Command and Conquer: Red Alert Review

Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Developed by Westwood Studios and released in 1996 on IBM PC MS-DOS and Windows 95, Command & Conquer: Red Alert is the successor to and prequel of the original Command and Conquer of 1995.

cf. Real-time Strategy Games PC.

Red Alert aka C&C:RA is notable for somehow optimizing and expanding upon Command and Conquer's core gameplay, which was hardly possible considering the original's greatness. In addition to adding naval and air units, Red Alert increased control of units through the likes of formational movement, waypoint-plotting and unit-escorting.

It is inarguable that Red Alert was one of the most polished and professional game releases of the mid-90s. The game oozes with design and coding expertise. Not only did they hit their stride with Red Alert, Westwood practically aced every aspect of RTS design.

Even in 2023, the MS-DOS version of Red Alert is eminently playable and replayable: accurate positioning of units, super-smooth avatar-anchorless screen-scrolling, snappy UI and good AI.

Red Alert is raw, gritty and as tough as nails to beat. And even if you do beat it on the hardest difficulty at the fastest game-speed, your scores may not be good enough to show your friends.

RTS Bout: Round One

Consider:

• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn (Westwood, 1995)
• Command and Conquer: Red Alert (Westwood, 1996)
• WarCraft 2: Tides of Darkness (Blizzard, 1995)
• Warcraft 2: Beyond the Dark Portal (Blizzard, 1996)

In terms of the all-important gameplay, Westwood outperformed Blizzard in the first round of the RTS bout (1995-96). I think Westwood's design, coding and aesthetics were superior in the opening round of the bout as well.

Red Alert Setting

Dark experiments have permanently altered time. Or have they? Now, Soviet tanks crush city after city while Allied cruisers shell bases. Spies lurk, land mines wait, and strange new technologies aid both sides in their struggle for ultimate control. The mighty Soviet Empire has begun to "liberate" all of Europe. Cities fall and countries collapse before the overwhelming might of the Red Storm. The Allies are scrambling to meet the onslaught, but they have been caught by surprise. -- Westwood, 1996.

Red Alert is set in an alternate world history that precedes the discovery of Tiberium. During this fictional Second World War, the Global Defense Initiative has not yet been formed and the Brotherhood of Nod terrorist organization has not yet revealed themselves. The plot of Red Alert treats the series of events that lead up to the emergence of such powers.

Red Alert Features

Explosions, chaos, all-out destruction.

Red Alert is a masterpiece of design, coding and aesthetics [1]. The most impressive features of Red Alert are as follows:

• Extremely fast and difficult gameplay
• Variable missions (protection, search and rescue, assassination, sabotage)
• Some missions are timed
• Silky-smooth screen-scrolling (scrolling speed is tailorable)
• Thumping 11-track OST and meaty sound effects courtesy of Westwood-proprietary Direct Digital Audio (DDA)
• Increased control: waypoint-plotting (Q-key), formations (F-key), escorts (Ctrl + Alt + L-click)
• Introduction of controllable air and naval units
• Introduction of crates and exploding barrels
• A couple challenging dungeon-crawling levels that don't feature base-building (but WarCraft 1 did that first)
• Spies can move about unseen and unheard (only attack dogs can sniff them out), commandeer vehicles and infiltrate buildings.
• Buildings that can hide bases, grant brief teleportation capability to units or grant brief invulnerability to buildings or units.

Most notable new unit types:

• Ground: Spies, Thieves, Commandos, Attack Dogs, Mine Layers and Mobile Radar Jammers
• Sea: Submarines, Gunboats, Destroyers and Cruisers
• Air: Helicopters, Spy Planes, Fighter Jets and Bombers that can also drop paratroopers

The Attack Dogs bypass damage reduction and HP pools, insta-killing infantry and other "people" units. Overall, the Allies are more navy-focused whereas the Soviets are more airforce-focused.

Red Alert Difficulty

Red Alert features fast-paced and difficulty gameplay. Both difficulty and game-speed are tailorable, but difficulty cannot be changed mid-campaign. At slower game-speeds Red Alert's action is more manageable as expected, but Red Alert remains harder than most RTS games even when played at the slowest game-speed on the easiest difficulty setting.

The three difficulty settings are Easy, Normal and Difficult. Each setting has nine factors that govern unit offense, defence and speed as well as building cost and build-time. In addition, difficulty governs the average delay between initiating building repair and construction, and there are toggles for content scanning and wall destruction.

Computer-controlled or AI effectiveness is governed by 30 factors that are assigned such variables as time delays, ratios, maximums and cell radii. In addition, AIs are assigned 11 IQ-related ratings that determine AI automomy and intelligence; that is, what actions AIs can automatically take.

Skirmish Mode Red Alert

Skirmish mode allows players to practice for multiplayer games by battling against the AI (computer-controlled opponents). In skirmish mode, players type in a name, choose a country and color, choose a scenario and then set various parameters, which are as follows:

• Unit Count (max 12)
• Tech Level (max 10)
• Starting Credits (max 10,000)
• Number of AI players (max 7)

One can also check and uncheck crate spawns, base building, ore regeneration and shroud regrowth ("fog of war").

Each of the eight countries has seven stats that govern unit offense, defence and speed as well as building cost and build-time.

Terrain Red Alert

There are nine terrain types each of which is assigned five characteristics that determine buildability as well as unit movement speed; that is, terrain impacts unit mobility depending on the unit's mode of movement (on-foot, wheeled, tracked or floated).

[1]

The problem with pre-1996 cRPG graphics stems not just from the art assets themselves, but also from how the game engine displays and manipulates art assets in terms of gameplay facilitation; that is, not only did cRPG artists lack talent but cRPG programmers lacked the graphics-coding pedigree that Command & Conquer 1 and WarCraft 2 coders exhibited. I'm referring to efficiency: how the engine displays, shifts around and switches between viewport and UI bitmaps; as well as to animation routines and framerates. Make no mistake, Westwood and Blizzard were graphics-coding Kings, and RTS is the King-genre of Advent of the API. -- Computer Role-playing Game History.

If only the cRPG genre had coders on par with the RTS genre...

Red Alert FMVs

cRPG History makes clear my contempt for FMVs and the cinematization of games in general. However, even as someone who doesn't give a damn about cutscenes, I will admit that Red Alert's FMVs are top-notch.

Red Alert: Counterstrike

Released in 1997 in conjunction with Intelligent Games, Red Alert: Counterstrike adds 8 missions for both Allied and Soviet factions [1]. It also adds more multi-player/skirmish maps, a few new units and the Giant Ants faction.

Red Alert: The Aftermath

Also released in 1997 in conjunction with Intelligent Games, Red Alert: The Aftermath adds 9 missions for both Allied and Soviet factions [2]. It also adds more multi-player/skirmish maps and several new units.

Command & Conquer Red Alert Free Download

You can freely download Command and Conquer Red Alert v1.04 ISOs from Moddb or cnc-comm.com.

https://www.moddb.com/games/cc-red-alert/downloads/cc-red-alert-full-game-soviet-iso

https://www.moddb.com/games/cc-red-alert/downloads/cc-red-alert-full-game-allied-iso

https://cnc-comm.com/red-alert/downloads/the-game/allies-disc

https://cnc-comm.com/red-alert/downloads/the-game/soviet-disc

Red Alert: Counterstrike Free Download & Red Alert Aftermath Free Download

The two Red Alert expansions can be freely downloaded from cncnz.com.

https://cncnz.com/features/freeware-classic-command-conquer-games/

Command and Conquer: Red Alert DOSBox

The MS-DOS version of Command and Conquer: Red Alert runs well in DOSBox. I recommend the MS-DOS version of C&C:RA because the Windows version is too easy.

Red Alert Missions

Both Allied and Soviet campaigns consist of 14 missions each. As in the original C&C, campaign progression is navigated via a geopolitical map that can offer up to three different selectable routes.

Route-choice modifies the layout of subsequent mission-maps.

Red Alert Allied Missions

SCG01EA

Rescue Einstein from the Headquarters inside this Soviet complex. Once found, evacuate him via the helicopter at the signal flare. Einstein and Tanya must be kept alive at all costs. Beware the Soviet's Tesla Coils. Direct Tanya to destroy the westmost power plants to take them off-line.

SCG02EA

A critical supply convoy is due through this area in 25 minutes, but Soviet forces have blocked the road in several places. Unless you can clear them out, those supplies will never make it to the front. The convoy will come from the northwest, and time is short so work quickly.

SCG03EA

LANDCOM 16 HQS. TOP SECRET. TO: FIELD COMMANDER A9 INTELLIGENCE RECON SHOWS HEAVY SOVIET MOVEMENT IN YOUR AREA. NEARBY BRIDGES ARE KEY TO SOVIET ADVANCEMENT. DESTROY ALL BRIDGES ASAP. TANYA WILL ASSIST. KEEP HER ALIVE AT ALL COSTS. CONFIRMATION CODE 1612. TRANSMISSION ENDS.

SCG03EB

LANDCOM 16 HQS. TOP SECRET. TO: FIELD COMMANDER A9 INTELLIGENCE RECON SHOWS HEAVY SOVIET MOVEMENT IN YOUR AREA. NEARBY BRIDGES ARE KEY TO SOVIET ADVANCEMENT. DESTROY ALL BRIDGES ASAP. TANYA WILL ASSIST. KEEP HER ALIVE AT ALL COSTS. CONFIRMATION CODE 1612. TRANSMISSION ENDS.

SCG04EA

Soviet forces are trying to retake the pass you cleared for our convoys. Don't let this happen. Hold the pass and prevent the Soviets from taking this vital area. Destroy all Soviet units and buildings in this region.

SCG05EA

Rescue Tanya. Your spy can move past any enemy unit, except dogs, without being detected. Direct him into the weapons factory located at a nearby Soviet Base where he will hijack a truck and free Tanya. With Tanya's help, take out the air defenses on the island and a Chinook will arrive to rescue her. Then destroy all remaining Soviet buildings and units.

SCG05EB

As above.

SCG05EC

As above.

SCG06EA

Priority One is to establish a base and get your spy into one of the Soviet tech centers in the base across the gulf. Data on the Iron Curtain is in there and we need it. Once you get the data complete your mission... wipe out everything.

SCG06EB

As above.

SCG07EA

LANDCOM 16 HQS. TOP SECRET. TO: FIELD COMMANDER A9 INTERCEPTION OF SOVIET COMMUNIQUE INDICATES THEIR IRON CURTAIN RESEARCH WAS SET BACK BY ESPIONAGE. EXCELLENT WORK, COMMANDER! COMMUNIQUE WAS TRACED BACK TO SECRET SOVIET BASE IN BORNHOLM. INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE CONNECTION WITH IRON CURTAIN RESEARCH. CAPTURE RADAR CENTER AND DESTROY SUB PRODUCTION CAPABILITY. CONFIRMATION CODE 1138. TRANSMISSION ENDS.

SCG08EA

Our latest technology, the Chronosphere, is housed in this research station. The timer represents the appointed time for the completion of a vital experiment. The Soviets have learned of this and are moving in. Protect the Chronosphere and the Advanced-Tech research center. Make sure the base is fully powered at the appointed time. If not, all will be lost!

SCG08EB

As Above.

SCG09EA

One of Stalin's top atomic strategists, Vladimir Kosygin, wishes to defect. His knowledge of Stalin's atomic strategies is invaluable to us. We wish to "extract" him from the Riga compound, where he is stationed. Use a spy to infiltrate the Soviet command center and contact Kosygin. Once he is out of the building, get him back to your base any way you can.

SCG09EB

As Above.

SCG10EA

Kosygin has indicated that this is the site of Stalin's main atomic weapons plant. Use extreme care in approaching the Soviet base -- we don't know if any atomic bombs are armed yet. Take the facility off-line and then destroy any atomic weapons that exist.

SCG10EB

Now that the complex has been infiltrated, the launch control centers must be deactivated. Get your engineers to the control centers and deactivate them before the missiles reach their targets. Enemy technicians can help in locating the control centers if they are kept alive.

SCG11EA

Our assault on the USSR is underway, although our efforts are being hindered by large pockets of soviet armor. To counter this we need to move warships up the Volga river, but there is a bottleneck near Volograd which you must clear so our naval vessels can move in. Good Luck.

SCG11EB

As above.

SCG12EA

Rumors abound that the Soviet Iron Curtain is nearing completion. In addition, an even more powerful version of that weapon is also in the works. One research facility is more protected than the rest - find out why. Capture all technology centers, and destroy any Iron Curtain prototype that you encounter. Our newly developed Longbow Helicopter should be able to assist your attacks.

SCG13EA

LANDCOM 16 HQS. TOP SECRET. TO: FIELD COMMANDER A9 CONGRATULATIONS. CAPTURING TECH CENTERS HAS REVEALED AN UNDERGROUND WEAPONS FACILITY. PLACE EXPLOSIVE CHARGES ON ALL GENERATORS. RESULTING EXPLOSIONS SHOULD DESTROY FACILITY. GET OUT BEFORE NERVE GAS IS USED. TRANSMISSION ENDS.

SCG14EA

This is it -- the final confrontation! The Soviets have nowhere to run now. The only thing that remains is to topple the Soviet seat of power. Destroy everything to make sure that no one takes Stalin's place. No sorrow. No pity. No remorse.

Red Alert Soviet Missions

SCU01EA

A pitiful excuse for resistance has blockaded itself in this village. Stalin has decided to make an example of them. Kill them all and destroy their homes. You will have Yak aircraft to use in teaching these rebels a lesson.

SCU02EA

Tomorrow, the attack on Germany begins, but today, we must protect our facility from Allied attacks. Keep the Command Center intact at all costs, and destroy any Allied fortification you might find.

SCU02EB

As above.

SCU03EA

An Allied spy has bypassed our security, damaged our base, and is now seeking to escape. Use your attack dogs to track him down and exterminate him. The civilians are aiding the spy and will have set traps for your men. If the spy escapes you, your life is forfeit.

SCU04EA

The Allied base in this region is proving to be problematic. Your mission is to take it out so that we can begin to move forces through this area. As long as they have communications they will be able to call upon heavy reinforcements. Crush their communications, and they should be easier to remove.

SCU04EB

As above.

SCU05EA

Khalkis island contains a large quantity of ore that we need. The Allies are well aware of our plans, and intend to establish their own base there. See to it that they fail. In addition, capture their radar center so we can track Allied activity in this area.

SCU06EA

There is a special cargo that needs to be transported to a nearby Soviet base in the northeast. Make sure the trucks reach their destination intact. Along the way, there is a bridge which the Allies may have destroyed. If so, use the Naval options at your disposal. Our attack subs will make short work of any Allied boats you discover.

SCU06EB

As above.

SCU07EA

The Allies have infiltrated one of our nuclear reactors! They have tampered with the core so that a meltdown is imminent within 30 minutes. They must not succeed! Enter the base and find any remaining technicians. Guide them to the 4 coolant stations so they can activate them, then activate the main computer. The security systems have been armed so beware. Kill any Allies you find.

SCU08EA

We have detected Allied activity on Elba island. The Allies plan to use this island to stage an attack on the Soviet Empire. You must ensure that the island ceases to be under Allied control. Destroy all Allied units on and around the island. The local population has been aiding the Allies as well. There is only one punishment for helping the enemy - Death.

SCU08EB

As above.

SCU09EA

The Allied forces have intercepted and destroyed a convoy that carried parts for our secret weapon. One truck remains, but they have captured that last truck and its cargo. This is not acceptable! You are to destroy that truck before the Allies leave the area with it.

SCU10EA

You must defend a Soviet convoy that is moving through Allied occupied territory. Using the new MIG jet and a complement of Yaks, get the convoy through the area intact. Be careful -- your resources for this mission are very limited. If at least one truck makes it through to the other side, the mission will be a success.

SCU11EA

Intelligence indicates that a large portion of the Allied Naval Fleet will stop for refueling at a base in this area. Destroy the fleet and the base. Beware the long range of their cruisers.

SCU11EB

As above.

SCU12EA

We have learned the location of the Chronosphere weapon, and we want to capture it. The Allies have boobytrapped the Chronosphere to explode if approached. Capturing the tech centers BEFORE taking the Chronosphere may allow you to defuse any traps. Use extreme caution.

SCU13EA

We have another chance to capture the Chronosphere. Take out the Radar Domes to cut the link between them and the Chronosphere. Then capture it!

SCU13EB

As above.

SCU14EA

Your final test is at hand. The destiny of the Soviet union rests on the shores of England. Here lies the final resting place of the Allies pitiful resistance. Crush them and attain your place at the right hand of Stalin.

[1]

Red Alert: Counterstrike Allied Missions

• Sarin Gas 1: Crackdown
• Sarin Gas 2: Down Under
• Sarin Gas 3: Controlled Burn
• Fall of Greece 1: Personal War
• Fall of Greece 2: Evacuation
• Siberian Conflict 1: Fresh Tracks
• Siberian Conflict 2: Trapped
• Siberian Conflict 3: Wasteland

Red Alert: Counterstrike Soviet Missions

• Proving Grounds
• Besieged
• Mousetrap
• Legacy of Tesla
• Soviet Soldier Volkov & Chitzkoi
• Top O' The World
• Paradox Equation
• Nuclear Escalation

[2]

Red Alert: The Aftermath Allied Missions

• Harbor Reclamation
• In the Nick of Time
• Caught in the Act
• Production Disruption
• Negotiations
• Monster Tank Madness
• Time Flies
• Absolute M.A.D.NESS
• Pawn

Red Alert: The Aftermath Soviet Missions

• Testing Grounds
• Shock Therapy
• Let's Make a Steal
• Test Drive
• Don't Drink the Water
• Situation Critical
• Brothers in Arms
• Deus Ex Machina
• Grunyev Revolution

Back to: Real-time Strategy Games PC.

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