Command & Conquer Red Alert 2

List Price: $14.99 Discount Price: $8.99

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Great Competitive Online Atmosphere [Posted on 2006-05-15]
Electronic Arts gave XWIS (strike-team.net) all of Westwood's old games and the online servers. This has dramatically improved fair gameplay, support, and competition. XWIS offers prizes for top players each month. Great game to be able to get all of this for. Also one of the best RTS sellers of all time.

Sheer enjoyment [Posted on 2006-12-16]
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.

Come for the action, stay for the cheese [Posted on 2007-01-25]
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.

stop reading this and just buy it! [Posted on 2007-10-20]
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.

Awesome game!! One of my favorites!!! [Posted on 2007-12-24]
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

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