Commandand Conquer: Red Alert 2 contains two playable factions, the Soviets and the Allies, which both previously appeared in Command & Conquer: Red Alert. The single player campaign is structured in an alternate-ending mode as opposed to a progressive story mode. Like its predecessor, Red Alert 2 features a large amount of full motion video cutscenes between missions and during gameplay, with an ensemble cast including Ray Wise, Udo Kier, Kari Wuhrer, and Barry Corbin.
The main objective of the game is to defeat enemy commanders, played by AI or human opponents, by destroying their bases to the point of enemy capitulation. Players must also work to defend their own bases to maintain their ability to collect money and produce units, both of which are essential in achieving the main objective. Once all enemy commanders have been defeated, a winner is declared.
Every aspect of gameplay in the game is based on the collection of money. In the game, money can be collected by several means. The most common is using miner trucks to gather ore and/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 for Allied and Soviet players, namely: collecting random crates which are present in the map and selling off buildings which are controlled by the player. Allied players have a third one-time source of money, which involves using a spy to steal an opposing player's money. The money is spent on constructing and repairing buildings and units. In both cases, players may start construction before having the full cost in one's reserves, as construction simply pauses if a player runs short of money.
Like previous Command & Conquer games, the two factions in Red Alert 2 have unique armies with their own strengths and weaknesses. To achieve victory, a player must play to their faction's strengths and exploit the other faction's weaknesses. The factions follow the same trend in the previous title.
Soviet vehicles tend to possess heavier firepower and/or being able to take more punishment compared to their Allied counterparts with examples such the Heavy Rhino Tank and its V3 Rocket Launchers. However, they are also more expensive to build and at times move more slowly, allowing Allied vehicles to out-maneuver and outnumber them. The basic Soviet infantry, on the other hand, the Conscript, though much inferior to the Allied G.I., are incredibly inexpensive and far faster to train making it easy to mass produce. The Soviet faction is also superior in the early game and in land wars because of their more powerful and advanced tanks, while the Allied faction is better in the late game with more advanced units, such as those used in naval warfare. In particular, the Soviets are better for early game rushes, which are very common in online games.[5]
Red Alert 2 contains three campaigns. Boot Camp, Allied, and Soviet. Each campaign is distinct in its own way. Boot Camp is simply a tutorial campaign consisting of two missions in which the player is introduced to the fundamentals of the game with the use of Allied forces. If played, Boot Camp leads into Allied Campaign chronologically. Allied and Soviet campaigns are the two main campaigns of the game, each consisting of twelve missions in which the player faces off against one or more computer-controlled opponents. In some missions, the objective is simply to defeat all opposing forces in the area; other missions have more specific objectives, such as capturing or destroying a particular enemy structure or defending a particular structure of the player's own from enemy attacks. While fundamentally different in story and units, both Campaigns are structured similarly. Both begin with the player operating a limited base or otherwise a Mobile Construction Unit to start from scratch plus a platoon of certain units, but in a few missions construction is not required.
Skirmish mode is essentially the free-for-all multiplayer mode played against computer-controlled opponents. The player chooses a map against as many players the map supports. The player can also change settings such as the number of starting units, the monetary levels at the beginning, game speeds and the availability of superweapons. There are no special objectives, just eliminate all enemies units and structures.
Red Alert 2 includes two different multi-player modes. One, LAN allows the player to play alongside friends and others without the use of an internet connection. The other, Online Play allows the player to play across the internet and against players from across the globe. LAN play allows for only Skirmish Mode that is available in single-player. Online play allows for tournaments, private games, public games, ladder ranking games and also contains a chat system. In 2005, control of online play for Red Alert 2 and a number of older C&C games was passed over from EA to XWIS, a community-run server. Multiplayer is still active through CnCNet.
The Allied Commander is sent to New York City with a special forces team led by Special Agent Tanya Adams to repel a Soviet invasion there and then to Colorado Springs to liberate the Air Force Academy and the air base there. As they return victorious, they discover that a Soviet mind control device known as the Psychic Beacon has been deployed in Washington, D.C., forcing the president and General Carville to surrender. The Commander frees them from control and the government goes into exile in Canada.
When the Soviets put another psychic device in Chicago, the Psychic Amplifier, which could control the whole country, the Allies free the city from their Canadian base by destroying the Amplifier. The Soviet chief commander, General Vladimir, retaliates by detonating a nuclear missile in the city. Alarmed, the leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom agree to help the U.S. if they disarm the Soviet nuclear missile silos threatening them in Poland which the Commander and Tanya handle at the behest of the president. Now bolstered by additional men and equipment, the U.S. military is able to launch an amphibious assault on Soviet-occupied Washington, D.C. and recapture the city. After defending Pearl Harbor from Soviet assault, the Allied forces liberate St. Louis and all of the Mississippi River south of the city from psychic control and thwart Soviet attempts to replicate the Allied prism technology that creates massive energy beams to destroy units.
After General Carville tasks the Commander to defend Albert Einstein's laboratory which holds a prototype Chronosphere which can teleport troops anywhere in the world, he is killed by a Soviet suicide bomber. Einstein determines the best place to build the Chronosphere is on a tiny island in the Florida Keys, not far from Soviet Cuba. The Allies use the Chronosphere's teleportation capabilities to take an Allied strike team to Moscow where they successfully destroy the defenses around the Kremlin and teleport in a strike team led by Tanya that captures Premier Romanov, leading to the Soviets' surrender.
Premier Alexander Romanov briefs the Commander about the upcoming Soviet invasion of the United States. The Commander leads an invasion into Washington, D.C. and destroys the Pentagon. Another Soviet invasion is launched into Florida to destroy a U.S. fleet which was threatening the Soviet invasion of the East Coast. Despite this, the Soviet chief commander, General Vladimir, is credited with the success of those campaigns. While Vladimir is back in Moscow, Romanov's top advisor, Yuri, recommends the Commander could prove his worth by taking control of New York City using a Psychic Beacon. When Allied forces from South Korea launch an amphibious attack on Vladivostok, the Commander successfully repels the Allies, leading Germany and France to send troops to the German-Polish border to defend from Soviet aggression. The Commander takes advantage of this by conquering Paris, using the Eiffel Tower as a massive Tesla coil to destroy the city. With this, the European Allies are forced to withdraw their support for the United States.
In the meantime, Yuri has been using his psychic abilities to control Romanov, who gives him control of the military, much to the disgust of General Vladimir. Yuri dismisses Vladimir and tasks the Commander with establishing a base on the Hawaiian Islands. When the Allies try to use their Chronosphere to attack a Soviet research facility in the Ural Mountains, the Commander successfully defends the facility. Shortly afterwards, Yuri tells the Commander that Vladimir killed Romanov. Declaring Vladimir a traitor and a "nonperson", Yuri orders the Commander to capture Vladimir in the White House. After Vladimir's capture and execution, the Commander successfully captures the U.S. president and destroys the Allied superweapon: the weather control device, capable of creating powerful thunderstorms that destroy heavily armored structures.
Unlike previous entries in the franchise, Red Alert 2 was developed by Westwood Pacific.[2][6] Westwood Studios, the original developers of the Command & Conquer franchise were involved in a collaborative role due to other commitments at the time.[2] Despite its limited involvement, only Westwood Studios' name appeared on the packaging for the game.
In the United States, the game sold 810,000 copies and earned $26.9 million by August 2006, after its release in October 2000. It was the country's 11th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of all Command & Conquer strategy games released between January 2000 and August 2006, including Red Alert 2, had reached 4.3 million units in the United States by the latter date.[21] Red Alert 2 received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[22] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[23]
3a8082e126