Overview

Developer: Westwood Studios
Publisher: Electronic Arts
More Red Alert 2 resources

Impulse buying

I clearly remember buying the original Red Alert. Oddly enough, it was the name that sold me. No, it wasn't the C&C name, but rather the "Red Alert" itself. On the one hand, the title brings to mind communists ("Reds"), while on the other it obviously calls to mind the literal meaning of "red alert" - a great danger, a warning.

The Allied General

Oooh la la introductions are made

To my surprise, one of my impulse buys finally paid off. Red Alert was a great game; it supplanted WarCraft II as my RTS of choice. The interface was nicer, the game was more fun, and it dealt with modern units - almost like a real army. Sea battles were much more interesting, at least with two Allies involved. Fortunately, another friend had a sea fetish so we'd spend hours and hours fighting island-hopping campaigns.

In the original Red Alert, both sides were fairly balanced, but as in WarCraft II, the balance did tend to lean towards the evil side. Orcs had the Bloodlust advantage in WarCraft II, and the Russians the tank advantage in Red Alert. Both games were RTS standard bearers. Red Alert was even used as the RTS platform in the inaugural season of the PGL.

The Statue was a gift from France

Tanya's about to lay some smack down

Where does RA2 start?

In the original Red Alert, the Soviets attacked Europe but were eventually defeated by an Allied counter-attack. Stalin met an untimely demise and the Allies set up a puppet ruler in the Communist bloc, one Premier Romanov. Unfortunately, Romanov wasn't the puppet that the Allies hoped he would be. While putting up a benevolent dictator front, he re-armed the Soviet Union and its allies in secret, waiting for the time to strike.

Using an outbreak of civil war in Mexico as an excuse to intervene, Romanov sent a large force there. The unrest was soon quelled, but that wasn't the end of it. American early warning defenses mysteriously shut down, and stayed silent as Russian fleets from the Atlantic and Pacific struck major coastal centers while the Soviet force in Mexico charged up into Texas. It's your job to fight the Soviets off (or conquer the US if you play for the other side like the traitorous dog you are).

Dastardly Soviets

What's that communist want?