Command & Conquer: Red Alert

1001 Video Games

Command & Conquer: Red Alert appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Freeware release

To celebrate 13 years of Command & Conquer and to promote the then-upcoming release of Red Alert 3, the game was made available for free on 31 August 2008. The link is available in the related web sites section.

German version

The German version removes Hitler from the intro and replaces all the soldiers with cyborgs.

Online servers

The game's online servers were migrated from the official Westwood Online infrastructure to the community-run XWIS (XCC WOL IRC Server), under approval and sponsorship from EA's German office on 20 October 2005. The Westwood Online domains have acted as a redirect to XWIS services since then, requiring no additional steps from the user to access the servers short of registering an account.

Sales

In 1998, the PC version of the game won the Platinum Award from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more then 200,000 (but less then 500,000) units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Awards

• Computer Gaming World
  • May 1997 (Issue #154) – Strategy Game of the Year (Readers' Choice)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly
  • March 1998 (Issue 104) - Strategy Game of the Year
  • March 1998 (Issue 104) - Strategy Game of the Year (Readers' Choice)
• PC Gamer
  • April 2000 - -10 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
  • April 2005 - #17 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
• Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland
  • 1998 - Platinum Award (more details in the "Sails" section)

Information also contributed by Grant McLellan, Sciere and Xoleras