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Command & Conquer: Red Alert Publisher: Westwood Developer: Westwood Release Date: 1996 For many real-time strategy gamers, 1996 will be remembered as the year of Red Alert. While the intervening months between the release of the Command & Conquer Gold edition and Red Alert had seen several new RTS titles, including the Bitmap Brothers' excellent Z, nothing could quite match the sequel to Command & Conquer for style, polish, and action.
When asked just what it was that the design team was most proud of achieving with Red Alert, Sperry commented, "In a lot of ways, Red Alert was a refinement of what Command & Conquer did. The interface became more friendly. The two sides featured completely different units and favored completely different tactics, yet they were well balanced. Overall, the pace of the game quickened but still had strategic depth. On the overall tone and feel, Red Alert moved the genre into a new space. It had a unique charm and humor, thanks to all the cultural and historical references. Elements like Stalin, guard dogs, tesla coils, and spies, for example, made that possible. So it was many different things in combination that made Red Alert a hit and a riot to play, especially in games with others."
A refinement it was, in both large and small ways. Red Alert was clearly an extension of Command & Conquer, but the improvements were meaningful. They ranged from things like the ability to load multiple units into an APC without having to select each unit individually to the introduction of naval units. Engineers were toned down a bit so that they could capture a building only after it had taken severe damage (and would damage only buildings they couldn't capture), but they gained the ability to repair structures as well. Furthermore, Westwood introduced a host of special unit types specific to each side. The Allies got medics (to heal wounded units), fake structures (a cheap way to build decoy bases), and gap generators (essentially unit teleporters) as part of their arsenal. The Soviets got attack dogs, paratroopers, and a variety of other units. Not all of these were equally useful, and some people debated whether or not the sides were really balanced, but no one could deny that the game had advanced the gameplay standard from Command & Conquer.
Like Command & Conquer's story, Red Alert's is very well produced. Thanks to some time travel and a bit of messing with history, Hitler is destroyed before he takes power, and Nazi Germany never becomes a threat. Instead, the Soviet Union grows, unchecked, into a superpower that threatens the globe. The two sides, Allies and Soviets, continue the Westwood tradition of unit differentiation. The Allies have a powerful naval presence, while Soviet strength rests in air power. Multiplayer Red Alert has been popular, although it has been susceptible to certain stock tactics, like the Soviet tank rush.
Red Alert spawned a number of expansion packs, such as Counterstrike and Aftermath. After its release in late 1996, Red Alert essentially set the standard for real-time strategy games for the next year. While the market saw a host of clones seeking to cash in on the wildly popular genre, none could touch Red Alert until late 1997, when real-time gaming took another great leap forward.
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