Command & Conquer: Red Alert

	This article is written from a real world point of horizon .

• North America

• Europe

Command & Conquer:
Red Alert

Developer

Westwood Studios

Publisher

• Virgin Interactive (1996-1998)
• Electronic Arts (1998-present)

Designer(s)

• Adam Isgreen
• Michael Lightner
• Erik Yeo

Composer(s)

Frank Klepacki

Series

Red Alert universe

Latest version

• 1.08 (retail)
• 3.03 (1999 beta patch)

Release date

DOS/Windows :

• NA22 November 1996

PlayStation:

• NA25 October 1996
• DE1 November 1996

PlayStation 3/PSP:

• EU27 March 2008
• NL28 August 2008
• NA12 November 2009
• HR/SI9 September 2010

Genre

Real-time strategy

Modes

Singleplayer, multiplayer

Ratings

• ELSPA: 15+
• ESRB: T
• OFLCA: MA15+

Platforms

[ 2 ]

DOS, Windows, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable

System requirements

DOS or Windows 95/98, 75 MHz Pentium processor, 8 MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM, 1 MB video card

Inputs

• Keyboard, mouse (PC)
• Gamepad (PS1/PS3)

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy computer game of the Command & Conquer franchise, produced by Westwood Studios and released by Virgin Interactive in 1996. The second major game to bear the C&C title, Red Alert was primitively meant to be the prequel to the original Command & Conquer of 1995, [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] and takes plaza in the early history of the alternate universe of Command & Conquer when Allied Forces battle an aggressive Soviet Union for control over the european mainland. It was initially available for personal computer ( MS-DOS & Windows 95 versions included in one package ), and was subsequently ported to PlayStation. The PlayStation interpretation was besides re-released as a download on the PlayStation Network for PSP and PS3. [ 2 ] On 31 August 2008, Electronic Arts formally rendered Command & Conquer: Red Alert freeware. [ 7 ] Although its expansion packs, Counterstrike and The Aftermath, both released in 1997, did not get an official freeware unblock, they are de facto considered absolve to distribute a well, as none of the community-hosted mirrors of the expansion magnetic disk or repacks have been taken down since 2008. On 14 November 2018, it was announced that Command & Conquer: Red Alert would be remastered by Petroglyph Games and Lemon Sky Studios under supervision of Electronic Arts, along with the Counterstrike and The Aftermath expansion packs. [ 8 ] On the Command & Conquer Flickroom, the title “Red Alert 1” is used to differentiate objects in this game from the ones in the rest of the series for practical reasons.

Gameplay

Red Alert was praised for its exploiter interface, which claimed to be more break than the competing games of its clock. Players could queue commands, create unit groups that could be selected by a phone number key, and control numerous units at a clock time. The game was known to be easy to control, elementary to learn and responsive to users ‘ commands. It besides featured two factions that had differing styles of play. Red Alert is besides hailed as one of the first gear games to feature competitive on-line play. The unmarried player campaign besides received high praise for its detail report line and missions, which often required the player to defeat the enemy with diverse sets of circumstances before continuing. The single player crusade was besides complemented by live natural process cinematic sequences that are a have of all Command & Conquer RTS games since the original, except for Generals .

Game reconciliation

The game poise between the forces of the Allied and soviet armies differed from other games at its clock time. Like the ‘rock-paper-scissors ‘ reconciliation of modern games, Red Alert required each player to use their side ‘s strengths in order to compensate for their weaknesses. This stand in contrast to games such as Total Annihilation or WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness, in which both sides had units with alike abilities and relied rather on outnumbering or possessing a better balanced violence than their adversary. Players acquire credits to purchase structures and equipment by mining for ores and minerals ( as the valuable, yet fickle Tiberium in the regular C&C series has not however been discovered in this timeline ). rare jewel beget more credits and are faster to mine, but unlike ores, do not regenerate within the map. Players can gain more credits and increase their buying baron by building more ore refineries and ore trucks. The Soviets ‘ vehicles tend to be more durable and herculean than allied vehicles, but are frequently slower moving and more expensive. The Soviets besides have superior defensive capabilities against both grind attacks ( Tesla handbuild ) and vent attacks ( Surface to Air Missiles ), but are at a disadvantage on the ocean. The only offensive naval unit the Soviets have is the submarine, which can not attack land-based targets or aircraft, so it is useless unless the opposition builds any sea units, and while it is normally inconspicuous except when surfacing to attack, it can be detected by destroyers and gunboats. When heavily damaged, it is not able to submerge. The soviet secret weapon is the Iron curtain, a device that renders a selected unit invulnerable to attacks for a short-circuit period of clock time. In multiplayer and brush modes, they have access to two of the Allied side ‘s infantry : the Rocket Soldier and Tanya Adams, a commando adequate to of easily killing infantry and destroying structures. They besides have a wide excerpt of air units for assault ( MiG-27, Yak-7 and Mi-24 Hind ) and map revelation through descry planes, and could deploy infantry by air through paratroops or by the Chinook transportation helicopter ( the latter merely stage in multiplayer ). The soviet “ cooler race ” was a popular strategy on-line, involving building many heavy tanks and overwhelming the opposition with bluff numbers. The Allies ‘ forces are generally cheaper, faster to build and more agile. Their minelayers can destroy enemy armour and their infantry can survive longer with good use of their medical officer unit. They are at a disadvantage on state, as the Allies ‘ strongest cooler ( the Medium Tank ) is however weaker than the Soviets ‘ starting tank car ( the Heavy tank ) and has the same speed. The Allies have only one publicize unit ( AH-64D Apache Longbow ) compared to three soviet units and their defences against a footing assail are much weaker. On the sea, the Allies posse an advantage in naval baron thanks to the Cruiser, which has the longest-ranged and most herculean surface-to-surface attack in the game, and the destroyer, which is capable of adeptly taking on any type of whole type in the game – land, ocean or air. The Allies ‘ hidden weapon is the Chronosphere, which temporarily relocates a selected unit to another contribution of the map. They besides possess several other tools, such as stealing enemy resources, hiding their own units and structures, or revealing the game map with satellite engineering. In on-line dally and computer skirmish, Allied forces have access to the nuclear projectile silo, an single in the Soviets ‘ single-player mode .

edwin

EdWin ( or EDDOS for the MS-DOS version ) is the official map editor distributed with Red Alert 1. Since it was only intended for the initiation of multiplayer maps, it only allows editing the terrain and adding multiplayer spawn points on it. A more comprehensive map editor that allows adding and editing units, buildings and map script is the unofficial C & C-RAED .

Development timeline

• 12 December 1995 – Westwood Studios started creating a real-time strategy game set in the Second World War. The name is still unknown.
• 29 January 1996 – The newly named Command & Conquer: Red Alert begins experimental development on Windows 95.
• 11 February 1996 – Story drafts completed, great new units and buildings announced.
• 1 March 1996 – Development for DOS and Windows 95 accelerates. 80% of the engine and 25% of the artwork and graphics are done.
• 15 March 1996 – Multiplayer capacity increased from 4 to 6.
• 17 May 1996 – Multiplayer capacity increased from 6 to 8.
• 27 June 1996 – Westwood Studios focuses development on creating a multiplayer environment on the Internet.
• 1 September 1996 – Testing of DOS and Windows 95 versions started. Tester count increased from 10 to 60.
• 5 September 1996 – Westwood Studios announces the game to be released in 45 days.
• 4 November 1996 – PC Gamer releases “secret” information and never before seen images from the game.
• 9 November 1996 – First CDs created. Bug hunting becomes a priority.
• 12 November 1996 – The game malfunctions on some systems.
• 14 November 1996 – First master discs manufactured. Final testing phase started.
• 17 November 1996 (7:00 AM PDT) – Master discs sent for copying, ending the development cycle of the game.
• 22 November 1996 – Game released in North America.

[ 9 ] On 9 October 2019, fans have published beta build up 0.09c of the game. It is presently unknown at which stage the development was in when this version was built. [ 10 ]

Setting and story

Command & Conquer: Red Alert takes position during an unspecified period in the 1950s of a parallel population, which was unwittingly created by Albert Einstein in a fail try to prevent the horrors of World War II. Starting off in 1946, at the Trinity web site in New Mexico, the hatchway to Red Alert shows Albert Einstein as he is preparing to travel backwards through distance and meter. After his experimental “ Chronosphere ” device is activated, he finds himself in Landsberg, Germany, in the class 1924, where he meets a young Adolf Hitler merely after the latter ‘s let go of from Landsberg Prison. Following a brief conversation between the two, Einstein shakes Hitler ‘s hired hand, with this somehow eliminating the man ‘s universe from time and returning Einstein to his point of origin. With the terror of Nazi Germany having been successfully removed from history, the Soviet Union began to grow increasingly powerful under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Had Adolf Hitler arise to power, Nazi Germany would have emerged as a push standing in the direction of Stalin ‘s own ambitions of seduction. rather, left unweakened, the USSR proceeds by seizing lands from China and then begins invading Eastern Europe, in order to achieve Joseph Stalin ‘s vision of a Soviet Union stretching across the entire eurasian landmass. In reception, the nations of Europe shape into the Alliance, and start a gloomy and desperate guerrilla war against the invading soviet army. Over the course of the game ‘s fib, the Allies and Soviets fight out a devastating conflict for command over the european mainland, in what has become an surrogate World War II .

Allied ending

Following the destruction of the Soviet stronghold, an Allied infantry squad discovers Stalin buried alive in the debris. As they begin to remove the debris from the fallen drawing card, General Stavros stops them. He “ convinces ” them that they ‘saw nothing ‘ before they leave. Stavros then stuffs a handkerchief down Stalin ‘s mouth before covering his head with a bombastic stone and walking away. The original Red Alert can be seen as the genesis of both ‘Red Alert ‘ and ‘Tiberium Universe ‘ timelines. Allied victory is confirmed to be the canonic ending and it leads towards the events in Tiberian Dawn and the re-emergence of the Brotherhood of Nod in 1995. alternatively, it can lead to the events of Red Alert 2 and Red Alert 3, though this should be accepted as so far another alternative timeline .

soviet ending

As the Soviets celebrate their victory in the newly-captured Buckingham Palace, Stalin commends the Commander for a job well done while drinking a cup of tea, merely to suddenly realize the tea has been poisoned by Nadia. A disgruntled Nadia proceeds to gun him down as the poison overcomes his body. Following Stalin ‘s end, Nadia tells the Commander that the Soviet Union is now under the rule of the Brotherhood of Nod, but is then betrayed and shot in the back by Kane, who reveals himself to be the true originator. This is the non-canonical ending to the Red Alert series .

Characters

Allies

• Grand Marshal Günther von Esling, German Army officer, Commander-in-Chief of European forces, and apparent leader of the military governing Europe. Played by Arthur Roberts.
• General Nikos Stavros, Greek officer, Second-in-Command to General von Esling. Played by Barry Kramer.
• Tanya Adams, a special ops. Commando. Played by Lynne Litteer.
• Professor Albert Einstein, German physicist. Played by John Milford.

soviet

connection to the Tiberium universe

Westwood Studios designed Command & Conquer: Red Alert to be the prequel of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] and by proxy of the Tiberian series as a whole. During the course of the Soviet ‘s crusade, Kane is seen to make infrequent appearances as a mysterious counselor to Joseph Stalin, and the story implies that he has in fact been the instigator of the global war between the USSR and the Allied nations in order to further the long-run goals of the Brotherhood of Nod. [ 11 ] indeed, Nadia, Stalin ‘s schoolmarm and obviously a close member of the Brotherhood herself vitamin a early as the 1950s, instructs the actor to “ keep the peace ” until Nod would “ tire of the USSR in the early on 1990s ” upon the crusade ‘s successful stopping point. [ 12 ] Kane however shoots her without warning, and proclaims to the player that he “ [is] the future ”. [ 13 ] furthermore, during the fifth cutscene of the Allied campaign, a news program announcer report on the Allies ‘ loss of Greece is on the spur of the moment listen stating that the United Nations are in the process of bringing about a alone military undertaking force aimed at preventing future globalized conflicts. [ 14 ] This tax violence is heavy implied to have been “ Special Operations Group Echo: Black Ops 9 “ —the screen and international peace enforcing unit of the United Nations and the precursor of the Global Defense Initiative, [ 15 ] one of the two main and iconic factions of the Tiberian series alongside the Brotherhood of Nod .
A much debated theory intended to resolve the apparent timeline error which came to exist between Command & Conquer and Red Alert 2 is to consider Red Alert as the genesis of two parallel storylines. If the Soviet campaign were to be completed in Red Alert, the USSR would emerge as the dominant allele eurasian might and Kane and the Brotherhood of Nod would subsequently take dominance of this new conglomerate. conversely, if the Allied political campaign were to be completed, the Allies would emerge victorious and the timeline would alternatively lead into the events of Red Alert 2 ( though Red Alert 2 completely ignores anything that could connect it to the Tiberium timeline ). According to early C&C designer Adam Isgreen, however, Tiberian Dawn in fact follows on the conclusion of Red Alert ‘s Allies political campaign, [ 16 ] while Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge take rate in a second parallel universe, created by a fresh attempt to alter history in “ Incursion “, [ 17 ] the working deed of Westwood Studios ‘ cancel version of Command & Conquer 3. [ 18 ] Isgreen besides implied that Nikola Tesla may have been responsible for unwittingly having attracted the care of the Scrin through his experiments, and thus for the arrival of Tiberium on Earth. [ 19 ] An interchange manner of connecting the two universes was through one of the drafts of the Renegade 2 storyline, but the two games were cancelled in 2003. When the Command & Conquer: The First Decade compilation backpack was released in February 2006, Electronic Arts adopted the policy of considering the C&C franchise to consist of three clear-cut universes, with this decision obviously violating the storyline connections between Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn established by Westwood Studios. With the free of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars in March 2007 however, Electronic Arts published a document wherein an explicit reference to Kane ‘s appearance in Red Alert is made—revealing that GDI ‘s “ InOps “ news division is in the possession of photos of Kane which were taken by CIA operatives during the 1950s era of Red Alert. [ 20 ]

Command & Conquer Flickroom policy

due to several references by Westwood, EA and Red Alert itself, this wiki regards the Tiberium and Red Alert universes as separate, but with identical timelines and events until the discrepancy some fourth dimension after Red Alert 1. therefore, the Red Alert 1 Allied campaign is considered canonic in both universes .

Compatibility issues

Command & Conquer: Red Alert can be directly installed on Windows XP, Vista and 7. however, upon the first gear initiation attempt the installer notifies that “ Red Alert can only be installed on Windows 95 “ if an initiation is attempted on either of the two operating systems. It is potential to install the game with the aid of the Red Alert Manager, a program that manages the installation, program updates and Vista compatibility in one easy installation. The Red Alert Terrain Editor besides has compatibility issues on newer operate systems. In holy order to successfully run this program under Windows XP, Vista or 7, the plan ‘s feasible file needs to be configured to run under Windows 95 or Windows 98 compatibility mode. This will allow the program to operate smoothly under the Windows Vista OS. One surely and easy direction to install the game is by downloading one of the Red Alert packages linked in the Freeware spill section of this article. It however, besides remains possible to manually install the game and its expansion packs, by running Red Alert ‘s executables in Windows 95/98 compatibility modality, and by replacing the thipx32.dll charge which the game installs within its independent directory with an translation. On the other pass, EA Games had released Command & Conquer: The First Decade on two dual-layer DVDs which consists of all of the C & C games up to and including Generals and its expansion, Zero Hour. It is, however, possible to install the DOS version of the game by setting the apparatus in Windows 95 compatibility mood and then running it under a ms-dos environment. The TFD adaptation of Red Alert does not include the Counterstrike and Aftermath soundtrack additions.

Red Alert and its expansions were besides separate of Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection, a digital download compilation of all Command & Conquer games developed by 2010 ( excluding Sole Survivor ). All versions of Red Alert, a well as the show, are rated amber in Wine [ 21 ] and are marked as “ support ” in DOSBox. [ 22 ] initiation instructions for Linux and facility instructions for Mac can be found on the PortableRA web site .

Internet gameplay

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is recognized as many gamers ‘ first real time strategy game ever played on-line. Westwood Chat was supported up until 1996, when Mplayer.com was the dominant Multiplayer bet on platform. Mplayer hosted hundreds of thousands of on-line gamers until 2001 when Gamespy purchased the player. Red Alert online gameplay was supported by many different multiplayer platforms such as Kali, Westwood, GameSpy, TEN, Mplayer and Heat. A few years ago the game was by and large played on Tunngle, Kali, Westwood Chat ( now hosted by XWIS ), CGA ( China merely ). today, CnCNet is the choose way to play on-line .

soundtrack

The game ‘s master grade was composed by Frank Klepacki and was voted the best video game soundtrack of 1996 by PC Gamer and Gameslice magazines. [ 23 ]

Freeware release

To mark the 13th anniversary of Command and Conquer and the announcement of Red Alert 3, EA has released Command and Conquer: Red Alert as freeware in 2008. The master releases are presently down, but mirrors exist here. alternative Red Alert 1 game packages can be downloaded from redalert1.com FunkyFr3sh ‘s web site and the PortableRA web site. These easy to use installer packages come with the game plus expansions, in full patched along with some feature of speech additions and bugfixes, CnC-DDraw to modernize the game ‘s rendering system, CnCNet ( the preferred way to play on-line ), a simple launcher, a shape tool and a few minor optional addons ( such as The Lost Files movies and extra/unreleased music ) .

expansion packs

There were two expansion packs released for Red Alert : Counterstrike and The Aftermath, both released in 1997. A cited difficulty with the add-ons is that both of them share a single list in the game menu, with Counterstrike ‘s missions excluded unless its disk is in use prior to opening the menu. This issue is fixed with the beta mend v3.03, which separates the single “ New Missions ” number into two lists, one for each expansion .

Retaliation ( 1998 )

On August 28, 1998, Westwood Studios released Red Alert Retaliation for the PlayStation, a compilation of the two personal computer expansion packs, including the hidden Ant Missions. It is about identical to the PS port of the master Red Alert, except it introduced some new units like Tesla Tank, Shock Trooper, Chrono Tank and Mechanic, and included 105 multiplayer maps. Gameplay besides included an in-game sidebar code called Soylent Green Mode. In this manner all ore fields turn to people/civilians, and ore trucks harvest them with ghastly reasoned effects. Retaliation includes the music tracks that were featured in Counterstrike, Aftermath and Sole Survivor. It besides included 19 exclusive brief FMV ( full-motion television ) clips that were not in any of the personal computer expansion packs, which had none ; all of them are shown when the musician either starts to play through the operational theater from the beginning or when all the missions of the dramaturgy are accomplished ; in other cases, the brief text is shown. The FMVs had a general ( for both sides ) telling the musician the mission objectives. The Allied General was general Carville who would late appear in Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge ; the Soviet General, Topolov, makes no further appearances in the Red Alert series. The Retaliation video recording are available for the personal computer Red Alert in the Nyerguds ‘ change Red Alert: The Lost Files. This change adds the Retaliation video to the Counterstrike and Aftermath missions. It requires Red Alert patch v3.03 or Red Alert temporary hookup v3.03 for TFD ( for the Red Alert adaptation of the C&C The First Decade box ). Retaliation was released as a download for PSP and PS3 from the PlayStation Network in Europe on December 4, 2008. [ 24 ]

Open informant implementations

• OpenRA is an actively developed modern cross-platform reimplementation of the engine that runs Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn and Dune 2000 as mods. The interface is updated and the gameplay altered for balanced multiplayer matches. Some graphics are updated and new units are added. It is easy to create own mods.
• A similar project in very early stages of development is Red Horizon, which tries to create tools and a game engine for legacy 2D Westwood RTS in Java.
• There is a fan project called FreeRA which aims to be a clone that runs only on Linux, with development stalled in 2008.
• OpenRedAlert was a project based on FreeRA which stopped development in 2010.
• RedAlert++ formerly known as OpenRedAlert though not being related, later renamed to ChronoShift also ceased development.
• Vanilla Conquer, based on Electronic Arts’ partial Open Source release of the original source code, aims to provide a cross-platform executable replacement and provide bug fixes.

triviality

• According to Adam Isgreen during a 2019 interview for XboxEra, when he initially came to Westwood Studios, the project was internally known as C&C: World War I and was intended to be based upon the real-world WWI, but he steered the game to have influences by conspiracy theories around World War II.
• Red Alert was among the first computer games to have been banned in mainland China. Prior to its release, it was reported to the Chinese government as an attempt to sell a game in which players can fight against a communist army. Since then, the Red Alert sub-series of the Command & Conquer games could not be legally sold in mainland China (until the dubious release of Red Alert Online by Tencent in the late 2010s), but with Tiberium sub-series titles like Tiberian Sun having no legal issues. Despite this, Red Alert games were popular among Chinese gamers who resorted to piracy to play it.

Names in different markets

• France: Command & Conquer: Alerte Rouge
• Germany (PC): Command & Conquer: Teil 2 – Alarmstufe Rot
• Germany (PS1): Command & Conquer: Alarmstufe Rot

drift

• Promo

Pre-release screenshots

• Retouched images with enhance explosions, grey ships and a Tiberian Dawn Communications center .
• A blend of engineering shown on an Allied sidebar, and blue gems as ore. This is the only known full quality screenshot with RA1 icons without text on them .
• Mammoth tanks on both sides, grey ships and brown ore
• Tiberian Dawn Commando and attack dogs for the Allies
• RA DOS with C & C1 icons on the sidebar and the NATO logo rather of the Allied one

Videos

Trailer as seen on the Westwood Studios FTP server “ Dies Irae ” trailer Alternate preview with pre-rendered cutscenes, one featuring a crash NATO tank MTV trailer 1 MTV dawdler 2 Joe Kucan showcasing the filming of the game ‘s cutscenes

E3 1996 footage

References