Command and Conquer: Red Alert

Title: Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Platform Played On: PC
Release Date: October 31, 1996
Date Played: Summer 1998
Time Played: 20+ hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 5/5





Opinion:
Red Alert was one of the first 20 or so PC video games I have ever played, and it was the second RTS that I have ever played (following Dune 2).

I picked up a copy of Red Alert at Target in 1998. At 13 years old and no internet (that came about 2 years later with AOL dial up) I had no idea what Red Alert was like, I just knew it had a cool cover and back of the box screenshots looked similar to my beloved Dune 2: Battle for Arrakis. I actually had no idea that both games were developed by the same company (Westwood) in not so distant Irvine, CA.

Right away I was amazed by Red Alert's premise, graphics and gameplay. Even though built very similarly to Dune 2 it was a huge improvement. The units moved fluidly and didnt look like they were moving along an invisible grid, there was more detail in a more isometric view of buildings and units, and of course the FMV cut scenes really pulled me into the game. I think the fact that Red Alert's UI was so similar to Dune 2 it felt like I was at home. I understood how to build things, how to earn money, and generally what the objective was right away.

Red Alert was not only an amazing game, it was 2 different games. It came on two CDs, Allied disc and Soviet disc, which allowed you to play through the campaign from two different perspectives. While most units overlap for the two factions each had its own special units and buildings, such as my beloved Soviet Tesla Coil. The story bits were told through excellently acted out (by video game standards of the time) FMV films between each mission featuring people like Stalin and the US president.

The 1990's was a different time for games, and by that I mean they were freaking brutal! I remember struggling with several missions in Red Alert, especially the ones where you had to repel enemy waves or take a squad of soldiers through a base.

One thing that was pretty groundbreaking for me is that several missions allowed you to keep structures from the previous ones, I thought this was the coolest thing ever. It was one of the first times I have seen any sort of persistence in video games (if you dont count keeping guns/ammo from level to level in shooters).

Overall Red Alert was a great game that helped shape the real time strategy genre. Despite its difficulty I have many fond memories of it; however now over 15 years later the game is almost unplayable due to compatibility issues with modern CPUs and operating systems, and there have been a lot of better RTS games released since (such as Red Alert 2 and Star Craft 2). At the time though, Red Alert was as good as it gets.