Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy video game in the Command & Conquer franchise, developed and published by Westwood Studios in 1996. The second game to bear the Command & Conquer title, Red Alert is the prequel to the original Command & Conquer of 1995, and takes place in the alternate early history of Command & Conquer when Allied Forces battle an aggressive Soviet Union for control over the European mainland.

The Story Behind Command & Conquer - Red Alert

The gameplay also includes an in-game sidebar code called Soylent Green Mode. The Counterstrike add-on included the secret Ant Missions titled "It Came from Red Alert", where the player battles against an army of giant, mutant ants, a reference to the 1989 video game It Came from the Desert. During the course of the Soviet's campaign, Kane is seen to make infrequent appearances as a mysterious counselor to Joseph Stalin, and the story implies that he has in fact been the instigator of the world war between the USSR and the Allied nations in order to further the long-term goals of the Brotherhood of Nod.

Deviations from the originals include a choice between “right click” and classic “left click” control schemes, an overhauled sidebar interfaces for managing productions, support for game replays and an observer interface designed for video game live streaming. The game was developed by close to 30 people. New Allied units include the Field Mechanic and the Chrono Tank.

How Command & Conquer - Red Alert Plays

It is normally invisible except when surfacing to attack when it is vulnerable to destroyers and gunboats. Without Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union (USSR) grows powerful under the rule of Joseph Stalin. This task force is heavily implied to have been "Special Operations Group Echo: Black Ops 9"—the covert and international peace enforcing unit of the United Nations and the precursor of the Global Defense Initiative, one of the two main and iconic factions of the Tiberian series alongside the Brotherhood of Nod.

The games are remade for modern computers with updated gameplay, new campaigns, user-created and curated maps, and online play. In 1997, Red Alert held a position in PC Data's top 3 for the first four months of the year, peaking at No. Indeed, Nadia, the head of the NKVD, Stalin's mistress and evidently a secretive member of the Brotherhood herself as early as the 1950s, instructs the player to "keep the peace" until Nod would "tire of the USSR in the early 1990s" upon the campaign's successful conclusion.

Why Players Still Load It Up

Computer Gaming World gave it the Strategy Game of the Year award (Readers' Choice). GamePro ultimately recommended it, though only to those for whom the PC version is not an option, citing the addictive gameplay, engaging cutscenes, "both exciting and subtle" music, and improved A.I. over the PC version. The PC version of the game scored 90.91% on GameRankings based on 11 reviews, while the PlayStation version scored 81.40% based on 5 reviews.

In addition to its being even rarer than the PlayStation Mouse, they noted that the PlayStation Link Cable was not a practical option for most gamers. Command & Conquer won the 1996 Spotlight Award for "Best Strategy/War Game" from the Game Developers Conference. In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 14th-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "a perfectly balanced and action-packed epic that functions brilliantly in both the multi-play and the solo campaigns".

Command & Conquer - Red Alert — Frequently Asked Questions