Red Alert 2

DEVELOPER : Westwood
PUBLISHER : EA 

System Requirements Pentium 266 Mhz, 64 MB RAM

Recommended Pentium II 300MHz+, 192+ meg RAM, 8+ megs video card, 17 in monitor

Ratings
Code Issues Graphics: 7.0 Graphically, the game is behind the times. However, the art direction is very good. Audio: 8.0 No complaints here. The explosions and gunfire sound good. What more can you ask for? Interface: 6.0 Not as advanced as most current RTS's. Many players will feel hindered by the queue system.	Play Issues Solo Gameplay: 8.0 The game features a fun campaign and many skirmish maps. Multiplay: 8 The game comes with free service over Westwood Online. LAN games are also supported. Along with several deathmatch type modes, there is a co-op mode that allows players to traverse through a mini-campaign. The multiplayer maps are very well designed. Replayability: 7.0 The skirmish mode doesn't have enough options. It can randomize maps, but I would have liked to see more diplomacy options. Learning Curve: 9.0 Red Alert 2 is very easy to learn.
Other/Notes Documentation: Documentation: 7 The game comes with a fold-out card describing the hot-keys, as well as a thorough manual with 45 pages of content. Others: I didn't run into any bugs while playing the game. Pros: Fast, furious, old-school RTS action. Very stable. Cool maps. Cons: Very little innovation. Not enough skirmish options. Little appeal to gamers who are tired of this style of RTS. Overall: 7.5

Red Alert 2 is a sequel to the classic RTS game Red Alert, which was itself a prequel to the popular Command and Conquer series. Like last year's Tiberian Sun, there isn't a whole lot of innovation in RA2. However, the game gets so many of the familiar elements right that you can't help but get caught up in the action.

The gameplay will be instantly recognized by anyone who has ever played an RTS. It's the familiar harvest/build/kill cycle we've seen so often. RA2's control options are a little more sophisticated than past iterations of the series. Pathfinding is generally better, and the harvesting units don't need to explicitly be told what to do when built. Sadly, the construction queue design is still behind the times. Construction is achieved by selecting one of several pull-down tabs (the "groundbreaking tab interface", according to the official website), and then clicking on the unit (or building) you want to create. For buildings, however, you can't build more than one structure on a tab at a time. Training units is a little better, since some of them are manufactured at different buildings and thus can be created simultaneously, but it is still difficult - if not impossible - to interleave the production of similar types without micromanaging it all yourself.

The game features two campaigns, as well as a Skirmish mode. The campaigns let the player assume the role of either the Soviets or the Allies. Many units are similar to both sides, such as basic soldiers, attack dogs (great for tearing up infantry), and engineers. Other units are unique to each side, like the Soviet flak-trooper or the Allies' Tanya (yes, she's back). When playing in a Skirmish game, players can further refine their allegiance and get another unique unit. For example, playing as the Allied United States will give you all of the Allied abilities, plus the special option to send in air reinforcements at certain times. While a Skirmish game loads, the screen will inform you what your special unit is and how to use it.

The skirmish mode is what gives a game like this its replayability. Unfortunately, Red Alert 2 doesn't have as many options as a deep game like Age of Empires II. For one thing, you cannot ally with a computer. In fact, when playing against computers, they rarely fought each other and focused most of their efforts on killing me. The maps are well designed, and the ability to randomly create them adds a lot of value, but I would have liked to see more diplomacy options.

The campaign game is entertaining, mostly because of the familiar settings that you'll find yourself fighting in. The Statue of Liberty, White House, and Eiffel Tower all make appearances. Blowing up the Pentagon is particularly fun. (I'm sure that last sentence will get me flagged in some CIA internet search database). Cut scenes are interwoven between the missions, and while the acting is predictably campy, it isn't much worse that anything you'll see on the USA Network after midnight. The guy who plays Yuri, the evil Soviet mind-control expert, creates a convincing villain, and Einstein's appearances are fun (even though he looks more like Mark Twain than the famed scientist).

The best part of Red Alert 2 is the inspired map design. Along with the special structures that I mentioned previously, there are also farm houses, fast-food joints, and sky-scrapers scattered throughout many of the maps. These structures are not just for show, either. Players can barricade them with infantry, which protects the soldiers from damage until the attackers blows up the building. I found that these structures added a lot of strategy to the game. Often, my attack depended on pivoting my army from defensive points centered on these structures. A player that has several barricaded structures near his base has a definite advantage. Likewise, a very valuable tactic is to sneak into an abandoned structure near an enemy's base and launch your attack from there. Another cool structure is the bridge, which players can blow up (or rebuild with an engineer) to suit their needs. It's fun to wait for an enemy to send his army across a bridge, only to blow it up when the soldiers are at the halfway point and watch them plunge into the sea.

But that tactic would require an element of surprise, which is something you might not have in RA2. There is no fog of war, and this is really a blessing, since the game's style doesn't require the infamous black cloud that lingers in most RTS's. Once you push back the shroud, you can permanently see what is there on your mini-map. The only two exceptions to this are when a player's base runs low on power causing the minimap die, or when your opponent has built a gap generator, which creates a blackout around the structure.

This isn't the game that is going to justify the 1.2GHZ Athlon you just bought. The graphics are completely 2D, and few people will have technical problems running it. The game feels very polished and I ran into no bugs.

Multiplayer options include support for Westwood Online, Westwood's free match-making service for internet games. Unfortunately, my time spent online wasn't very fun. The first thing I was informed about upon logging on was that all internet games must be played in 640x480. Getting into a game was difficult, due to connection problems and hosts who would kick me out simply because I chose a nationality that they didn't want to fight against ("I hate playing against the Americans," I'd see in the game chat window, only to be dumped back into the main lobby). Overall, I decided to stick to skirmish games with the computer. The opponents were more civil.

In the end, Red Alert 2 is a game that is greater than the sum of its parts. Like Warlords: Battlecry, this game aims for a "classic" style of gameplay and maintains a high level of fun throughout. It's RTS's like this that inspired the phrase "click-fest". If that is a derogatory term in your book, steer clear of Red Alert 2. Otherwise, give it a try. You might find yourself hooked.

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Reviewed by Trent Lucier