Product description
-------------------
The official Red Alert stand-alone companion set containing all
Counterstrike and The Aftermath missions
The rumors of new Red Alert missions are true! Intelligence
sources confirm that Retaliation delivers clandestine activity,
forbidden weapons and disavowed tactics in a no-holds-barred
battle for supremacy. Now, you must decide the ultimate e of
the conflict between the Allies and Soviets.
- 34 solo missions, plus over 100 multiplayer battle s.
- New forbidden weapons including the Tesla Tank, M.A.D. Tank,
Demolition Truck and Shock Trooper.
- Advance through four theatres of war per side, complete with 19
all-new full motion video briefings.
- Command your forces with the Game Controller or Mouse for the
PlayStation game console.
- Battle in Skirmish Mode against up to 3 AI nents or
challenge a friend to a head-to-head game with the Link Cable for
the PlayStation game console.
- Play Allies or Soviets on two separate CDs. Lend one to a
friend!
Review
------
There is at least something to the belief that console owners
would rather blow things up than deal with advanced strategy, and
never has that been more apparent than in Westwood's Command &
Conquer: Red Alert: Retaliation for the PlayStation. It quickly
becomes evident after dealing with even the first handful of
missions - which require the exact use of key personnel at
precisely the right times or that goals be met before the rapidly
ticking clock runs out - that the game could've been better
adapted for the console set, perhaps even by adding in a few
basic search-and-destroy missions in the start. Even the stages
that are more straightforwardly destructive require maintaining a
war on two fronts or provide limited resources to build your
forces up with.
The game itself is an adaptation of two add-on packs created for
the PC game Command & Conquer: Red Alert, the prequel to the
original Command & Conquer game. As before, you take on the role
of one of two sing armies, commanding your troops and
vehicles to take out enemy forces, while defending your base and
harvesting materials to keep the old war machine running. Some
missions demand more precise goals than simply overrunning your
nent, such as sneaking spies into his camps to learn shipping
routes or even commanding a small platoon of soldiers, sans base
and vehicles, within an enemy research facility.
But if you don't already know all about Command & Conquer,
C&C:RA:R is a horrible game to start with. On the PC side, it's
understood that if you buy an add-on pack, you've already played
earlier missions, because owning the basic game is a prerequisite
to playing them. But that's not the case here, and those who hope
to pick it up as their first taste of C&C will walk away entirely
frustrated. It's a shame that Westwood couldn't follow the lead
of perhaps one of the companies out there adapting PC games to
better fit the console market (3DO with Uprising X, Crave with
Battlezone, and so on) by either adding some simpler and more
explosive extra missions or altering the preexisting ones to
better suit the console market. Having complex mission after
complex mission without a few easy victories sprinkled in between
can be an arduous experience.
The same criticisms that were leveled at Command & Conquer: Red
Alert also apply here: The graphics aren't nearly as good on the
PlayStation version as the PC, and playing the game with a
PlayStation controller instead of a mouse takes a lot away from
the ease of play (the PlayStation mouse is incredibly rare). But
the largest complaint - not being able to save at any point as in
the PC version - is further compounded because of the game's
extreme level of difficulty, leading to matches where you'll end
up having wasted hours of fighting and planning because you made
a crucial error near the end.
If you're a fan of the console ports of this series and are
looking for another round of challenging missions (the likes of
which might have taken you several days each to accomplish in the
earlier versions), then you're definitely on target with this
game. But newcomers and the more action-oriented of you out there
beware: This one's not for you. Certainly the original PC add-on
pack designers should be applauded for not just creating more of
the same, but having such a high difficulty level without being
able to provide a better save system seems to point out that this
may have been an inappropriate port for the system. It's of
course a great PC strategy game, but one that's either not very
well suited or not very well adapted for console audiences. Or
both. --Joe Fielder
--Copyright ©1999 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 and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
- The official Red Alert stand-alone companion set containing all Counterstrike and The Aftermath missions.
- The rumors of new Red Alert missions are true! Intelligence sources confirm that Retaliation delivers clandestine activity, forbidden weapons and disavowed tactics in a no-holds-barred battle for supremacy. Now, you must decide the ultimate e of the conflict between the Allies and Soviets..
- - 34 solo missions, plus over 100 multiplayer battle s..
- - New forbidden weapons including the Tesla Tank, M.A.D. Tank, Demolition Truck and Shock Trooper..
- - Advance through four theatres of war per side, complete with 19 all-new full motion video briefings..