Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months Binding: CD-ROM Brand: Electronic Arts EAN: 0014633144505 ESRB Age Rating: Teen Format: CD-ROM Label: Electronic Arts Manufacturer: Electronic Arts Publisher: Electronic Arts Release Date: October 10, 2001 Sales Rank: 3159 Studio: Electronic Arts
Product Description: Continuing the legacy of the most successful Strategy War Game Franchise in history, Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 lets you become the Supreme Commander of Soviet or Allied forces. Shape the course of history by invading the United States or by defending it with forbidden weapons.
Amazon.com Review: Sticking firm to the old "if it ain't broke" philosophy, Westwood Studios conjures up memories of the original Command & Conquer games with Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. The game is set just a few years after the events of the original C&C: Red Alert, and opens with a surprise Soviet invasion of the U.S. mainland. Playing as the startled Americans, you must cobble together a resistance and beat the invaders back into the sea. Playing as the Soviets, you must quickly establish control of your new domain, wiping out all opposition you meet.
Red Alert 2 is very similar to the original Red Alert, with some visual enhancements and gameplay improvements brought in from the recent Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun game. You still lead a small group of infantry and armored units in most missions and you still have to assemble a base of operations in order to accomplish just about anything. This time around, however, you'll have a slew of new units to build and command in the field--most of which are pretty slick. The American Prism Tank, for example, can take out numerous enemy units with a single, branching attack. On the Soviet side, Tesla Troopers and Psychics help make ground troops a formidable asset.
Another nice addition to the game is the ability to garrison troops inside buildings. Because much of the fighting is on city streets, it helps to give your troops some cover from time to time. Also, there are a number of special buildings that provide unique advantages once occupied by engineer units. The airport allows you to call in air strikes, for example, while oil derricks provide a resource boost for your war machine.
Multiplayer support is still the calling card of this series, and fans of past C&C games will not be disappointed by Red Alert 2's multiplayer options. The basic free-for-all mode that the original Red Alert made famous is still intact, but the alternative multiplayer modes are the real treat. In Unholy Alliance, players get access to both American and Soviet tech trees, while the naval war variant starts each player off on a small island. In addition, the game includes special cooperative campaigns.
There's no denying Red Alert 2's charm, despite the lack of a funky 3-D engine and the game's reliance on ultracheeseball video cut scenes to tell the story (Kari Wuhrer or no Kari Wuhrer). For fast- paced, real-time strategy action that focuses on quick, intense firefights on American soil, no other game holds a candle to C&C: Red Alert 2. --Michael Ryan
Pros:
More frenetic real-time strategy in the C&C universe
Tons of new units and capabilities on both sides of the conflict
Cool U.S. settings for most missions
Great array of multiplayer modes
Cons:
Not exactly a technical leap forward
Video cut scenes are cheesy beyond description
Amazon.com Product Description: Sequel to one of the bestselling PC strategy games of all time, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 concerns the full-scale invasion of the United States by the Soviet Union. With all-out war taking place in American cities and seven nations to play as, you'll have to choose which side of the conflict to enter: invader or defender. At your disposal is an assortment of land, sea, and air units, each armed to the teeth, as well as a number of covert units prepared to sneak past enemy lines, steal information, and sabotage their operations. Each victory your units acquire makes them stronger and brings you closer to winning the war.
The epic story lines of the two single-player campaigns are told with high-quality motion video. The game features an Internet multiplayer option, too, so you can test your tactical skills against real-time opponents.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Love this game!
This game will bring you hours and hours of enjoyment. The skirmish mode is really fun to play around in single player, and the single player campaigns have a great storyline, great actors (especially the new Tanya), and many cool new units and improvements on graphics from the older Red Alert 1.
Tanya has many great new abilities and is a lot more enjoyable to use in Red Alert 2 than she was in Red Alert 1. The music for this game is also fantastic. I'm not sure if I like it more than the music in Red Alert 1, but it is still great.
I liked how the superweapons are far more powerful than they were in the original game. The old superweapons were, to be blunt, not so "super." There also seems to be a much wider variety of viable and interesting units in Red Alert 2 than there was in Red Alert 1.
In general, its a big improvement and one of the better real time strategy games out there.
Rating: - Awesome game!! One of my favorites!!!
This is one of my first CP games I have ever bought, I still have the same copy from when I bought it back in 2000, this game is so much fun! It's great that you can build and command your own army!! Note: if you buy this game, be sure to buy the Expansion Pack, Yuri's Revenge
Rating: - stop reading this and just buy it!
For the other reviewers who complained about the horrid storyline and even worse cutscenes, they were right. But in a way, it did a lot of good for the game. Here's a recap: Albert Einstein invents a time machine to go back in time and kill Hitler (time travel paradox anyone?), so that World War II never happens. Then, America installs a puppet dictator in Russia, who later decides to invade America. Yes...what a story. However, the storyline allowed the game producers to think of the craziest units ever possible. Instead of your plain vanilla Marines and snipers and whatnot, we got soldiers with jet packs, power-suit clad infantry that shoot bolts of electricity, a hero who can mind-control almost anything, giant squids, laser-firing tanks, infantry that teleport instantaneously and erase enemies from time, and hell, there's even a machine that can conjure up a lightning storm at will. The graphics are OK, with a sort of bird's eye (2.5D) view but you'll still be able to easily tell the difference between the myriad of buildings and units. The game is the simplest a strategy game can get, with the only thing you have to worry about is keeping the power up and getting some money to train and build more units. If you're getting into real-time strategy games, this is your gateway. There is a wide selection of maps with different terrain like forests, islands, snow, city, to wage battle with air, land, or sea units!
The campaign is mediocre and pretty boring; nothing much more than infiltration or destroying or defending something. However, you can set up games with computer AI at three different difficulties and do battle with up to 7 other computers. There are 9 different countries, each with their own unique unit, but there are in general two different sides: the Allies and the Soviets. Allies have technology and Soviets have brute strength. Comes with free multiplayer that is still up and running today with servers by other people always up if you want to have a quick skirmish or battle royale with up to 7 other players. The lowdown:
PROS
-unique, crazy units that makes the game fresh and different from other RTS games
-simple gameplay that's easy to learn yet hard to master
-free online multiplayer included (and, yes, a lot of people are still playing online, even 7 years after its release)
-two totally different yet balanced sides that assure the fact a player can only win with skill, not because he has the best units
-the game can run pretty smoothly on any computer
-fast paced; the game brings you right into the action
-the cutscenes use real actors (or otherwise very good CGI for any of the battle scenes)
CONS
-there is not exactly cutting-edge graphics, but it's good enough for anyone, I say.
-a minor gripe is that although all the infantry have different sayings of some sort, all the Allied and Soviet vehicles have the same set of lines. It gets kind of repetitive.
-the game can lend itself to cheapness, not having a build limit. That means a player can easily crush an enemy by building 60 tanks (or, well, a tank rush) as soon as he can afford them.
Rating: - Come for the action, stay for the cheese
Just out of curiousity I pulled Red Alert 2 out of mothballs. Especially in light of Generals, does RA2 still hold up? The answer, surprisingly enough, is yes!
The two big attractions for Red Alert 2 are its unique units and its unashamedly B-Grade Movie Acting cheese factor. Firstly - to the units. Because RA2 isn't based on any real-life scenarios (Soviet Union invades America? Please.), this gives the developers creative freedom to create the craziest units imaginable. So we have soldiers with rocket packs (Rocketeers), Tanks that can camouflage themselves (Mirage tanks), and shock troopers that fire lightning bolts (Tesla Troopers). To this very day, the units in Red Alert 2 are still my favourites of all time.
The second big attraction is how RA2 revels in its B-Grade movie roots. It was a huge surprise because so many game developers take the "grim and gritty" route. Red Alert 2 wallows unashamedly in its own cheesiness. It also introduced some very memorable characters. Udo Kier is suitably very creepy (in a cheesy way) as the Pscyhic Yuri. Tanya (played by Kari Wuhrer) - in addition to being a useful unit in the game, she's played with real charm and feistiness. There's Ray Wise as the US President, who's clearly sending up Bill Clinton. And finally, one of my favourite game characters of all time - General Carville, played brilliantly by Barry Corbin. He gets some great lines - one of my favourites is "I'm sick and tired of living in Canada. Get me my office back!". And his delivery really fires you up and makes you want to kick some Soviet [...].
That (to me) is what separates Red Alert 2 from any other game before or since. It flatly refuses to take itself seriously and invites the player to have a lot of fun. The graphics may not be as advanced as Generals, but the gameplay and memorable characters more than make up for it.
Rating: - Sheer enjoyment
Just wanted to say that the Amazon review notes the cheesy cut scenes as a negative aspect, where as most people I have talked to, and myself, find the overt and excessive cheesy factor to be highly entertaining.
Overall a fantastic game. Gameplay adds just enough new naunces to give it a unique feel. And what the graphics lack in a technical aspect, they make up for in artistic value, and by really helping build up the atmosphere of outrageous sci-fi/history/comedy mishmash background. While not the most well rounded or ground-breaking games around, it is one of the most fun games I've ever played.
- Love this game!
- Awesome game!! One of my favorites!!!
