Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

THE BAD:
Super Weapons are too powerful.

SUMMARY:
Red Alert 2 is probably the Command and Conquer game that I played the most. Once again the single player storyline was good and involved and the multiplayer mode was done well again. This was the first game in the series that EA had a say in, but Westwood was still involved in the game, to great effect. The storyline this time round is mostly fictional and not really based on anything if I remember correctly and the new units in this game are well thought out and again everything flows smoothly. Like the first Red Alert, Ore is the resource to be harvested in this game. But there are now crystals to be harvested as well which are twice as valuable as Ore. But the ore will regenerate, the crystals do not so grab them while you can.

There are still a few units that you’ll recognise from previous games like the MCV, Harvester and Engineer, but there are many different units this time round, and some have been modified. There are now two types of harvester. The Allies have a Chrono Harvester which will teleport back to the Refinery when it’s in a certain range, which saves a lot of time. The Soviets have a War Harvester. This unit has to move everywhere like the old Harvesters, but this has a gun attached to the top of it allowing it to fend off small attacks and infantry. Any weaker wandering units can be killed by the gun and if there are two or three of these harvesters in one ore field then it will take a sizeable force to kill them. In multiplayer games when there are War Harvesters from different sides there will be continual fire in the fields at times almost.

As far as new units go there are too many to mention, so I’ll do a few of the key ones. The Soviets have the Apocalypse Tank, which is effectively the old Mammoth Tank, which I thoroughly enjoyed using as it had all the old abilities the first Mammoth Tank did. Why they changed the name I don’t know but it is the old Mammoth Tank. Several of these are a formidable force as they have anti-air defences as well as their powerful double cannons. One of the Allies most powerful units is the Prism Tank. This uses a beam of light to fire and has quite a long range. The tanks themselves are pretty weak and can only take a few hits, but as an offensive weapon it is very powerful. As far as base defences go, finally both sides have a powerful weapon. The Soviets have the Tesla Coil again. This can be enhanced by keeping a couple of Tesla Troopers nearby. Again they are a high drain on the power supply so keep plenty of power plants. The Allies have a Prism tower which fires a powerful beam of light at enemies on the ground. But this can be enhanced by building other Prism towers nearby. They will link up to form a more powerful beam of light that rivals the Tesla Coil in power.

The Veteran system that had been introduced in Tiberian Sun has been extended and improved in this game. When a unit kills so many units it will get the two stripes to denote it is more powerful. But when you get the Star below (for Veteran status) there are major improvements. All Veteran units heal to full health when injured/damaged and quite often a lot of them will have increased firepower or range. A Veteran Apocalypse Tank double its firepower and fires 4 shots instead of just two. This gives even more reason to look after your units.

Now civilian buildings can become very useful. If you put an Engineer in a civilian building you get the benefits. Controlling a hospital means you can heal any infantry unit for free. If you capture and oil derrick you will get an immediate cash boost and a continual influx of money. You can build other buildings around these in order to protect them, but it is worth keeping an eye on these as they can provide an edge. Bridges can be destroyed, if you want to cut off a route, by force firing on the centre of it with a tank. Eventually it will blow up and can only be repaired by sending an Engineer into the yellow hut at the end.

Both sides have access to Super weapons in this game. The Allies have the Chronosphere and a Weather Machine, and the Soviets have a Nuclear Missile and the Iron Curtain. The Chronosphere and the Iron Curtain do exactly the same as in Red Alert 1, except that there are no side effects for the Chronosphere this time. The Nuclear Missile is fairly self-explanatory and will obliterate things in a wide radius. The Weather Machine causes storm clouds to gather over your target location and lightning bolts will strike down causing massive damage. When a Super Weapon is built everyone is notified of who has built it and how long is left before they can use it. In multiplayer games you have the option to turn the ability to use Super Weapons on or off. I always do this for one reason, the power of the Super Weapons. They do so much damage that basically the first person to get their destructive weapon up wins because it does so much damage that you can destroy the crucial parts of an entire base in one go. In previous games the Super Weapons were powerful, but not too powerful. Here it is just ridiculous and takes away from a lot of the fun of the game because too much damage is caused from just one weapon.

But apart from the ridiculous power of the Super Weapons, everything else in this game is spot on. Again in the multiplayer mode you pick Allies or Soviets, but a country from each and every country has a special unit that only they can use. For France it’s a large gun turret, for Germany it’s a Tank Destroyer. Using these unique units can give you an edge because only you have that ability. The graphics in this game are superb and the mission plans and maps are also very well done and thought out. You get some real-life locations (like in front of the White House) but the terrain is not exactly like real life. Also in single player campaigns you may recognise some parts of the map, as when you are in a similar area that you’ve been in in a previous mission, you will probably only be moved along a bit and will recognise either a certain stretch of bridges or hills.

The multiplayer aspect of this game is what made me play it over and over again because it was always different. If you are a fan of the previous games then I’d certainly recommend this one.

THE BAD:
:Multiplayer crashes often
:Tricky Missions
:must download patch to save skirmish games

SUMMARY:
A spectacular game, great graphics and a suprb soundtrack makes this a must have. and at only £9.99 its great value!
But multiplayer is where its at. a well laid out, easy to use and it costs...nada. no subscription, nowt!

MUST HAVE!
Also Recommended: Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun, 4.5/5

THE BAD:
Nothing is bad about this game in my opinion.

SUMMARY:
Ive had Red Alert 2 for 4 years now seeing as i bought it when it was first relesed back in 2000. And let me just say ive been hooked on it ever since! Let me just say if someone reads this review asking themeselves should i get this game? Let me just make this appeal to you. BUY THE GAME RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!! Once you get this game and get used to it then im sure it will grow on you like it did me. As of right now i have every C&C game thats cameout except for Generals. I have Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Red Alert (And The expansion packs), Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Firestorm, C&C: RA2, And C&C: RA2 Yuri's Revenge, And C&C: Retaliation. And let me go on the record and say i would not sell any of these games if my life depended on it. I might would sell them for 1 Million Dollors its just my opinion but. Thats what i think the game is really worth in my eyes.

SUMMARY:
Perfection in every way AndPerfection in every way I really Nean it its superPerfection in evPerfection in every wayery wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayPerfection in ePerfection in evPerfection in every way AndPerfection in every way I really Nean it its superPerfection in evPerfection in every wayery wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in ePerfPerfection in every way AndPerfection in every way I really Nean it its superPerfection in evPerfection in every wayery wayPerfection in every waPerfection in every way AndPerfection in every way I really Nean it its superPerfection in evPerfection in every wayery wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayyPerfection in every wayPerfection in every wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayection in every wayvery wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayPerfection in ePerfection in every wayvery wayery wayvery way

SUMMARY:
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 lives on, with fun and unique army styles that anyone is sure to love. Featuring tons of tanks, ships, buildings, and other equipment to choose to make your army the best. Playing this game makes you feel like an army general, for the fact that you can control and command everything you want from what tanks to use to what building to send your spy in.

Pick your favorite country and pick your favorite color to look like the most advanced army in the feild. Each country offers it's own specialties and styles that other countries don't have, enabeling you to pick your favorite team, and using your skill to handle the operatins.

You can take your skills to the ultimate level by versing people online in real matches. Online mode can handle up to 8 players. Make friends and allie with someone to gang up on another person that is playing online. Or choose your own path by showing them that you can take care of yourself without the help of others.

Red Alert 2 is a must-have for all military-game lovers. You can certainly live up to your dream of working in the military, or just being the hard-core gamer that you are.

SUMMARY:
Westwood is back with one of the greatest game in RTS world, CnC RA2, this game is da bomb, it rulz in everyway. After 4 years playing, I still never get bored of it. Although, nowadays, many people prefer games such as Generals, RA2 still offers a unique side of the cold war. You will still remember how US and Russia was in verge of war back in the 60's if you play RA2. The game has one of the best graphics back in 1999. It was unfortunate that Westwood Stodius had to be closed down and replaced by EA games. Although Generals is a good product, it requires a lot of memory, good graphics card, etc. Whereas, RA2 is a bargain, as it has a very low system requirement for such a good graphic. It also has one advantage over Generals. Real humans are used for the video clips, such as the beautiful Tanya or Liutenant Zofia.

THE BAD:
well its kinda dogie when you are in a place lets say there's a mountain and a little gap just enough for a person on the screen to go through the gap and he has to go another way its just irratating

SUMMARY:
there's loads of countries to play as,as i said before from like america to russia with all of there special weapons lets say russia has these cool tesla tanks and america has paratroopers you'll see them if you get the game its really cool you'll also be able to find what kind of special weapons the other countries have
there's also the campaign area where you can play as the russians from there point of view and the americans point of view becoz there was a war.

THE BAD:
It took me some time to find some bad elements...the only one I could find was that if they could include air gunnery and NOT only strikes at buildings.

SUMMARY:
When I first played this game at a friends I was stunned....the beginning of the Allied campaign sort of makes you feel as if it was really happening...with the noise of missiles launching and Tanya's stylish speech...Unlike stupid games like AOE this game makes you feel as if you're really in battle with the noises and all...!!
Another thing which I really enjoyed is the way how civilians run about helplessly amid the chaos. In the Allied campaign if felt so realistic with the Soviet Paratroopers dropping in, buildings on fire, police sirens blazing, civilians racing about,guns firing away without a care in the world.