Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Tags: alternate reality, alternate history

Plot synopsis:
Like all other Command & Conquer real-time strategy games, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 contains two separate campaigns, with distinct story lines, one for each playable faction.
After the attempted conquest of Europe depicted in Command & Conquer: Red Alert, the Soviet Union is in utter ruin. Joseph Stalin is dead, and the Soviet military has been all but destroyed. The Allies determine that a regime change would cause mass unrest in the Soviet Union, and in order to gain both support and stability in the region, the victorious Allies name Alexander Romanov, a distant relative of Tsar Nicholas II, as the puppet Soviet Premier. Romanov acquiesces to the Allies' demands at first, though he builds up the Soviet military for "defense purposes" – a cover for an intended invasion of the United States of America.
The game's story line starts off in 1972, with the United States Armed Forces caught completely off guard by the sudden massive Soviet invasion of the United States, with Soviet aircraft, naval vessels, amphibious forces, and paratroopers coming in on both the East Coast and West Coast and with the majority of Soviet ground forces coming in through Mexico, which had recently voted in a communist government, starting World War III. The USA attempts to retaliate with the use of nuclear missiles, but Yuri, leader of the Soviet Psychic Corps and Premier Romanov's top advisor, uses his mind control to manipulate the personnel charged with launching the warheads and leaves them to explode in their silos. Within hours, the USA is overrun with Red Army troops. In response, the US President Michael Dugan establishes an emergency response team headed by General Dan Carville and the Commander known as "The Ghost" (the player) to the Soviet army later in the game.
=== Allied campaign ===
The Allied story line begins with a special forces team led by Special Agent Tanya Adams sent to New York City to repel the Soviet invasion there. The player, with help from Tanya, successfully repels the Soviet invasion of New York City. Tanya and the Commander then go to Colorado Springs to liberate the Air Force Academy and the air base there. As they return home victorious from the battle, it is discovered that a Soviet mind control device known as the Psychic Beacon, a device that can mind-control the people of entire cities, has been deployed in Washington, D.C.
It is seen that the Psychic Beacon has controlled the minds of the President and General Ben Carville and several other key officials in the city, who surrender to the Soviets. However, a strike team is sent into the city and destroys the Psychic Beacon while encountering attacks by mind-controlled civilians, freeing the key officials from Soviet mind control and allowing them to be rescued. Despite this, Washington, D.C. still remains in Soviet hands, forcing the American government and military to relocate themselves to Canada to escape the threat of Soviet mind control.
Allied intelligence has discovered that the Soviets have put another psychic device in Chicago, the Psychic Amplifier, which has the power "to do to the country what the Psychic Beacon did to Washington". The Allies promptly launch an offensive into Soviet-occupied Chicago from their Canadian base across Lake Michigan, freeing the city and destroying the Psychic Amplifier. In retaliation, General Vladimir, the chief commander of the invading Soviet forces, declares that he no longer has much use for the city of Chicago, so he deploys a nuclear missile in the city, completely destroying it.
Alarmed by the situation, leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom agree to help the U.S. if they disarm the Soviet nuclear missile silos in Belarus. Michael Dugan agrees and sends a special forces team led by Tanya into Poland near its border with Germany. The silos are covertly destroyed, and the Europeans join the war against the Soviets. 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. Allied intelligence next reveals that the Soviets are planning to capture the Hawaiian Islands and the Commander is sent to Pearl Harbor to defend the islands.
The islands are saved, but the United States is still in a precarious position. The Soviets, with the help from their Psychic Beacon, still control St. Louis and all of the Mississippi River south of the city, seriously handicapping movement between the western states and the eastern states. The Allies then mount an attack on the city, destroying the Psychic Beacon and liberating the city. The Allies also learn of a Soviet project to replicate the Allied Prism technology (A technology that creates massive beams of energy to destroy units) at a research base in Tulum, Mexico. A team of Navy SEALs is then dispatched into the area to destroy the research facility and any prototype prism replicas. The mission is successful and the Allied Prism technology is not compromised.
General Carville, in a briefing to the player, says that they are being shipped off to Germany into the Black Forest to protect Albert Einstein’s laboratory in order to bring a quick end to the war. At Einstein's laboratory, there is Einstein's prototype Chronosphere, a device with the ability to teleport troops anywhere in the world, and the plans for it. As General Carville is leaving his office at the end of the briefing, a Crazy Ivan (a Soviet demolitions expert which deploys explosives) was waiting for Carville and flips open his jacket and detonates his bombs, killing Carville. Despite this tremendous loss, the Commander carries out the mission and repels the Soviet invasion from across the German border. Einstein's laboratory and Chronosphere are saved and Einstein continues his work.
Einstein personally thanks the Commander and says that the perfect place to establish the Chronosphere is on a tiny island in the Florida Keys, not far from Soviet Cuba. The Allies send a force to the island and build a base and the Chronosphere there, and then launch an offensive into Cuba to destroy the Soviet nuclear strike capability there. The Allies then proceed to use the Chronosphere's teleportation capabilities to take an Allied strike team to Moscow. Once in Moscow, after enduring attacks from nearby Soviet bases, the Allied forces destroy the Black Guard defenses around the Kremlin and then teleport in a strike team led by Tanya to capture Premier Alexander Romanov. Romanov gets a man to wear his uniform and pose as him, so that Tanya will take him away instead. However, this plot is easily exposed as the man is completely different from Romanov and Romanov is caught in his underwear. The Soviets suffer a humiliating defeat and promptly surrender.
=== Soviet campaign ===
The Soviet storyline begins with the player being briefed by Premier Alexander Romanov about the upcoming Soviet invasion of the U.S. The Commander leads an invasion into Washington, D.C. and destroys the Pentagon. Another Soviet invasion is launched into Florida to destroy the American fleet, which was threatening the Soviet invasion of East Coast. Even though the Commander is almost fully responsible for these victories, all the credit goes to the top Soviet commander, General Vladimir. While Vladimir is in Moscow celebrating, Yuri recommends that the player capture New York City with a Psychic Beacon, a device that can mind-control the people of entire cities. The player follows Yuri's advice, and launches an offensive into New York City. After capturing the Allied battle lab/research facility, at the World Trade Center, the Soviets deploy their Psychic Beacon and the entire population of the city falls under Soviet control.
To counter the ever-increasing and successful Soviet threat, forces from South Korea launch an amphibious attack on Vladivostok, and the player must "defend the Motherland" at all costs. The Commander holds off the offensive, crushing all invading South Korean forces in a brutal counter-attack. Alarmed by the situation, leaders of France and Germany agree to send troops to the Polish border to help the U.S. fight the Soviets. With the absence of the bulk of the French Military, the Soviets send a special forces team to Paris, with special orders from Romanov and Yuri to level the city. Once in Paris, the Soviets fight to capture the area around the Eiffel Tower. The Soviets then use three Tesla Troopers, soldiers with the ability to destroy vehicles with electric charges, to energize the Eiffel Tower and effectively turn it into a massive Tesla coil. The energized Eiffel Tower quickly destroys all Allied forces in the city and devastates Paris. With this and other key victories in Europe, the nations of Europe are in a position of needing help themselves rather than giving help to the U.S.
During this time, Yuri has been gaining more power by using his Psychic abilities to control Romanov. Romanov gives all military authority to Yuri, greatly angering General Vladimir, who accuses Yuri of manipulating Romanov for his own purposes. Yuri discards these accusations and tells the player to establish "Soviet presence" in the Hawaiian Islands. The Commander is sent to Hawaii and destroys the American Pacific Fleet and all South Korean reinforcements, allowing the Soviets to take over the islands. Meanwhile, Romanov has become very ill and Yuri's intelligence has revealed that the Allies have constructed a Chronosphere, a device with the ability to teleport troops anywhere in the world. The Allies intend to use the Chronosphere to destroy a Soviet research facility in the Ural Mountains. Yuri tells the player that this research facility is vital to the Soviet war effort and that it must be protected. The player takes command of Soviet forces at the research facility and manages to repel several Allied offensives.
Shortly after the research facility is saved, Yuri informs the player that Romanov was murdered by General Vladimir. Yuri orders the Commander to go to Washington, D.C. to eliminate Vladimir, whom Yuri declares to be a traitor and a "nonperson". The player defeats Vladimir's forces and captures Vladimir in the White House with the aid of Yuri's psychic technology. In another mission, a Soviet strike team of psy-corp troopers is then sent to San Antonio, Texas and covertly infiltrates the American installation around the Alamo and then put the U.S. President, Michael Dugan, under Soviet mind-control. The Soviets then discover that the Allies are developing a new super weapon in the U.S. Virgin Islands, known as a Weather Control Device, a device that can create powerful thunderstorms capable of devastating large areas. The Soviets launch an amphibious assault on the islands and successfully destroy the device.
Impressed by the tenacity of the "Comrade General", Yuri asks the Commander to come to Moscow so he can thank the Commander in person. However, Lieutenant Zofia contacts the player, showing a video Romanov recorded before his death. In the video, Romanov, with much difficulty, says that Yuri is controlling his mind and orders the Commander to bring the traitor to justice. The Commander goes to Moscow with the bulk of the Soviet army to apprehend Yuri. Upon their arrival in Moscow, the player’s forces engage with forces loyal to Yuri. The player then launches a brutal attack on the Kremlin and Yuri is believed to have been killed in the battle. From Yuri’s files, it is learned that the Allies have built another Chronosphere in Alaska, which they will use to attempt to launch a final assault into the Soviet Union. Soviet forces are sent across the Bering Strait and destroy the Chronosphere and all Allied forces in the area. With all resistance destroyed, the player is now free to rule the world. However, in the end cut scene, Yuri's mind has somehow survived and telepathically communicates to the commander saying, "It would have been good to see inside your mind, General. I may still get the chance..."

Review: Great continuation on an incredible game series!.
I was totally thrilled with Red Alert.
The game-play was great, the story was sweet and fun never seemed to end.
Red Alert 2 is not only twice as good, but it's twice as addictive!
Great videos really add to the game, along with a cool new Bad Guy.
The missions are great and not to hard, but not to easy.
Overall, a great game I recommend to anyone who loves real time strategy!.
Well-planned and executed.
I have been a fan of the Command & Conquer series since the first game was released.
From the original with its low-resolution, but more-than-decent, CGI and "talking head" briefings, to Red Alert's second history report, there was much improvement.
C&C2: Tiberian Sun was one more solid step towards C&C: Red Alert 2, which is quite possibly the best RTS game in existence.
It blends *very* good acting and great visuals with a solid, continuing, and consistent storyline.
The only flaw in this game?
It's a pity Joseph Kucan couldn't make at least a cameo in it as he did in Red Alert; everyone's favorite dictator with a messiah complex would have been right at home, advising Yuri and Romanov, just like in the old days with Stalin.
How old *is* that bald guy, anyway?
Cool.
This is one of the funnest games I have played in a long time!!
The Graphics are totaly awsome!
The gameplay is cool.
If you like RTS (Real Time Stradagy) then I'd give this game a try!
It's easy to install and runs good on my system.
You can play as most countrys it's cool.
great.
well i thought they couldn't improve on the first red alert.
but i was wrong.
this is a great video game.
the story line picks up where red alert leaves off.
stalin is dead and the americans put alexi romanov in charge of the soviet union.
romanovis a career politician who speaks of peace and following the allied cause.
however romanov hates the allies that destroyed his "mother russia"and begins plotting revenge.
romanov experaments with mind control and finally he attacks, russians flowing into california, new york and texas.
mind control makes american citizen's into russian slaves.
it's a great game.
barry corbin is the commander of the allied forces.
and like in red alert, he talks directly to you.
a personal favorite of mine that tiberian sun doesn't have.
the cahraacters talking directly to you.
a great game and lots of fun..
Brilliant.
Sheer fun..
Completely over the top strategy game.
Full of very improbable units such as giant squid, mind readers and airships.
Well balanced gameplay with any unit(no matter how cheap) fulfilling a niche and capable of destroying any other unit(no matter how dear) if used properly.Missions are well planned and thought out.
On the side there's a skirmish mode in which you may play as one of nine nations, each commanding a special unit.
Admittly the plot does n't hold much water but the characters featured are amusing(although in some cases a lil' crude) caricatures.
Overall great fun and well worth taking a look at especially if you're already a C&C fan.
A good game AND Kari Wuhrer all in one!.
This is the second best real time stategy game out there (starcraft being #1).
The gameplay is fun and challenging.
The cutscenes were pretty good, and any bad acted that may have occurred was shrouded by Kari Wuhrer's presence.
Yea shes hot..
The best C&C game yet!!!!!.
Having played all the previous games this is by far the most exciting!
The real time strategy makes for great game-play, as well as the built-in movies gives the game a more realistic feel to it.
I hope that the creators at Westwood have more in the pipeline!
Long live Command & Conquer!!!!.
Red Alert turns into a wacky cheesy B-Movie.
Initially I thought that Red Alert 2's much maligned predecessor, Tiberian Sun wasn't that bad.
Only when I tried out Red Alert 2 I realised how uninspired (and what a missed opportunity) Tiberian Sun really was.
With Red Alert 2, Westwood Studios demonstrated that (for the year 2000 at least) they still were kings of the RTS genre.Red Alert 2 featured some interesting changes compared to the original, for one the serious dark undertones made way for a wacky, cheesy B movie setting that doesn't take itself seriously at all, but luckily stop short of attempting a complete spoof of cheesy B movies.
Personally I prefer the more serious stuff when I play war but Westwood seemed to have pulled this aspect off (if only just).
The other big change for me was that the game was sped up considerably, Building, moving & fighting now happens at a much faster pace resulting in missions that are over much quicker than previously.
Again, I actually preferred the slower stuff but you learn to adjust very quickly!
Both the Allied and Soviet campaign's story lines are not exactly award-winning stuff but the cut-scenes are of high quality, fun to watch and does enough to make you feel involved in the story, it's obvious that the actors had fun doing the scenes (very much the opposite of the bored looking has-beens in Tiberian Sun), and it sure helps that they casted some of the best looking B-movie actresses around!
The gameplay is standard C&C stuff with some wacky & generally useful units added to the standard tanks and soldiers (tanks that disguise themselves as trees – I mean really ..
One of my biggest gripes with the original were that the Allied units were just weak compared to the Soviets, this time round they are must better balanced with Soviets relying more on brute force and the Allieds the ones with better technology i.e. Soviets are more durable but Allieds have better guns.
Oh yes, and the new ability for your soldiers to garrison buildings is very useful indeed!
My biggest problem with the game is the A.I.(what a misnomer!) It doesn't seem to have improved at all since the original C&C in 1995.
The A.I.'s method of attack basically consists of sending small groups of units to attack your base at regular intervals, and unless they overwhelm you before your defences are up and running this attacks amount to little more than shooting practice for your base defences.
After a while the A.I. will then just give up and wait for you too release him from his misery.
I believe one of the reasons Westwood sped up the game was to compensate for the useless A.I.That said, no other RTS title released before or around the same time as Red Alert 2 were known for brilliant or event competent A.I. so I won't judge too harshly.
Overall this was one of the better RTS titles I have played and I recommend this game as it is still fun even at 2009 standards..
Westwood Goes to Camp.
Quite a few games are unintentionally campy.
It's difficult to make a game that's both entertaining and has a compelling story, and many efforts wind up with silly-sounding expositionary dialog and characters going out of character.
The first Red Alert, admittedly, has some of this camp quality.
What Westwood did with this sequel was not only admit the camp, but flaunt it.
Every character, every line spoken, everything, campy.
Personally, I didn't really care for the humor, but that's my subjective opinion.
The game is actually considerably easier to get into than one would think, considering the camp.
An interesting new addition was the "par time"...
after each successfully completed mission, you'll be told how long it took you, and the par time, and if you did better than it, you'll get a positive statement, based on that, which does wonders for both ego and re-playability(of the player and the game, respectively).
It also heightens the pace, knowing that...
in fact, one of the first things that I noticed about this, compared to the preceding games of the series, was the high pace.
Right from the awesome intro, a great mix of story-telling and action, to the first several missions, and, really, through to the very end, the game is very fast and action-packed.
The slowest unit moves at a pace that feels fast compared to the other games, and the music yet again gets the adrenaline flowing(complete with a "HM2", a new, unfortunately shorter, version of the excellent track from the first game, which, again, is in the intro as well as on both sides' play-list).
This also means, however, that the game moves through the only twelve missions per side really quickly.
In Westwood's defense, all the missions make good sense, they're nicely introduced and explained, and heck, they even all take place at actual locations(complete with famous landmarks).
The level design is great, and several missions are quite interesting.
Sometimes, though, the objectives are simply "eliminate enemy presence", which, whilst making rather good sense in a game about a war, is something of a cliché within the genre of RTS.
Both sides get a satisfying finish.
Story-telling isn't bad...
before every mission, you get a briefing, and not a single one of them feel as if they were done in a hurry(as they did to varying extent on some of the previous ones).
They knew exactly what they were doing, and took the time to get it right.
The performances are quite good(for being intentionally campy), and all the actors seem well-cast.
Kari Wuhrer *is* Tanya Adams.
Corbin does great as a Texan/Southern general, Wise makes a good president, and Kier *rocks* as Yuri.
The cut-scenes, in general, are among the best the franchise have seen.
The production design is of exceptional quality...
sets, props, costumes, everything looks and feels exactly like it should.
The CGI elements blend in more seamlessly than ever before.
The story evolves reasonably, with just a few unexpected twists.
the units.
They pretty much all rock.
The new ones are interesting, powerful and quite even(including a giant squid, an airship that drops bombs, an aircraft carrier and more).
You need a varied force to attack, as well as to defend.
As far as selection goes, it's interesting how they, for both units(buildings, too...
for example, the Allied radar building is also their airfield), mixed a high amount of units with only putting in ones that are cool and fun to use.
There is a ton of strategic possibilities.
The Soviets get an infantry unit capable of mind-control(who possesses the uber-creepy voice of Udo Kier), which makes for one(but not the only) quite interesting single-player mission.
You can now garrison the regular infantry unit inside any building, and they can then fire at enemies from in there, though they will abandon it once it takes enough damage.
One Allied unit can even enhance the abilities of just about any infantry unit put inside.
The Spy can be put to rather good use, as well.
The super-weapons are beefed up, too.
The Allies also actually get an offensive one...
a thunderstorm(!).
The Chrono-Sphere(teleportation device), which was very tentatively used in the first game, almost becomes common-place here...
the harvesters now Chrono-Shift back to the refineries to hand in the ore and diamonds gathered(silos, by the way, have also been sacrificed in the name of efficiency), for example.
The game is more fun to play than the first Red Alert, however, and not only is the improved Chrono-Sphere cool and powerful, the more uses of Chrono-Shifting also means that an *excellent* infantry unit, the Chrono Legionaire, is introduced.
He can Chrono-Shift anywhere he wants(though the longer the distance, the longer time must pass before he can act again), and his attack is to slowly but surely zap whatever he aims at *out of time*.
He's just as cool as he sounds.
The multi-player is great, very well done.
The sound is very well-done, everything sounds just like it should.
The graphics are very nice, though the many effects can take a lot of resources.
This was the first in this series since Command & Conquer and Covert Ops to kick me out of the game.
Some things are kept from Tiberian Sun, others are abandoned.
This has several features that really help increase the game-play, including ones that *really* should have appeared earlier in the franchise than the *fourth* game in the series...
and unfortunately, it still does lack some.
You can still not tell units to hold their position.
Still, if you found the earlier games enjoyable and felt that a few features were lacking, chances are that they're present in this game.
Most of the new things introduced are incredibly well-done, and the game is almost entirely free of bugs.
A very good effort, and sure to eat up many hours of free-time(if more on multi-player than on single-player).
I recommend this to any fan of the series.
Super War game.
This war game is about the russians invading america.
The graphics are great altough you need only 2mb of video ram.
The sounds isn't much better in comparisation with command $ conquer tiberian sun.
The story is cliche but still it's cool to play the game.
How further you go how more you have to think in stragetic way.
This was the first game i acctually bought and still having fun playing the game.
It's cool to play the game trough a network.
I could recommend this game to anyone wanting to play a fantastic war game...
Have fun..
Have fun..
Have fun..
It Cant Get Any Better Than This..
After being addicted to Red Alert for about 4 years, i wasn't sure that anything could top that game....
then along came Red Alert 2 and i was silenced!
EA and Westwood have managed to improve on every aspect of the original; the gameplay is just as addictive but the storyline of the second is fantastic, the structures and units are greatly improved and as for the video sequences: i was almost blown away!!
They have also corrected several minor flaws which occurred in the first.
For instance: in 'Skirmish Mode' Tanya can only be used by the Allies (as she is an allied agent), and the soviets have created their own terrorist character; also the soviets are the only one to use the Nuke and the allies have developed their Weather Machine (which is equally if not more devastating).
The graphics of the game are much better too as the battle screen has shrunk allowing you to see your structures more clearly and the effects of the superweapons are much better than the first: when a nuke is dropped in the first game all you get is a small mushroom cloud and the blast doesn't really destroy anything apart from the infantry.
WELL, after droppin' the bomb in RA2 i was almost knocked off my seat: you get a gigantic explosion with a screen blocking mushroom cloud which levels all buildings under it, and to top that off, the ground becomes radioactive for about 20 seconds after that so any infantry that walk over it will be killed.
Fantastic.
Westwood have certainly outdone themselves and created a truly excellent game that i will definitely be playing for a long time to come.Bring on Red Alert 3!.
Better than both Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 1!.
I avoided this game when it first came out, though I did enjoy playing its predecessor and winning on both sides (Allied and Soviet) on that same game.
It took me a while, but I beat the game on the Soviet side in 1997 and the Allied side in 2002.
But then I played a little of Red Alert 2 at a friend's house and it was a whole different world.
It made me want to play more.
The graphics were a little dated but the action was all there.
And after hearing all the mediocre talk about the second Tiberium game (Tiberian Sun), I thought Red Alert 2 would be nice.
Guess what?
It's even better than the second Tiberium Game.
And unlike C&C2 there are major improvements to the whole gameplay of the Red Alert saga.
Plus new units and structures.
What else is new?
New characters on both the Soviet and the Allied forces sides and more Tanya.
It's a little underwhelming considering the Soviets don't have much airpower but the Terror Drones make nice parasites on the Allied armor.
But if you enjoyed Red Alert 1 and were disappointed by C&C: Tiberium Dawn and Tiberian Sun, try this!.
best command & conquer game to date.
one of the best games to come out of westwood.It is also the best command and conquer titles games available.you get to fight as two of the biggest superpowers of the world a.k.a the soviets and the allies.Soviets have a sexy mission breifer while allies have a not so good one.but hey its upto you to decide.GEt your hands on this excellent game while you still can.