Introduction
The Command & Conquer series has seen its ups and downs over the years, but mostly downs. Westwood ground this respectable series into the earth in an attempt to make cash off of the label, not the game. Fortunately, Red Alert was one of the better spin-offs of the C&C universe, which lead to the birth of Red Alert 2. Red Alert 2 picks up on the trend of the original and carries it further than the first game.

Gameplay
The game uses the traditional view of 2-Dimensional RTS games of the past and it works just fine. The special effects (explosions, gun fire) look great and the units all have a unique look to them. The Soviets have grungy effect on everything, while the Allied forces are clean and polished. Each unit also has their own accented voice when you command them into battle, whether it be a flaky-sounding Russian coolly telling you it will be “shocking” as they fired bolts of deadly electricity into an enemy or the Navy SEAL yelling “Get it on!” The background music gives a nice tempo and pace to the game as your defensive men scream as they melt under the barrel of a radiation rifle. It’s safe to say Red Alert 2 does not fail in the senses department.

Story
RA2 expands upon the old game but still keeps the things that were good about the first. The bizarre storyline and cheesy B-movie acting in live-action cut scenes are still there, although you may have mixed feelings about Einstein inventing a time machine, a weather device and several other strange machines. The main focus is still on the Soviets and United States, but there is the addition of Allied (France, Britain, Germany, Korea) and Soviet-aligned (Cuba, Lebanon, Iraq) countries, all with one unique unit. For example, France can build gigantic defensive turrets that blow almost anything away, while Iraq has “Devastator” units that have radioactive rifles. In addition to these “smaller” factions, each side (Allied and Soviet) benefits from largely different units and buildings, all balancing out nicely. The campaigns (one for Allied and one for Soviet) consist of varied scenarios (some involving small strike teams, others involving a Build & Destroy scenario, and more yet involving a timed mission) which help to break it up. In addition to this, you are rewarded by a cheesy, but humorous cut scenes of B-movie actors attempting to imitate a Russian or Southern accent. One of the biggest pet peeves occurs during missions in which you are ordered to destroy every single enemy unit on a sprawling city map. Due to poor mini-map coloring on your HUD (heads-up display) and other factors, you may be left searching for hours for one small conscript unit hiding in a tiny building. Needless to say, it’s a good thing Westwood implemented cheat codes.

Graphics
What would a RTS be without multiplayer? Westwood offers free servers for gamers to duke it out as their favorite nation. Everything is done in the game itself, so while you may need to download a patch or two to keep up with the other players, no extra downloading (clients, software) is needed. There are many, many different modes of multiplayer and even one which allows you to coop with another player on the campaigns. Either way, both the single player and multiplayer are simply rich with options and gameplay that you will likely never get bored.