Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

Game Series Command & Conquer series
Type Real Time Strategy
Developer Electronic Arts
Release date 23rd October 2000

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (Commonly Red Alert 2 or RA2) is the second game in the Command & Conquer: Red Alert universe and is the fourth game in the Command & Conquer series. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 canonically follows the victory of the Allies over the Soviets in Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

Centred around a Soviet invasion of the United States of America in an alternate early 1970s, the game details the American, European, and Korean response to the threat. The game features several real-world monuments, including the The World Trade Centre, the The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and Saint Basil's Cathedral. The appearance of the World Trade Centre was the source of controversy subsequent to the attacks on September 11th 2001.

A year after its initial release, it received an expansion pack entitled Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - Yuri's Revenge. The expansion pack continues where the game leaves off (with an Allied victory), and introduces the Yuri faction and two new seven mission campaigns for the Allies and Soviets.

Contents

Allied Storyline

The Allied storyline starts off with the United States of America being caught off guard by the Soviet invasion. The United States attempts to retaliate with the use of nuclear missiles but Yuri, leader of the Soviet Psychic Corps, uses his mind control to manipulate the personnel charged with launching the missiles, causing them to hit the silo doors and ultimately, destroying the United States' nuclear strike capability. Within hours, the Southern, Western and Eastern Coasts of the U.S. are infested with Soviet troops. In response, the President of the United States establishes an emergency response team headed by General Carville and the Commander.

They liberate New York City and several key airbases in the Southwestern United States. After this, a Soviet psychic mind control device known as the Psychic Beacon controls the mind of the President and several key officials in Washington, D.C.. Swift retaliation frees the President, then the United States launches a quick attack on a second Soviet psychic device in Chicago before it can be used and place the whole of the United States under Soviet mind control. Unfortunately, the Soviet general Vladimir, annihilates the city of Chicago with a nuclear missile.

Alarmed by the situation, leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom agree to assist the United States in the war against the Soviet Union if they disarm the Soviet nuclear missile silos in Poland. After doing so, the United States is bolstered with men and supplies from the Europeans. This allows the Americans to recapture several areas such as Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. The Americans also learn of a Soviet project to replicate the Allied Prism technology in Mexico, and send in a team of Navy SEALs to destroy the replicas and the Soviet research base.

Wanting to end the war, the Allies send troops to protect Albert Einstein's laboratory in the Black Forest, Germany and retrieve his Chronosphere plans. After doing this, Einstein determines that the best place for the Allied Chronosphere is on an island in the Florida Keys because of the island's orientation with the Earth's magnetic field. The island is "only a few short kilometres from Soviet Cuba." The Allies deploy a Chronosphere on the island and destroy the Soviet nuclear strike capability in Cuba. They then proceed to use the Chronosphere's teleportation capabilities to chrono an Allied strike force to Moscow. Once in Moscow, Allied forces promptly destroy all Soviet opposition and the Kremlin's defences, then sends in Tanya personally to capture the Soviet Premier.

Soviet Storyline

The Soviet storyline begins with the player being briefed by the Premier himself. After this, the Soviets launch invasions of key Allied positions such as Washington, D.C, Florida, and New York City. With these stunning victories, the Americans flee back in retreat.

To counter the Soviet threat, forces from South Korea launch an attack on Vladivostok, and the player is forced to "defend the motherland" and destroy all the invading South Korean forces. Alarmed by the situation, leaders of France and Germany agree to send troops to the border with Poland to help the Americans fight the Soviet Union. The Soviets send a special forces team to quickly capture Paris while the French Army is busy else where. With this and other key victories in Europe, Europe is in a position of needing help itself rather than giving help to the United States of America.

During this time, the Premier's top adviser Yuri begins gaining more and more power because of Yuri using his mind control technology on Romanov. As a result the Premier transfers all military authority to Yuri. Some Soviet generals are alarmed at this power shift and begin to rebel. Top Soviet Commander General Vladimir flees to captured White House in Washington, D.C., where he plots a strike against Yuri. However, a Soviet commander still loyal to Romanov, or rather, Yuri, heads to D.C. and manages to capture General Vladimir. The commander heads to San Antonio next, to capture the President Dugan, the American President, in the Alamo. There are no Soviet forces avaliable to assist the commander, and is given just a few Psi Corps Troopers to complete the mission against the "Fort". With the commander's cunning tactics, President Dugan is mind-controlled and captured.

The Soviets then discover that the Allies are developing a new superweapon in the U.S. Virgin Islands known as a "Weather Control Device". The Soviets launch a naval assault on the islands and successfully destroys the device before it gets a chance to be activated.

It is then revealed that Yuri is indeed a traitor and the player, engages in a civil war between Yuri's forces and forces still loyal to the player. The epicenter of the civil war is in the Kremlin, where Yuri is located. The player's troops reach him and a devastating attack is launched on the Kremlin, where he is believed to have died when the Kremlin collapsed. The Soviets then learn of an Allied Chronosphere in Alaska from where the Allied forces will attempt to launch a desperate last assault into the Soviet Union. A Soviet strike force crosses the Bering Straits, frees several Kirov airships, eliminates the Allied forces and promptly obliterates the Chronosphere with a nuclear missile, thus ending the war.

Gameplay

Some aspects of gameplay in the game is based on the collection of ore/gems, or credits. In the game, credits can be collected by several means. The main method is using a Chrono Miner for the Allies, or the War Miner for the Soviets, to gather Ore or Gems and transport them to a Refinery. A player can also gain a lasting income by capturing Oil Derricks (neutral buildings that are present in some maps).

There also are two one-time sources of money, namely collecting random crates which are present in the map and selling off enemy buildings which have been captured by one of the player's Engineers. The money is spent on constructing and repairing buildings and units. In both cases one can start construction before having the full cost in one's reserves, as construction pauses if one runs short of money.

Allied Advantages

The Allied forces largely focus on speed and military intelligence. By building a specific structure, the Spy Satellite Uplink, the Allied player is able to see all of the activity on the map, to prevent an opponent from seeing what is occurring, the Gap Generator is used. Most Allied units also feature increased mobility, being much quicker than their Soviet counterparts and allowing for quick raids.

Versatility is also a key part, as the base GI infantry can deploy sandbags around himself to deploy a more powerful gun, while the IFV unit takes on some of the weaponry of the type of infantry that is inside it. Units like the Mirage Tank and Spy facilitate guerilla tactics, as the tank can disguise itself as a tree when not moving, and the Spy can enter enemy structures to steal money, gain technology, learn the weaknesses of the enemy's infantry and vehicles (Veterancy upon unit creation), or turn off the opponent's power supply for a brief period of time.

The Allies also have the ability to build Harrier jets, which can mount quick attack on enemies before escaping; and they can train the Rocketeer, a flying infantry armed with a powerful weapon. In addition to this, the Allied Miner, the Chrono Miner, can teleport back to a Refinery drop off its load of ore, halving its travel time, and making resource collection much more efficient and reducing the time a harvester is exposed to enemy forces. The Chrono Miner, however, cannot chrono back to the Refinery if it is too far away.

Country Unique Feature
France Grand Cannon
Germany Tank Destroyer
Korea Black Eagle
United Kingdom Sniper
United States of America Paradrop

Soviet Advantages

Soviet forces place emphasis on power and numbers on the battlefield. Their basic tank, the Rhino, is more expensive than the Allies' Grizzly, but has heavier armour and a more potent weapon. The basic Soviet infantryman, the Conscript, is only half the cost of the Allied GI, and can be produced much more quickly. In addition to this, the Flak Trooper and Tesla Trooper units can easily destroy aircraft and tanks respectively.

Speeding up production of infantry further is the Cloning Vat structure, which provides the player with a free copy of every infantry unit produced. Though the Soviets lack the quick striking power of Allied Rocketeers or Harrier jets, they are able to field the Apocalypse Tank, the most powerful tank in the game; and the Kirov Airship, a massive zeppelin which is capable of carpet bombing any area directly below it into dust. Many high-level Soviet units also are able to auto-repair themselves.

Also, the Soviet player can construct Nuclear Reactors, which produce many times the amount of power of their standard Tesla Reactors, but causes a nuclear explosion if destroyed. They field War Miners which, while lacking the teleportation abilities of the Chrono Miner, sport a powerful machine gun and carry twice the amount of ore. When Elite, the War Miner instead fires shells which are effective against both tanks and infantry.

Country Unique Feature
Cuba Terrorist
Iraq Desolator
Libya Demolition Truck
Russia Tesla Tank

Modifications

Red Alert 2 is a popular game for modding. Hidden within the ra2.mix (ra2.mix\local.mix\rule*.ini) is a configuration file called rules.ini. This file can be extracted using a tool called the XCC Mixer and edited after extraction. The rules.ini is constructed in such a way that it is very easy to modify; no programming skills are required. There are tags which refer to the strength of a unit, such as its hit points, which can be modified with the program.

It is also possible to create whole new units. There are other .ini files, such as the art.ini and ai.ini, which allow for further modification, like adding a cameo to one's units and making the AI use them.

FinalAlert is a map editor for Red Alert 2 that went through numerous revisions. First came FinalAlert, developed independently by Wagner. It was later replaced by FinalAlert 2, a collaboration between Wagner and Westwood Studios, which was in turn upgraded to FinalAlert 2 Yuri's Revenge to allow support for Yuri's Revenge—this version was still an official utility. Wagner later released a tweaked version which had some bug fixes and included tunnels–leftover code from Tiberian Sun—although this version was no longer classed as an official Westwood utility.

Original soundtrack

The Red Alert 2 soundtrack was composed by long-time Command & Conquer collaborator Frank Klepacki.

External links


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