Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge

This has got to be one of my favourite strategy games of in the history of RTS gaming. And kudos to the producers who made this masterpiece - they took the time, even for a game extension to give it a meaningful storyline with compelling characters and indeed, great actors to accompany the script.

I just wish that they still made RTS games like this and moreover, utilized realtime cutscenes instead of all this CGI nonsense. Hopefully one day Command and Conquer Red Alert universe will make its comeback - either in the form of a movie or television series. Anyway, one can only dream am I right?

Almost ten years old, and Red Alert 2/Yuri's Revenge is still one of the best game(s) going. Varied, rich in detail, well scripted, beautifully cast in choice of actors and voice talent, and enough fun that it won't matter 'till daddy takes the T-Bird home.

One of the easy terms most use to describe Yuri's Revenge is "campy." Well, the game certainly has a wonderful sense of humor, is off the wall, and doesn't take itself seriously, one of the reasons why the game is so wonderful. While "campy" isn't incorrect, as the meaning basically boils down to self-parody, the description doesn't do this game justice, because often "campy" connotes tastelessness, and sometimes vulgarity. If a property doesn't take itself seriously and is so imaginative and well done as to create a world of its own, "campy" hardly pegs what Yuri's Revenge is about.

But as inappropriate as "campy" is, another word that many fans wrongly use to describe Yuri's Revenge is really rather unfair and well, cheesy. Yes, "cheesy" is that word, and it means "Of poor quality" and "shoddy." (Some synonyms are "chintzy," "crummy," "sleazy," and "cheap.") That means Yuri's Revenge is the exact opposite of "cheesy"!

What a pity the demise of the company and personnel that was behind this level of excellence has meant an end run to the series. (Evidently C&C continues, but it has become a whole different animal.)

Red alert creates a fun cinematic universe that beats the Tiberium series by far. Not trying to bite off more than it can chew with the right amount of comedy, drama and fantasy

That evil Yuri is at it again, trying to take over the world (cue evil laugh). This time using his own forces rather than those of the unsuspecting Russians to unleash some more of his evil mind-control mayhem on the world. As the official expansion to Red Alert 2, Yuri's Revenge is basically more of the same cheesy wacky game that you experienced in the original.

The biggest addition is that of the 3rd side – Yuri's forces- to battle the Allieds and Soviets. As expected, Yuri's forces rely on mind-control of their opponents and a careless commander can quickly find his forces turning on each other and being decimated by friendly fire. It's an interesting challenge to figure how to counter Yuri's mind control effectively but once you do, there is no plan B from Yuri as most of his units are relatively weak.

Yuri's revenge's single player campaigns are a bit more difficult than RA2's campaigns, but never so difficult that you will pull your hair out in frustration. Westwood also added some new units for the Allieds and Soviets, but I only bothered to try out a few of them, finding my old favorites from RA2 still adequate in most situations.

The new cut-scenes were a little disappointing, a number of them simply consist of a person telling you what happened and what you're mission objectives are. Scattered between the mission-briefings though, were a few good cut-scenes that were on the same standard as those in RA2. One strange quirk is the long loading times of missions, it was a big complaint back in 2001 – and the problem still persists on modern computers in 2009. Not sure how the programmers screwed that one up.

To conclude, Yuri's Revenge is a very competent add-on to the original RA2, and a must have for any RA2 fan.

It has been 20 years since its release. And I am very thankful to Westwood, the company which had released this magnificent game.

While being amazingly fun, I'd like to talk about its cinematics and storyline. One can not deny the fact that, for a game which was released in 2001 it has beyond spectacular cinematics. It's even better than most of the today's films. From Einstein to Premier Romanov, from Gen. Carwill to Yuri all the actors were tremendously good. And there is also Tanya, my childhood love :D. She is the best Tanya in the entire franchise by the way.

If it wasn't for EA this Red Alert series would be in much better shape today. It's a shame that Westwood unfortunately closed down.