Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Description official descriptions
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 takes place approximately two decades since the first Red Alert and, unlike the original, has no relation at all to the Tiberium universe. It is a conventional real-time strategy game which, in terms of gameplay, still faithfully continues the Dune/Command & Conquer lineage.
Although the Western Allies have installed a lackey as the Premier of the Soviet Union, their spies and relevant contacts suddenly go silent with the appearance of a powerful Soviet psychic named Yuri, who turns out to be Premier Romanov's advisor. Soon afterwards, the Soviet Union launches an overwhelming invasion on North America and Europe on land, air, and sea. As is usual, the player joins the Allied or Soviet side in the singleplayer campaign (with 12 missions for each faction) as of that point in the storyline. Whereas the technology level in the original Red Alert had World War II and Cold War-era weapons mixed with a few technologies inspired by failed real-world experiments, the arsenals of both sides in Red Alert 2 predominantly include technologically advanced units and structures such as teleporting Chrono Legionnaires, chain-connecting Prism towers, cloning vats, weather control devices, etc. However, the storyline's tone is considerably more light-hearted than that in previous Command & Conquer games, and following in the footsteps of Tiberian Sun, more known actors were brought to act in the full-motion video cutscenes.
The game uses a modified and optimized engine from Tiberian Sun and expands the gameplay in multiple ways. Both factions are completely distinct both functionally and visually, civilian structures can be garrisoned by each faction's basic infantry unit for increased firepower and rate of fire, the Allied IFV is included as the first customizable unit in the series (which can change its weapon and function based on the carried infantry unit), and there are neutral "tech" structures which bring bonuses to the players who capture them (e.g. oil derricks bring a small but frequent flow of income, airports allow deployment of paratroopers...). Like in the original Red Alert, factions are split into countries (5 Allied countries, 4 Soviet ones) in skirmish and multiplayer, but instead of having hidden production bonuses, each country has a unique unit, structure or support power that the others do not have access to. Aside from the aforementioned main singleplayer campaign, there is a vast number of skirmish/multiplayer maps, short co-op campaigns, and the return of the World Domination Tour multiplayer mode (unavailable in LAN) which was adapted from the Firestorm expansion for Tiberian Sun.
Groups +
- Animals: Cephalopods
- Command & Conquer franchise
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert universe
- EA Classics releases
- EA Value Games releases
- Famous person: Albert Einstein
- Game feature: BGM / music player
- Game feature: FMV / cutscene player
- Game feature: In-game screenshot capture
- Games with downloadable official map/level editors
- Games with game-altering copy protection
- Games with randomly generated environments
- Live action cut-scenes
- Middleware: Bink Video
- PC Gamer Presents games
- Setting: Alaskan
- Setting: Alternate history
- Setting: City - Chicago
- Setting: City - Moscow
- Setting: City - New York
- Setting: City - Paris
- Setting: City - Vladivostok
- Setting: City - Washington, D.C.
- Setting: Country - France
- Setting: Country - Poland
- Setting: Hawaiian
- Software Pyramide releases
- Theme: Psychic powers / Psionics
- Visual technique / style: Voxel graphics
Screenshots
Promos
Videos
See any errors or missing info for this game?
You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.
Credits (Windows version)
349 People (266 developers, 83 thanks) · View all
Original Concept | |
Executive Producer | |
Producer | |
Associate Producer | |
Design Leads | |
Designers | |
Additional Design | |
Story | |
Lead Artist | |
Artists | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 84% (based on 48 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 121 ratings with 14 reviews)
It was never great, and now it out of it's league
The Good
The best thing about this game are the superweapons, and they arn't good. If you've never played a C&C game before, then this is a good start, but otherwise it's worthless.
The Bad
The graphics are horrible. It was released in 2000, and the best they could get was stick figures for people and rolling pieces of concrete for tanks. Also, the voices of the units will start to get on your nerves the first time that you hear them. The missions are okay, but you don't have to know the first thing about strategy to beat them. The sides arn't balanced at all, and tank rushes are about as much stratagey as your going to see.
The Bottom Line
If your a vetran don't even think about buying it, but it is a good starting off game.
Windows · by Jester236 (34) · 2004
Better than Tiberian Sun by far.
The Good
The graphics, although still 2D, are well designed, and highly detailed. The gameplay is basically the same as the rest of the series, although new additions to this version make it all worthwhile. Multiplayer is the same frenzy, which isn’t a bad thing. And the acting isn't all that bad, either.
The Bad
Not much to say here, although if you have played the previous titles before to death, you may not find much here that you might enjoy. The graphics are still in 2D, and a little dated, but they do the job adequately. Multiplayer may get boring if you don't have enough players.
The Bottom Line
The best in the long running series since the original C&C. Definitely a huge improvement over Tiberian. Still, I get the feeling that this series is coming to an end, and a 3D version may not be far off.
Windows · by Kartanym (12418) · 2000
BAAH!! Not a good game for its time, but better than original RA... Both Tiberian games are better!
The Good
I liked the naval units as I did in the original game. I liked the singleplayer missions and movies more than Tiberian Sun and and Red Alert. Westwood in my opinion always does a great job on their movies which makes you want to beat the missions. I always liked the tesla coils from the series and there back i guess, can't say much else i liked.
The Bad
The airforce units are simply put terrible and not fun to use unlike Tiberian Sun. This game is really just Red Alert all over again except some improvements. But these improvements are not much and this game for a 2000 release was really a step backwards out the door for Westwood in the RTS world. Most reviewers liked the game and they can have it as I know fun factors in the most and this is more a mindless tankbuilding game (based on building huge armies rather than strategically used units) than their other successful Tiberian series was (Dawn &Sun). The multiplayer setup screen and menus looked like they predated Tiberian Sun's. It was almost like stepping back into Red Alert 1. The multiplayer aspects and strategies are not as complex as Tiberian and Starcraft either.
The Bottom Line
Overall, the game is a decent game. Fans of Command & Conquer all would enjoy it but I don't feel the game is as balanced as other Command & Conquer games. I wouldnt give it that 4.0 rating as this game, for its time, wasn't a great improvement and left something to be desired. I'd say a 3.2 MobyScore is more accurate in my opinion as it can be missed and you arent missing anything great from that time in gaming. (And that is how it should be judged)
Windows · by Jay Gand (4) · 2003
Trivia
Best Buy release
When first released, Best Buy had a special offer: the Command and Conquer Soundtrack Collection (soundtrack from ALL C&C games) on CD for the first 100 buyers of RA2 in every store.
Cover
To avoid sensitivity issues after the real-world terrorist attacks on the WTC, EA offered distributors and retailers new boxes in October 2001 which removed the "The Invasion Has Begun" motto and the pictures depicting NY under attack (basically removing the box's flap and background in the front), as well as changing the eyepiece reflection from the American flag to a nuclear detonation.
Editor
FinalAlert was released alongside the patch 1.005, and it allows creating both multiplayer (skirmish, LAN, on-line) and solo (campaign) missions. It was created by a fan, Matthias "Matze" Wagner, instead of Westwood Pacific themselves, but was distributed through Westwood's official FTP server.
German version
This is the first Command & Conquer title not to be censored in Germany.
Installation
Instead of the regular installation like InstallShield or DemoShield, the custom installer of the game explains the events between first Red Alert and this game, which are otherwise barely referenced in the campaign.
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 6 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.
The World Domination Tour mode's code was not preserved, however.
Sales
In 2000, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 won the Gold-Award from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more then 100,000 (but less then 200,000) units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Soundtrack
The in-game track list is below.
- Grinder (02:27)
- Power (03:56)
- Fortification (04:02)
- In Deep (03:24)
- Tension (04:05)
- Eagle Hunter (04:16)
- Industrofunk (03:12)
- 200 Meters (04:12)
- Blow It Up (03:11)
- Destroy (04:38)
- Burn (04:38)
- Motorized (04:02)
- Hell March 2 (03:44)
Installer track: In Deep (03:24)
Main menu track: Grinder (02:27)
Loading screen track: Jank (03:46)
Post-game track: Militant Force 2 (01:09)
Credits track: Optical (02:55)
Three tracks were left unused:
- C&C In The House (04:25)
- Probing (04:19)
- Ready The Army (04:57)
The game also had a limited soundtrack release physically and which was included in the Collector's Edition, then as of 2005 digitally on Apple iTunes, followed by other streaming services as they arrived. Note that the list is reordered and the Tension track was cut out, while unused tracks took its place:
- Hell March 2 (03:46)
- Industrofunk (03:14)
- Ready the Army (04:59)
- Grinder (02:29)
- In Deep (03:26)
- Motorized (04:04)
- Power (03:58)
- 200 Meters (04:14)
- Destroy (04:40)
- Burn (04:39)
- Probing (04:21)
- Blow It Up (03:13)
- Eagle Hunter (04:18)
- Fortification (04:04)
- Jank (03:48)
- C&C in the House (04:06)
Awards
- PC Player (Germany)
- Issue 01/2001 - Best Strategy Game in 2000
- Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland
- 2000 - Gold Award (more details in the "Sales" section)
Information also contributed by MAT, Kasey Chang, paul cairey, Xoleras and Zovni
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!
Related Sites +
-
Command & Conquer
Official series website
Identifiers +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Kartanym.
Additional contributors: MAT, Rebound Boy, Erwin Bergervoet, Corn Popper, paul cairey, Patrick Bregger, Plok, TaxOwlbear.
Game added October 25, 2000. Last modified March 21, 2024.