As I wrote in the previous text, "Red Alert" was initially supposed to be an addition to the previous Westwood studio game, but the project exceeded the expectations of its creators. So they decided to delegate most of the team to work on the new project, and the rest to create "The Covert Operations". Mission-pack, which did not change much in the game itself, was made cheaply, and additional units were added only in one of the patches. I don't remember how 20 years ago such practices were evaluated, but today we would compare Westwood's behavior to greedy developers who spend expensive DLC to squeeze as much money as possible from customers. If it were just one addition, I would still wave my hand with the text "their rogue law, they deserve, let them have". The problem is, however, that RA also had little additions to the game (Counterstrike and The Aftermath, respectively). How do the game fans ask little? Many new missions, lots of additional boards, a total of several new units. Yes, it's true, I don't deny it. Only that not all units were useful in battles, there were also things that would expand the game significantly. For comparison, games from Ensemble Studios (AoE 1 and AoE2) had one, but specific add-on, which brought more to the game. Yes, AoE 2 got 3 more add-ons, but I don't count them because they came out a long time after the release as DLC for an HD version. The campaigns had some sense and script and were not a collection of unrelated boards. Ok, Westwood did something on his knee, but it looked poor anyway. And yes, both parts of AoE have a lot in common, possibly their counterparts, which differ from each other at most visually, but nevertheless, we had more campaigns, we could manage the civilizations that we know from history. And above all, they had an idea beyond simply pulling money out of people.
Although I was older at the premiere of RA, I don't have many memories of this game. I remember much more from the previous part, e.g. when an uncle took a computer out of work for the weekend and we sat in front of the monitor until we were tired. The only thing I remember about RA is that one day my uncle came and said "I have a new part of C&C, we won't sleep today." At the time I didn't understand what was going on, but I was more or less happy as the son of my close friend, who is almost like a nephew to me. When I see a boy sometimes playing "The Witcher" on my PS4, I can see myself in late 1996 and early 1997. I remember later memories better. For example, once I got up quite early in the morning with the intention of passing the "Red Alert" (both campaigns) and one of the additions, also in full. I dropped out around 4.5am the next day, after meeting my goal. Besides, it was one of the few RTSs that I could talk to my peers as a teenager. I didn't know many fans of "Warcraft", and in my town "Diablo" enjoyed greater popularity. I could forget about the talks on Part 1 of C&C, not counting on my uncle. I happened to play against my friends in extracurricular activities in the IT room a few times, probably winning every match. It is hardly surprising, apart from my love for "Doom", "Shogo" and "Unreal Tournament", I almost played strategy games so I had more experience. Despite my complaints, I like this game, I just like it less + I'm a little jealous that it turned out to be more popular than "Tiberian Dawn". In addition, I had contact with the version on PS1. The game was surprisingly quite good, and if I had a longer pad with the pad, it would go quite well. Of course, it wasn't the same as the keyboard and the mouse, but it was quite light. Now a bit of historical context in terms of film and game.
In 1996 in cinemas, we could watch, among others: "Independence Day", "Mission Impossible", "English Patient", "Telemaniak", "Fortress", "Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Space Match", "Fat and Slimmer", and "101 Dalmatians ".
In the same year, we could play incl. in: "Duke Nukem 3D", "Quake", "Civilization 2", "Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", "Super Mario 64", "Die Hard Trilogy", "Resident Evil", "The Neverhood", "Tomb Raider "," Pokemon Red / Blue "," Donkey Kong Land 2 "and" Street Fighter 2 Alpha ".
As for the story, the creators did not leave the fantasy. This time we are not involved in the modern conflict, and for a change, we went back to 1946. To prevent war and change the fate of the world, Albert Einstein constructed a time machine, the so-called Chronosphere. He moved to the times when the young watercolors left a building. They talked for a while, and then Albert moved him to another place. Germany remained a democratic country and the war did not break out. Scientists did not foresee, however, that certain events simply have to happen and nature does not like a vacuum. If not Adolf, then someone else will try to subordinate Europe. It fell to Stalin, who, not disturbed by anyone, calmly developed and struck Europe in 1950. He attacked from the east, north, and south, occupying most of our continent. Countries that remained free-formed an alliance to fight the invader. They were headed by German general Günther von Eslin, and his successor was the leader of the Greek army, Nicos Stavros. After the acting part, we got a great intro in the form of a music video with the song Hell March. Videos and cutscenes are better, contain more actions, and are less talkative. In the movie ending the Soviet campaign, we will see Kane from "Tiberian Dawn", a nice and interesting easter egg for old fans.
Gameplay hasn't changed much since 1 part. The reapers are still slowly collecting raw materials, although crystals have appeared that give a little more dollars or rubles. Again, there are two sides to the conflict - Allies and Soviets. The first have a satellite map-hack, Chronosphere, which allows them to teleport anywhere on the map, destructive cruisers, invisibility generators, small and medium tanks and Longbow helicopters. The Soviets have atomic bombs, an iron curtain (the unit becomes indestructible for some time), a spy plane, paratroopers, MIGs, Yaks, Hind helicopters, infantry have 4 combat units, not 2 like the Allies, their tanks, in turn, have two barrels. Generally, gameplay is evolving, like the one in "Warcraft 1" and its sequels. In a sense, they slowly grind better elements and slowly improve those elements that came out less well. The differences between the nations are more noticeable, there are also new super-weapons that are not only used for destruction, which gives a slightly wider field to show off. A. And little has changed, the game has become a little harder and more demanding. As in the previous part, it is enough to grasp the computer opponent's schemes and it is easy to win subsequent missions, albeit a bit harder than in the game from 1995. Apart from that, there were several missions inside the building, but apart from the visual aspects, they do not differ much from ordinary missions in which we can develop bases. In turn, the commando was replaced by Tanya, who, like Joe Kucan, became a permanent element of Westwood's games.
Just as the music for the "Red Alert" stand didn't buy me (apart from a few songs and the timeless Hell March), I listen to the soundtrack from the additions very nicely. My second favorite soundtrack, counting all the games in the "Command and Conquer" series. It fits so well with the atmosphere of WW2, not to say that it was a completely exotic idea, although it suits the gameplay itself.
And despite so many changes for the better, I somehow can't like RA more than games about Tiberium. On paper, she looks better, but I can't get used to it. As for the other parts signed with the subtitle "Red Alert", while the two + the "Yuri's Revenge" addition was still ok, 3 were unplayable for me and I never liked it. I didn't like the direction the creators took. I know that RA1 was already made with a pinch of salt, but the next parts were not serious enough for me, but too funny and colorful. And so it looked, let me know in the comments if you have any experience with this game.
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