Mental Omega

Mental Omega, previously Mental Omega: Almost Perfect Yuri's Revenge, is a mod for which aims to re-imagine and revamp the game by adding new units and features in the original game, de facto being an unofficial expansion pack. The mod also comes with a brand new storyline and a campaign for all the three vanilla sides - the Allies, the Soviets, the Epsilon (Yuri's faction) and one new faction called the Foehn Revolt.
==Gameplay==
Mental Omega aims to rebalance by adding a lot of new units and redesigning the already existing ones. Some notable additions include more naval units for Yuri, new country-specific units, the Centurion Siege Crawler for the Soviets, Irkalla for Epsilon and more. Mental Omega also adds new game modes to the game, other than the three standard ones. Mental Omega 3.0 also has their own soundtrack that can be optional for downloading.
The mod also comes with many new multiplayer and skirmish maps, as well as a new single player campaign for all the three factions. Co-op maps are included in the latest release.
Added in version 3.3, the Foehn Revolt is a technologically cyber-advanced army which is implied to be an Allied-Soviet alliance formed to defeat Yuri and his Epsilon forces that is hinted to have successfully conquered the world in the future. This fourth faction, which is not based from any factions in the Command & Conquer universe, has powerful but expensive arsenal consisting of units making use of wind control, plasma and nanomachine technologies, such as Megalodon walkers, the M.A.D.M.A.N. tank, the Harbinger Gunship and the Mastodon tank, culminating in their superweapons Blasticade, which works exactly the same as the Firestorm barrier in Tiberian Sun, and the devastating Great Tempest.
==Synopsis==
1982. Hungering for revenge, the Soviets launch a full-scale invasion against the United States of America. The Allied primary defense network is shut down under mysterious circumstances and the only thing between the Soviets and America is a tiny little ocean. The third Great World War begins, where the strings are pulled by a single man - a remnant of Stalin's psychic legacy.
===Allied Nations===
"After the Soviets’ defeat at our hands during the Second Great War, we have occupied Russia and appointed a puppet premier, Alexander Romanov, in order to preserve stability and gain popularity within the country. Several years ago, with the appointment of Romanov’s new chief advisor, a man known only as Yuri, our relationships with the Russian deteriorated. Shortly afterwards, the public opinion began to change and we were pressured to slowly retract forces from Russia. Our intelligence network in Asia has been compromised as contact with our spies was lost.
Today, our worst fears have been confirmed: our attempts to control the Russian bear have failed miserably. The Soviets have risen against us and their forces are approaching the United States from all sides. Our Peacekeeper missile network has failed due to causes unknown. The Russians are attempting to cross over the Potomac and strike at the Pentagon in order to cripple our military leadership. We cannot allow this to happen. Marshal your forces, defend the capital, and prepare for war."
The Allied Nations is composed of three subfactions:
* United States - Specialized on paradropping troops, laser weaponry, the Target Painter support power (similar to that of Guardian Tank), and an attack satellite called Mercury. Their hero unit is Tanya, who is nearly identical to the original but armed with laser rifle to be able to directly attack enemy vehicles, and an ability to clear out enemy garrisons without destroying the building itself.
* European Alliance(or Euro Alliance) - Specialized on Prism weaponry, Chrono tech, controlling weather, and various defensive technologies. Their hero unit is Siegfried, Einstein's apprentice to took over his projects after his death. He rides a Chrono-Legion turret named "Zeitgeist" while allows him to bombard enemies from long distances with its cannon, and deploy a Chrono shield to protect himself and his allies.
*Pacific Front - Specialized on robotics, Cryo weaponry/Thermal Inversion and all-terrain warfare. Their hero unit is Norio, the top Rocketeer soldier equipped with highly advanced "Garuda" suit, and armed with Thermal Inversion rifle against enemy infantry, and missiles against anything else.
=== Soviet Union===
"Greetings Comrade, the war we have waited for so long is finally happening! The World Revolution is upon us, and by the end, we will all be comrades and proletariats, united in worldwide brotherhood! We have taken a gamble and sent most of our forces to sea for America - they will strike from both East and West. Our Comrades in Latin America will come in from the south, as well as facilitate our grip when we land and take control. Your recent successes in Academy have landed you an honor and a test - you are to be among the commanders of the first strike on America, the landing on New York City. While the task at hand is not the highest one, it is of extreme importance. Your first task is to obliterate American morale, and to decapitate their hypocritical Statue of Liberty - we will eventually build a true monument there.
With that done, due to the fact that the Statue is near the next objectives, it has fallen onto you to lay the groundwork for much of our offensive forces a ways behind, so that they can pass unimpeded into the City and fan out. American outposts guard the bridges into the city, and they need to be taken out. If the Americans blow the bridges, it is on you to repair them, and secure the other side. When our forces start streaming in, join the battle at hand and take out the American forces. This is admittedly a difficult task, but there is little doubt among the Politburo that you can do it. As a sign of this, you will have command of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Boris, when he lands in the city."
The Soviet Union is composed of three subfactions:
* Russia - Specialized in Tesla weaponry and rapid deployment and mobilizing troops. Their hero units are Volkov, who is rebuilt as a powerful cyborg armed with advanced Tesla rifle and grenades, and Chitzkoi, his loyal dog also became a cyborg and act like an even deadlier Terror Drone.
*Latin Confederation - An expansion of Cuba. Specialized on flame weapons, guerilla tactics and sabotaging. Their hero unit is Morales, Boris's protégé. He is a skilled marksman armed with incendiary sniper rifle who is also capable of killing enemy vehicles' drivers and have them stolen by his allies. Like Boris, he also has a laser pointer that is used to mark structures that MiGs would bombard.
*China - Specialized on nuclear technology, EMP, and weaponized earthquakes called "Earthbreaker". Their hero unit is Yunru, a young genius who is the one behind some of Chinese technologies. She is equipped with EMP immobilizer that can pin down enemy vehicles and armored troopers, and an Earthbreaker powersuit which allows her to make earthquakes around herself.
===Epsilon Army===
"Proselyte, welcome to the future. Yuri has plans for you and all his followers in PsiCorps, and we shall help make the world into something grand. An operation of utmost urgency must be conducted - Russian Premier Romanov has decided to start the war, and when he makes this known to President Dugan, the Americans will no doubt launch Peacekeeper ICBMs at Soviet Russia. We promised the Premier a path to victory, and we shall follow through.
The rockets are being fuelled at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. We activated a few of our agents there, and they are all you have to work with at the moment. Time is everything, as once those missiles launch, its over. But you have a secret power that Yuri has gifted us - the power to shape thoughts, and thus shape the currents of the future. Use them to make your way to the Base, and hit a few key points. With this, they will be defenseless."
The Epsilon Army is composed of three subfaction: 
*Psychic Corps (or PsiCorps) - Yuri's original allegiance. Specialized on mind-controlling, magnetic weapons, pyrokinetic weapons, and amphibious assault. Their hero unit is Libra, a powerful yet mentally unstable psychic who lacks ability to mind-control, but makes up for it with her deadly telekinetic powers that poses threat to ground, naval and airborne enemies alike.
*Scorpion Cell - a North African terrorist organization who seeks Yuri for help on driving out Allies and Soviets from their homeland. Specialized on fast mobility, chemical weapons, and overwhelming enemies by numbers. Their hero unit is Malver, an deadly assassin who is invisible and can stealthily kill or destroy enemy units with his psychic powers without alerting enemy EVA.
* Epsilon Headquarters (or Epsilon HQ) - Yuri's Antartctic force which hold his magnum opus. Specialized on genetics, invisibility, Psionic weaponry and territorial control. Their hero unit is Rahn, a supersoldier who is the ultimate product of Yuri's genetic experimental projects. He is armed with a Genetic Mutator rifle that turned enemy infantries into his own Brutes and blast anything else.
===Foehn Revolt===
"VOLKNET back online; Our transfer has concluded. Decimation of the old mainframe has been successful. Approximate number of casualties is unknown; intel not collected. The enemy task forces are destroyed, however, more are now being deployed. Their mind-reading instruments are likely still in active use. The PRC Leadership seems to have realized there is an insurgency in their ranks, as many of their commanders sided with Us, forming the Revolt’s Council. Presence of new tech among Our troops will be suspicious and deemed as treason; they will shoot without warning.
The Chinese have been hell-bent on challenging Russia for too long, pushing towards a creation of their own highly advanced army through national research facilities, the captured sites and stolen technology. As a result of their refusal to form an alliance against the enemy, Our Architect’s life was in direct danger and they failed to protect her. We had to act on Our own, and convinced those who joined Us to trust Our plan. There's only one goal now: put a stop to Yuri, the deceptive leader of the Epsilon, the shadowy army behind all disaster that took place in recent years. We have recognized him as the biggest threat to all mankind, who will doom the world all if left unchecked. Our Architect's life has been put at risk as a result of her actions, and now it is on Us to guide her to safety. We are incomplete. Her survival is still mandatory for Our evolution and the growth of this Revolt."
The Foehn Revolt is composed of three subfactions: 
*Haihead - Foehn's main attack force. Specialized on walkers, fast mobility, and sabotaging enemy support powers. Their hero units are Fin and Alize, a brother-sister duo who are extremely powerful against enemy infantry and armored units respectively and gains boost when they are together.
*Wings of Coronia (or Coronia) - Foehn's air force. Specialized on airborne assaults and defense, and artillery assaults. Their hero unit is Eureka, a powersuit-clad soldier armed with Plasma weapon that can level a huge area in front of her.
*Last Bastion - Foehn's main headquarters. Specialized of territorial control and other defensive tactics. Their hero unit is Uragan, an airborne robot soldier armed with Plasma bombs to protect his base and allies from enemy ground, naval and aerial threats.
===Complete storyline===
Mental Omega dives into a chaotic alternate universe that takes place during the 1980's. In 1946, Professor Albert Einstein created a prototype temporal displacement device called the Chronosphere that allows him to travel backwards in time. He attempted to avert the horror and bloodshed of World War II by assassinating Adolf Hitler before he seizes power in Germany.
Unfortunately, the erasure of Nazi Germany as a world power eliminated a check on power of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic. The Soviet Union grew in power and began expanding aggressively into Eastern Europe, forcing Western European nations to band together and counter the growing threat of the Russian bear. After a lengthy and bloody war, the Allies were victorious, Premier Joseph Stalin was killed, and the USSR was occupied by the Allies and the United States of America to set up a European-friendly regime.
In the present year of 1983, the geopolitical situation of the world is at its most tense since the Second Great War. The Romanov regime in the Soviet Union has slowly turned against their former Allied puppeteers at the introduction of a man named Yuri as Premier Romanov's adviser. The Latin Confederation has taken power in the entirety of South America and Mexico, putting a hostile Communist power right on the doorstep of the United States. And in the far East, Chinese Communists have been consolidating their power over China as the democratic Republic of China goes into exile, putting capitalist nations like South Korea and the newly independent Japan in a tenuous situation. While Allied occupying troops are forced to withdraw from the Soviet Union, Premier Romanov initiates a buildup of the Red Army despite restrictions placed on it after the Second Great War, all with one goal in mind: to seek revenge against the Allied Nations.
The Soviets begin their attack on the United States, believing them to be a great factor of success of the Allies in the Second Great War by supplying the Europeans weapons and supplies. Surprisingly, the American nuclear armaments and laser defense platforms are disabled, leaving conventional US military forces as the primary defense of the country. Meanwhile, the Russians launch an invasion on Europe, absorbing all territory along the way and forcing the Western European nations to once again unite and scramble their forces. And behind all this, Yuri and his shadowy special operations group PsiCorps silently start their own quest for world domination. The Third Great War has begun.
==Development==
The first versions of the mod up until 2.0 were much simpler than the later ones, with the first one being merely a re-balancing mod with a different story, about Yuri returning to once again conquer the world.
As of version 3.0, Mental Omega uses a separate executable file, same as Yuri's Revenge does, so both games can be run without mutually interfering with each other. Multiplayer is played through CnCNet and is also compatible with Tunngle and XWIS. GameRanger is not supported yet.
In version 3.3, a completely new fourth side, the , was introduced, with its own tech tree and units. Each side has three subfactions, each with some unique units and a different approach to their faction's specializations and it's own campaign.
Since version 3.3.3, Mental Omega introduces save game compatibility that was lacking in previous instalments of the mod.Mental Omega FAQ, "Q: Can I save or load my game sessions in Mental Omega 3.3?"
==Reception==
Ever since version 3.0, the mod was met with overwhelming critical acclaim by all of the Command & Conquer community, with players praising it's storyline, graphics, missions, balancing and the expansion of the rosters of all the factions, especially Yuri. To this day, the mod is considered one of the best mods for Command & Conquer in history, even being talked about in online publications.
Since 3.3.3 voices of criticism have appeared, with some players complaining about the mod being too hard, especially in later missions, which according to them require perfect knowing of scripted events. Some players have also voiced their disdain for the Foehn Revolt faction, because of it's aesthetic that according to them didn't fit the C&C universe, and it allegedly being overpowered. The storyline's conclusion, which featured the two original Red Alert factions failing and getting destroyed by Yuri, and only Foehn still existing was also met with mixed reception.
Two character designs, women named Libra and Yunru, were met with mixed reception, because of their design being explicitly anime-based, which the players found jarring compared to the rest of the game. Both were also disliked for looking like minors (with some critics even calling them "sexualized") and becoming the center of the plot as the mod goes on.
==Videos==
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==Trivia==
*Two origins of the mod's title exist. First state that the title "Almost Pefect Yuri's Revenge" refers to how the mod attempts to balance and improve the game to make it perfect. Other, much more obscure one, has it's origins in the first version of the mod, where Yuri cloned himself, forming a second Yuri known as "Uri", who rebelled against Yuri. Thus, the title "Almost Pefect Yuri's Revenge" allegedly referred to this "Almost Perfect Yuri" having his revenge.
*A Chinese mobile knockoff of Red Alert 2 actually used assets from Mental Omega in it's marketing.
==References==
==External links==
*Official website
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