Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Counterstrike

Expansion

Command & Conquer: Red Alert: Counterstrike is the first of two expansions for Command & Conquer: Red Alert, released in 1997 with some new missions for both the Allies and the Soviets. It was the first expansion pack to bring new units, however they were campaign only. Arguably, the main feature of this expansion was the four secret Ant missions complete with a new "faction" of enemies, the Giant Ants.

Released: 3 April 1997
Platforms: Windows MS-DOS
Genres: Real-time strategy Strategy
Developers: Westwood Studios
Publishers: Virgin Interactive Entertainment
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Fantasy Science fiction Historical Comedy
Age ratings: ESRB T

About

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy video game in the Command & Conquer franchise, developed and published by Westwood Studios in 1996. The second game to bear the Command & Conquer title, Red Alert is the prequel to the original Command & Conquer of 1995, and takes place in the alternate early history of Command & Conquer when Allied Forces battle an aggressive Soviet Union for control over the European mainland.

It was initially available for PC (MS-DOS and Windows 95 versions included in one package) and was subsequently ported to PlayStation. The PlayStation version was also re-released as a download on the PlayStation Network for PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3, but has since become delisted. On August 31, 2008, Electronic Arts, who acquired Westwood Studios in 1998, rendered Command & Conquer: Red Alert freeware.

Keywords

modern warfare
cold war
time travel
micromanagement
artificial intelligence
explosion
modern military
racial stereotypes
nuclear bomb
hotkey
tech trees

Media

Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Counterstrike screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Like Tiberian Dawn, the game has split routes for most missions. The objective stays the same but the map layout differs. The single-player campaign is complemented by live-action cinematic sequences.

Players can queue commands, create unit groups that can be selected by a number key, and control numerous units at a time.

Story

Command & Conquer: Red Alert takes place in a parallel universe. At the Trinity Site in New Mexico in 1946, Albert Einstein prepares to travel back in time. He activates his experimental time machine and returns to Landsberg, Germany, on December 20, 1924, where he meets Adolf Hitler just after the latter's release from Landsberg Prison. Following a brief conversation between the two, Einstein shakes Hitler's hand, which erases the latter from the timeline.

Hitler's death prevents him from rising to power as leader of Nazi Germany, effectively creating a new timeline. Without Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union (USSR) grows powerful under the rule of Joseph Stalin. The USSR seizes land from China and then invades Eastern Europe, to achieve Joseph Stalin's vision of a Soviet Union stretching across the entire Eurasian landmass. In response, the countries of Western Europe (including an already-rearmed Germany) form the Allied Nations and start a war against the invading Soviet Army. Over the course of the game's story, the Allies and Soviets fight for control over the European mainland in an alternate World War II:

Reception

In the United States, Command & Conquer: Red Alert debuted at No. 2 on PC Data's computer game sales chart for November 1996, behind Microsoft Flight Simulator. Following a third-place finish in December, it became the United States' seventh-best-selling computer game of 1996 as a whole. 5 million.

In 1997, Red Alert held a position in PC Data's top 3 for the first four months of the year, peaking at No. 2 in April. It was ultimately the fourth-biggest seller of 1997's first half in the United States, after finishing at No. 4 in May and June.