Command & Conquer: Alerte Rouge

Strategy games haven't exactly been on top of the world in recent years (mainly because the average person doesn't want to sit in a game for 3 hours only to lose) but the fact remains that Command and Conquer is literally a genre maker. While the original took place in the near future of our world and featured a coalition of some of the world's most powerful nations (the GDI) fighting against the terrorists of the Brotherhood of Nod, this one will probably interest you more if you are into Cold War history. Taking place in an alternate reality where Einstein goes back in time to kill Hitler as he is released from prison, Red Alert focuses on a fictional war between Allied Forces and an aggressive Soviet Union to decide the fate of Europe. The war in question is actually World War II, but not ww2 as we know it. The soviets have monstrous double barreled tanks known as Mammoths (which would be featured in other Command and Conquer games), and the allies get devices capable of teleporting vehicles around the battlefield instantly. While the story in this game and the live action cutscenes that compliment it aren't really anything to write home about, what really matters is the gameplay. Like other strategy games, Red Alert plays differently depending on what faction you choose to rule the battlefield with. As is the case with its sequel, the USSR prides itself on unmatched firepower, and can be best described as a steamrolling military force with powerful ground vehicles, cheap expendable soldiers to support their tank armies, and punishing artillery units. The soviets suffer from a dire lack of maneuverability and rely on helicopters to respond to threats quickly around the warzone. While easily capable of delivering a crushing blow once their economy gets big enough, the USSR's brute force and frontal assault tactics tend to be unsubtle and direct to a fault, and they possess hardly any units which allow for strategies other than smashing your enemies with sheer firepower. On the other hand, we have the allies, whose units tend to be more fragile (but faster) than the soviet ones, but can be overall more effective than them depending on how good the player's micromanagement skills are. This means looking after each individual unit and ordering it to do different things depending on what's going on. The allied infantry are better trained than their soviet counterparts, and are thus better in a gunfight. Strangely, the allies in this game are actually inferior to the soviets in terms of air power, as the allies only have one air unit: the AH-64 Apache helicopter (erroneously called the Longbow in spite of not having the targeting sensor of the same name). The one area the allies possess a clear advantage over the soviets is on the seas, as allied naval units are much more powerful than soviet attack submarines. Another thing the sequel would change is the soviet's use of Tesla technology. In this game's alternate reality, soviet forces captured famed Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla and forced him to produce weaponized versions of his electricity based inventions for the soviet army. This includes the tesla coil, a pylon which shoots out lightning bolts at allied ground vehicles and infantry, frying them with little effort, and the tesla tank, a mobile version of this weapon. In Red Alert 2, many countries are part of the USSR, but only Russia uses tesla tanks. While more fragile than most other armored vehicles, they make up for this by being able to handle any type of ground threat, doing full damage to other vehicles and disintegrating any soldiers that get in their way. One thing I never understood about these games is why you would bother making a huge army of soldiers when tanks are much more efficient. Even in later games like Generals, infantry are not a big threat, as they die way too easily, have short range, are too slow, and are just not cost effective. One vehicle can kill like 20 of them alone, and so the only way to use them correctly is to either put them in vehicles themselves or use them to support your tank army. They will cover each other's weaknesses and serve as meat shields when your vehicles get into a bad spot. Just like other Command and Conquer games, Red Alert has a story mode in which you can choose to either serve the soviets or the allies. You play as this faceless commander who is just kind of there and just so happens to be the best that particular faction has, but what's really odd is that the game is technically a prequel to the first C&C game and even takes place in the same universe. Command and Conquer has 3 different subseries: the Red Alert games, Generals, and the Tiberium games, which focus on GDI vs Nod. It is actually revealed in Red Alert's campaign that Joseph Stalin himself employs Kane (Nod's leader) as a counselor. The game designers eventually realized that this doesn't make any sense, as Kane would continue to appear in tiberium games after Red Alert which take place in the 2030s, making him over a century old. Because of this, EA has stated the timelines in the games are all separate, thereby contradicting Kane's appearances in this game. Even though the stories of these games are usually pretty ridiculous, you have to remember it's not meant to be taken all that seriously. After all, this is the same series in which the soviets employ squids that have been mind controlled to strangle enemy warships. Just like Red Alert 2, this game also has a soundtrack by Frank Klepacki, which was voted the all around best video game soundtrack of 1996. He really is a genius of game music and there are some tracks in this game that if you really wanted, could be danced to. Overall, the first Red Alert game is a classic of the real time strategy genre, but it is archaic compared to things like its sequel and Generals. Both these games would add a lot of new things to the franchise, as well as having a brilliant modding community that continues to publish modifications for the games over 20 years later, giving you new ways to play.

The cutscenes in this game aren't anything to write home about. Unfortunately, given the limitations of technology and what could fit on a CD at the time, the film quality isn't the best. But none of that could stop the brilliant writing and performances.

The story is set in an alternative Soviet world- splicing futuristic war with history. It's amazingly done and quite gritty AND witty at the same time. In a way, this kind of storytelling was pioneering for its time as we are seeing more and more of this kind of narrative enter our screens.

Would recommend finding the cutscenes somewhere and watching, even if you aren't a gamer.

The movie sequences in Red Alert are great! You can't tell the backgrounds are computer generated and it looks photo realistic. The only thing I don't like is how the actors talk to the camera. Tiberian Sun will be better because you will actually be a character on the screen! Joseph Kucan is awesome!

After the success of Command & Conquer, this nifty number was created... Red Alert. The prequel to the war depicted in aforementioned game. Each of these games bring something new and interesting to the franchise, each has a running theme, and I would say that the theme of this is time traveling. It is used for two very interesting purposes, one story-wise and one for game-play. The first is a take on what would have happened, had someone not only answered the ethical question of "if you could go back in time, would you kill Hitler?" with a "heck yeah!" but actually went on to do just that(although, admittedly, the intro does leave it somewhat open to interpretation exactly *what* happened); from the very start of the game, we are in an alternate reality. The world where World War II never occurred. However, Hitler was not the only threat to world peace back then... and in the story-line presented here, "The Man of Steel"(no, not Superman) fills the void left behind. This is where you come in... will you render the world "red", and take your place at Stalin's side as ruler of the planet, or will you wipe out Communism and the Soviet Union as the Allies? The game-play use of time travel is interesting in more than one way... the very idea behind the Chrono-Sphere, a machine that through manipulating the time/space continuum can instantly move a vehicle from any point in the level to any other point is an excellent piece of science fiction, and that's coming from a man who is a considerable fan of the genre, and the actual use of this in-game is a real treat, tactically speaking. I'll leave it up to each player's individual imagination what the effective uses of it are. This game takes all that Command & Conquer was and expands upon it. There's a whole slew of new features, and additions to old ones. When ordering groups of units around, there is now a new queue system, one that removes a lot(though not yet all) of the need of watching over your units. The few bugs that are left are now for the most part minor, and can be solved by fiddling a tiny bit with whatever is causing trouble. Keyboard shortcuts give you the opportunity to order units to guard, scatter, etc. New units include the Field Medic, which means that all units can now have their health restored to maximum in-between battles(though said unit is only available to the Allied side). Fighting by sea is now an actual option, as both sides get transport ships(think the ones that provided reinforcements in the first game, only less open, presumably for the protection of the units inside). The Allied get three ships of increasing usefulness(culminating in the oh-so-freakishly-awesome Cruiser), and the Soviets get Submarines. The name of the game this time is "fairness"... where the first game had several units and special attacks that were incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to truly guard yourself against, this doesn't. There is a "Nuke", but it's not going to level your base as the bomb of the original C&C did. The two sides are reasonably leveled, with the Soviets being big, strong and slow, and the Allied being fast, tactical and good at hiding(quite literally... Gap Generators, anyone?). These superior tactical opportunities are represented through, among other things, the Spy, a new infantry unit who, in spite of looking and sounding like a Lothario, can infiltrate enemy buildings and provide new features for the player, such as the Sonar Pulse acquired by sending a Spy into the enemy's Sub Pen(the building supplying them with, yep, you guessed it, Subs(as in Submarines, not substitute teachers) as well as transport ships), which detects and reveals any submarine on the map for a brief period of time. The Spy can fool any enemy into thinking he's on their side, save for the also new Attack Dog, which is only on the side of the Soviets, and who can sniff out any enemy Spy and make short work of him. It'll also take out other infantry, but it's somewhat weak. The Allies also have the Thief, who, whilst looking like Zorro, can lift funds from the enemy's ore deposits(both Refineries and Silos). The Allied also have useful mobile air defense, in the form of Rocket Soldiers. More is done with airborne units, as well. The missions are extraordinarily well done, and, by my count, almost fourteen of them have several choices of level(sometimes with up to three possibilities). There are almost thirty in total, both campaigns combined. The multi-player is marvelous. There is now also a "skirmish" mode, which allows you to battle only computer enemies. The maps for multi-playing are plentiful and well-done. The music is utterly magnificent, continuing the trend of the first, but I would say improved upon. This one also has the incredible "Hell March", one that the team clearly realized the grandeur of, evidenced by the fact that they put it on the track-list for both sides, as well as in the introduction of not only this game, but also its successor. Story-telling is improved upon, and the cut-scenes are more well-directed. The briefings are efficient; they never fail to make you feel like you are part of this story, not just a spectator. The commando is now Tanya, and I have to admit that the role could have been better cast. The presence and attitude just isn't that strong with the actress. The in-game voice is a lot better. This is also the only negative thing I can really say about this, and it's not going to bring it down from a perfect score. The graphics are great, in-game and cut-scenes alike. The characters, apart from Tanya, are all well-cast. The game also features an excellent level designer. This is quite simply among the best RTS games ever made. I recommend this to every fan of this kind of games. 8/10

Red Alert was not just an incredible continuation to a great game but the underlying concept, of the Soviet Union under Stalin fighting against the European Forces was an important revolution in gaming history. The cinematics are of higher resolution and even better than what you saw in the previous game. While several units such as the Mammoth Tank made a reappearance, there are also plenty of new units including full compliments of maritime and air elements. The level design is even better than before. The best part of this game is however, the difficulty. Even under normal difficulty, it is very challenging.