The real-time strategy genre is a victim of its own success,suffering the same unfortunate fate as first-person action games in thepost-Doom era. Publishers know the category is hot, and have respondedby firing salvo after salvo of copycat designs and lookalike games atunwary players. There will be no less than a dozen new entries into thereal-time strategy market this holiday season alone - and trying topick the right one is like playing Russian Roulette with five chambersloaded.
That is, unless you pick Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Developedby Westwood Studios - whose seminal Dune II created the real-timestrategy category, and whose Command & Conquer (along withBlizzard's Warcraft II) represents the highest achievement in the genreto date - Red Alert has the pedigree of a champion and a premise tomatch: Albert Einstein applies his theories of relativity to timetravel, hurtling back in time to assassinate Hitler before he evercomes to power. The plan works, and with Hitler out of the picture,Nazi Germany never materializes. But unfortunately, the Red Menacedoes, with Russia's Stalin turning a burgeoning war machine towards theWest, raining destruction and terror on those unfortunate enough to find themselves standing in his way.
And that's where you come in, on either the Allied or Soviet side.Allied players will rely on stealth and surprise, while those aligningthemselves with the Soviets will place their bets on brutal force.Overall, we like the Soviet side better, especially since players aregiven the freedom to play the bad guy to the hilt. In the first Russianmission, for example, the player is informed of a partisan uprising ina small village, and gets marching orders that only a sadist couldlove. "They are enemies of the people," intones a cold-hearted Stalin,"Destroy the town, and kill everyone in it." The meeting room slowlydissolves to the now familiar overhead map, covered with tanks,soldiers, and assorted other perpetrators of mass mayhem, all eagerlyawaiting the player's command to exterminate the enemy.
The design and functionality of these units is arguably the bestever in a real-time strategy game, and certainly the best since theaforementioned Dune II. The variety of forces and structures isunmatched, providing players with an almost unlimited palette withwhich to paint their strategic strokes (the only flawed unit is theSoviet sub, which inexplicably will not attack ships that come withinits weapons' range). Better yet, the units of the two opposing sidesaren't mere copies of each other, but instead maintain a sort of karmicbalance. For example, the Allies' aptly-named Destroyer, which canrelentlessly attack land, sea, and air units from long distances, iscountered by the Soviet MiG, which packs a powerful punch and isabsolutely devastating in numbers. The Allies' Medic, who can literallyrestore life to the barely breathing foot units, is eerily matched bythe Soviet's brutal Attack Dogs, calamitous canines that can wipe out ahalf dozen troops in matter of seconds. Thisnot-the-same-but-somehow-related unit design permeates the game, andgives Red Alert a level of depth and complexity that will keep playersoccupied for months on end.
Another huge plus is the level design found in Red Alert'sone-player game. The forty or so levels consistently strike the rightbalance between long, drawn out wars of building and attrition, andshort intense bursts of behind-the-lines conflict, convoy protection,and hostage rescue. The levels are also fair: You won't need to sendtroops out to explore the undiscovered regions, then restart thescenario with this illegitimately acquired knowledge. You also won't beforced into using any particular strategy to "solve" the "puzzle" amission presents - the number and variety of units means there areliterally dozens of ways to take any given piece of territory. And lastbut not least, Red Alert doesn't require overwhelming force to win.With the right mix of troops, the right plan, and the right timing, youcan handily win battles that would otherwise appear to be heavilytilted against you. All of these factors encourage exploration andrisk-taking relatively early in each scenario - bringing a sense ofunpredictability and adventure to Red Alert that is all too oftenmissing from games of this type.
That is, unless you pick Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Developedby Westwood Studios - whose seminal Dune II created the real-timestrategy category, and whose Command & Conquer (along withBlizzard's Warcraft II) represents the highest achievement in the genreto date - Red Alert has the pedigree of a champion and a premise tomatch: Albert Einstein applies his theories of relativity to timetravel, hurtling back in time to assassinate Hitler before he evercomes to power. The plan works, and with Hitler out of the picture,Nazi Germany never materializes. But unfortunately, the Red Menacedoes, with Russia's Stalin turning a burgeoning war machine towards theWest, raining destruction and terror on those unfortunate enough to find themselves standing in his way.
And that's where you come in, on either the Allied or Soviet side.Allied players will rely on stealth and surprise, while those aligningthemselves with the Soviets will place their bets on brutal force.Overall, we like the Soviet side better, especially since players aregiven the freedom to play the bad guy to the hilt. In the first Russianmission, for example, the player is informed of a partisan uprising ina small village, and gets marching orders that only a sadist couldlove. "They are enemies of the people," intones a cold-hearted Stalin,"Destroy the town, and kill everyone in it." The meeting room slowlydissolves to the now familiar overhead map, covered with tanks,soldiers, and assorted other perpetrators of mass mayhem, all eagerlyawaiting the player's command to exterminate the enemy.
The design and functionality of these units is arguably the bestever in a real-time strategy game, and certainly the best since theaforementioned Dune II. The variety of forces and structures isunmatched, providing players with an almost unlimited palette withwhich to paint their strategic strokes (the only flawed unit is theSoviet sub, which inexplicably will not attack ships that come withinits weapons' range). Better yet, the units of the two opposing sidesaren't mere copies of each other, but instead maintain a sort of karmicbalance. For example, the Allies' aptly-named Destroyer, which canrelentlessly attack land, sea, and air units from long distances, iscountered by the Soviet MiG, which packs a powerful punch and isabsolutely devastating in numbers. The Allies' Medic, who can literallyrestore life to the barely breathing foot units, is eerily matched bythe Soviet's brutal Attack Dogs, calamitous canines that can wipe out ahalf dozen troops in matter of seconds. Thisnot-the-same-but-somehow-related unit design permeates the game, andgives Red Alert a level of depth and complexity that will keep playersoccupied for months on end.
Another huge plus is the level design found in Red Alert'sone-player game. The forty or so levels consistently strike the rightbalance between long, drawn out wars of building and attrition, andshort intense bursts of behind-the-lines conflict, convoy protection,and hostage rescue. The levels are also fair: You won't need to sendtroops out to explore the undiscovered regions, then restart thescenario with this illegitimately acquired knowledge. You also won't beforced into using any particular strategy to "solve" the "puzzle" amission presents - the number and variety of units means there areliterally dozens of ways to take any given piece of territory. And lastbut not least, Red Alert doesn't require overwhelming force to win.With the right mix of troops, the right plan, and the right timing, youcan handily win battles that would otherwise appear to be heavilytilted against you. All of these factors encourage exploration andrisk-taking relatively early in each scenario - bringing a sense ofunpredictability and adventure to Red Alert that is all too oftenmissing from games of this type.
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