accompaniments.
As you'd expect, Red Alert includes a full array of multiplayer
options, and compatibility with just about every type of network
protocol. We've only scratched the surface of the multiplayer
game, but we can report that it is so good that Quake's reign as
king of the hill at the GameSpot office may be nearing an end.
There's also a skirmish option that can be used for practicing on
multiplayer s even if no one else is around - and the computer
AI is good enough to offer legitimate preparation for a human
nent.
It's a compelling package - one of the best you'll find in the
world of PC games. Red Alert belongs in the same category as
Civilization II and Quake, games that followed legendary
predecessors and immediately eclipsed them. One can only wonder
where Westwood can take us from here.--Vince Broady
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review
See more ( javascript:void(0) )