Red Alert 2 Developer: Westwood Publisher: Electronic Arts Category: : 3D Real Time Strategy System Req: PII 300Mhz or better, 32Mb Ram, Win9x/2k, Cd-rom drive Might look like: Red Alert, C&C: Tiberian Sun Date posted: 28 December 2000 Written By: Bert - This game was reviewed on PII 350, 128 Mb RAM, Hercules 3D Prophet DDR DVI, 32 Mb RAM, Soundblaster 128, Win2k Pro - We also test other games on "PlayDevil.com Game Machine" First Scouting I still remember the first Red Alert, several years ago. RA was the successor upon Command & Conquer, the first real time strategy that changed the games scene drastically. The game featured one good story, filled with great balanced units. Now I have the honour the review the latest version of the game. After a clean, but heavy install, I saw the awesome looking intro. The intro prepares you for the big fights. After many years of peace between the 2 most powerful countries, America and Russia, they are fighting again. The Russians have just began a large scale invasion of the USA. Of course knowing a real patriot, the US don't let that happen and fight back. This is showed in streaming full screen FMV (Full Motion Video) and it looks terrific! Rush 'n Attack Wow, so where to start? Lets just say that this game isn't identically like its older brother 'Red Alert'. You can tank rush if you want, but there's no guarantee at all that you'll succeed. First off, there are a whole slew of new units and defenses that can stop the rush. The most obvious and effective method is air power. Air units have come a long way since MiGs and Orcas. A couple air units, the Rocketeers and the Kirov Airships no longer have limited ammunition and will keep firing indefinitely until their target is destroyed or you command them otherwise. Carrier fighters and Harriers, however, still have the ammunition limitation. The Allies benefit more than the Soviets from air power - their Rocketeer troops are quite fast and maneuverable, easily able to follow tank columns. The Soviet force relies on Kirov Airships (essentially big Zeppelins). They're very, very slow - at best moving along with infantry speeds. They make up for this with massive armor and a huge payload. Unless your foe isn't paying attention, there's no way you can jump these boys on his tanks - but his buildings are another matter. A Kirov isn't likely to come back from its mission despite its heavy armor - it's too slow to make it back in one piece, but you can be sure that it can do some awesome damage on suicide runs. The Kirov is even more effective in a combined arms strike.    More rush defense! The other unit directly responsible for the nullification of the tank rush is the Terror Drone. These relatively cheap units are very quick (though not quick enough to catch a Grizzly tank for some reason) and charge down their prey. Their job is to burrow inside an armored unit and destroy it from the inside out - once that's done (usually a 5-20 second job, depending on the unit and game speed), they will attack another unit. They can only be removed by moving the afflicted tank onto a repair bay. They also pause for a fraction of a second after destroying a tank, to acquire another target - a good chance to take one of these buggers out. The tank rush is far from dead, however. Adequate anti-air defenses can keep flying units out of your tank column, and Terror Drones aren't a cheap remedy against tanks. The fast Allied Grizzlies are capable of evading Drones while other units can blast them to bits if the Terror Drone swarm doesn't have overwhelming numbers.    Most popular units Here is a quick low-down on the most popular units that Westwood's Red Alert 2 units. GI: The GI is your basic Allied soldier. He may not look like much, but this bad boy boasts a 2:1 kill ratio against the Soviet Conscripts. You can also deploy this guy to build a sandbag wall around him and set up his machine gun, thereby increasing armor and firepower. Navy Seals: The Navy SEALS, need I say more? These elite troopers are your extremely covert Commando Team. They can shoot, swim, and kick Soviet @$$! Chrono Legionnaire: These guys are the latest in Chrono Technology. There is no need for them to walk, instead they Chronoshift around the map. And although their weapon may not be rapid fire, it can erase units and buildings from time in a matter of seconds. Tanya: She may be a female, but that doesn't stop her from being the toughest soldier in the Allied Army. Sneak her into an enemy base, and watch her blow up buildings with her C4 and pick off the enemy's infantry from a safe distance. Grizzly Battle Tank: Although it's not as strong as the Soviet Version, it is a bit faster. Still, don't send these guys out alone. By themselves they are weak and can't do much damage, but group a bunch of these together, and watch them tear through the enemies base Mirage Tank: The Mirage Tank is different from it's predecessors. It may not be invisible, but it can deploy to take the form of a rock, a tree, or a bush at random. They can even fire from these positions, so you can set them up along the battlefield and take out any enemy patrols that pass through. Prism Tank: The Prism Tank is the most Powerful Tank the Allies have. It uses Prism Tech. to shoot a beam of light at the enemy. When it hits, it will bounce off and hit any near by enemy units, there by destroying, or at least damaging, a few units at once. Aircraft Carrier: By far the most powerful ship in the Allied' Fleet, it's only weapon are the aircraft that are on deck, and if one is shot down it will be replaced, free of charge. Aegis Cruiser: This It's onboard missile rack make this is a great unit to take down enemy aircraft and missiles. When this becomes Elite, it fires a constant stream of missiles, never having to reload. Destroyer: This ship does have a deck gun to take out land units, however it's main function is to use the onboard helicopters to seek out and destroy enemy subs. This is essential in any Allied Navy, because without this the sea would be crawling with enemy subs. Harrier: This This bad boys of the sky are Agile, Mobile, and Lethile. Put a few of these together and they can take out almost anything. Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. 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