Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2001) (VG)

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Director:

Joseph D. Kucan

Writers:

Jason Henderson (writer)
John Hight (story)

Release Date:

28 September 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | War

Plot:

You play either side of a new Allied/Soviet war when the real villian is an evil master of mind control.

Plot Keywords:

Mind Control | Real Time Strategy | Alternative History | Nuclear Missile | Sequel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Kari Wuhrer	...	Special Agent Tanya Adams
Athena Massey	...	Lt. Eva Lee
Barry Corbin	...	Gen. Ben Carville
Udo Kier	...	Yuri
Aleksandra Kaniak	...	Lt. Zofia
Nicholas Worth	...	Premier Alexander Romanov
Ray Wise	...	President Michael Dugan
Adam Gregor	...	Gen. Vladimir (live action) / Soviet taunts (in-game voice) (as Adam Greggor)
Larry Gelman	...	Prof. Albert Einstein
Oleg Stephan	...	Soviet officer
Kerry Michaels	...	Prime Minister
Frank Bruynbroek	...	Gen. Lyon
Gabriella Bern	...	Soviet newscaster
Richard Narita	...	Korean commander
Gary Marshal	...	Base commander

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:12

Company:

Westwood Studios Inc.

Trivia:

This game featured both the World Trade Center and The Pentagon and was released in 2001, before the 9/11 Terrorist attacks.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): During the briefing of Operation Liberty, General Carville describes that the Soviet forces are ready to deploy "Tesla Coils". However the audio has obviously been re-dubbed since his lips read "Prism Towers". "Prism Towers" belong to the Allies.

Quotes:

Gen. Ben Carville: [the Intro to Operation: Eagle Dawn]
[On the phone with President Dugan]
Gen. Ben Carville: Mr. President
[waves to you]
Gen. Ben Carville: the Europeans will be asking for our help before too long. Yes, sir. I'll take care of it.
[Hangs up the phone, wipes his eyes and knocks files off of his desk]
Gen. Ben Carville: It ain't right. We should'nt have to beg for help from anyone. Premier Romanov's got the whole continent shaking in their boots.
[Shows you a slide of pictures]
Gen. Ben Carville: Romanov is sending in his bulldog General Vladimir in from our airbases. His forces are roaming through the country like an angry bull at a Texas rodeo. At 0500 this morning, we've detected a large force of Soviet Tanks assembled at the air force academy in Colorado Springs.
Lt. Eva Lee: [coming in on screen] Sir, an urgent message from Special agent Tanya on the field.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References WarGames (1983)

Red Alert turns into a wacky cheesy B-Movie

Initially I thought that Red Alert 2's much maligned predecessor, Tiberian Sun wasn't that bad. Only when I tried out Red Alert 2 I realised how uninspired (and what a missed opportunity) Tiberian Sun really was. With Red Alert 2, Westwood Studios demonstrated that (for the year 2000 at least) they still were kings of the RTS genre.

Red Alert 2 featured some interesting changes compared to the original, for one the serious dark undertones made way for a wacky, cheesy B movie setting that doesn't take itself seriously at all, but luckily stop short of attempting a complete spoof of cheesy B movies. Personally I prefer the more serious stuff when I play war but Westwood seemed to have pulled this aspect off (if only just). The other big change for me was that the game was sped up considerably, Building, moving & fighting now happens at a much faster pace resulting in missions that are over much quicker than previously. Again, I actually preferred the slower stuff but you learn to adjust very quickly! Both the Allied and Soviet campaign's story lines are not exactly award-winning stuff but the cut-scenes are of high quality, fun to watch and does enough to make you feel involved in the story, it's obvious that the actors had fun doing the scenes (very much the opposite of the bored looking has-beens in Tiberian Sun), and it sure helps that they casted some of the best looking B-movie actresses around!

The gameplay is standard C&C stuff with some wacky & generally useful units added to the standard tanks and soldiers (tanks that disguise themselves as trees – I mean really .. :-). One of my biggest gripes with the original were that the Allied units were just weak compared to the Soviets, this time round they are must better balanced with Soviets relying more on brute force and the Allieds the ones with better technology i.e. Soviets are more durable but Allieds have better guns. Oh yes, and the new ability for your soldiers to garrison buildings is very useful indeed!

My biggest problem with the game is the A.I.(what a misnomer!) It doesn't seem to have improved at all since the original C&C in 1995. The A.I.'s method of attack basically consists of sending small groups of units to attack your base at regular intervals, and unless they overwhelm you before your defences are up and running this attacks amount to little more than shooting practice for your base defences. After a while the A.I. will then just give up and wait for you too release him from his misery. I believe one of the reasons Westwood sped up the game was to compensate for the useless A.I.

That said, no other RTS title released before or around the same time as Red Alert 2 were known for brilliant or event competent A.I. so I won't judge too harshly. Overall this was one of the better RTS titles I have played and I recommend this game as it is still fun even at 2009 standards.