Description

 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a 2.5D real-time strategy computer game by Westwood Studios, which was released for Microsoft Windows on September 28, 2000 [1] as the follow up to Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Set in the early 1970s,[2] Red Alert 2 supposedly picks up at the conclusion of the Allied campaign of the first game, but this has been subject to debate.


Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 contains 2 playable factions, Soviets and Allies which both previously appeared in Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Red Alert 2's single player campaign is structured in an alternate-ending mode as opposed to a progressive story mode.


Red Alert 2 proved to be a success with critics, receiving an 8.6 from GameRankings.

Plot


Like all other Command & Conquer real-time strategy games, up until the expansion pack of Tiberian Sun and Firestorm, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 contains two distinct story lines depending on which faction the player wishes to play as. Both of the story lines differ in several distinct ways. However, the Allied story line is canon because of how the expansion pack continues.


After the attempted conquest of Europe, the Soviet Union is in utter ruin. Joseph Stalin is dead, and the Soviet military has been all but destroyed. In order to gain both support and stability in the region, the victorious Allies name Alexander Romanov, a distant relative of Tsar Nicholas II, as the puppet Soviet Premier. Romanov acquieses to the Allies' demands at first, though he builds up the Soviet miliary for "defense purposes" - a cover for an intended invasion of the United States of America.

 Allies


The Allied story line starts off with the American military being caught completely off guard by the Soviet invasion of the United States of America, with Soviet aircraft and paratroopers coming in on both the East Coast and West Coast and with the majority of Soviet forces coming in through Mexico. The USA attempts to retaliate with the use of nuclear missiles, but Yuri, leader of the Soviet Psychic Corps, uses his mind control to manipulate the personnel charged with launching the warheads and leaves them to explode in their silos. Within hours, the United States is over run with Red Army troops. In response, the US President Michael Dugan establishes an emergency response team headed by General Carville and the Commander (the player).


A special forces team led by Special Agent Tanya is sent to New York City and successfully repels the Soviet invasion there. Tanya and the Commander are then sent to Colorado Springs to liberate the Air Force Academy and the air base there. Meanwhile, a Soviet mind control device known as the Psychic Beacon is deployed in Washington, D.C. and manages to control the minds of the President and several key officials in the city, who promptly surrender to the Soviets. However, a counter-strike destroys the Psychic Beacon and frees the city from Soviet mind control. The American government quickly relocates themselves to Canada to escape the threat of Soviet mind control.


After moving their government to Canada, Allied intelligence has discovered that the Soviets have put another psychic device in Chicago, the Psychic Amplifier, which has the power “to do to the country what the Psychic Beacon did to Washington”. The Allies promptly launch an offensive into Soviet-occupied Chicago, freeing the city and destroying the Psychic Amplifier. In retaliation, General Vladimir declares that he no longer has much use for the city of Chicago, and detonates a nuclear device in the city, completely destroying it.


Alarmed by the situation, leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom agree to help the USA if they disarm the Soviet nuclear missile silos in Poland. US President Michael Dugan agrees and sends a special forces team led by Tanya into Poland near its border with Germany. The silos are covertly destroyed, and the Europeans join the war against the Soviets. Bolstered by additional men and equipment, the U.S. military is able to launch an amphibious assault on Soviet-occupied Washington, D.C. and recapture the city. After doing so, Allied intelligence reveals that the Soviets are planning to capture the Hawaiian Islands and the Commander is sent to Pearl Harbor to defend the islands.


The islands are saved, but the United States is still in a precarious position. The Soviets, with the help from their Psychic Beacon, still control St. Louis and all ports in the area, seriously handicapping movement between the western states and the eastern states. The Allies then mount an attack on the city, destroying the Psychic Beacon and liberating the city. The Allies also learn of a Soviet project to replicate the Allied Prism technology at a research base in Tulum, Mexico. A team of Navy SEALs is then para-dropped into the area to destroy the research facility and any Soviet attempts to replicate the Allied prism technology. The mission is successful and the Allied Prism technology is not compromised.


General Carville, in a briefing to the player, says that they are being shipped off to Germany. He says that the Allied leaders are sending troops into the Black Forest to protect Albert Einstein’s laboratory and the Chronosphere and the plans for them in order to bring the war to an end sooner. But during the briefing, a Crazy Ivan, a Soviet unit which deploys explosives, appears and detonates his bombs, killing Carville. In Germany, the Commander repels a Soviet invasion from across the German border and saves Einstein's laboratory and Chronosphere, allowing him to continue his work. After doing this, Einstein personally thanks the Commander and says that he has been working to find the best place to deploy the Chronosphere. However, Einstein has found that the perfect place is a small island in the Florida Keys, “just a few short kilometers from Soviet Cuba”. The Allies send a force to the island and build a base and the Chronosphere there, and then launch an offensive into Cuba to destroy the Soviet nuclear strike capability there. The Allies then proceed to use the Chronosphere's teleportation capabilities to take an Allied strike team to Moscow. Once in Moscow, the Allied forces destroy the defenses around the Kremlin and then teleport in a strike team led by Tanya to capture Premier Alexander Romanov. The Soviets suffer a humiliating defeat and promptly surrender.

Soviet


The Soviet storyline begins with the player being briefed by Premier Alexander Romanov to go into Washington, D.C. and destroy the Pentagon. The Soviets quickly launch their surprise invasion of Washington, D.C. and destroy the Pentagon. Another Soviet invasion is launched into Florida to destroy the American fleet there, which was threatening the Soviet invasion of the East Coast. Even though the Commander is almost fully responsible for these victories, all the credit goes to the top Soviet commander, General Vladimir. Yuri, Romanov's top adviser, recommends that the player captures New York City with his Psychic Beacon while Vladimir is in Moscow celebrating.


To counter the ever increasing and successful Soviet threat, forces from South Korea launch an amphibious attack on Vladivostok, and the player must "defend the motherland" at all costs. All invading South Korean forces are subsequently crushed by the brutal Soviet counter-attack. Alarmed by the situation, leaders of France and Germany agree to send troops to the Polish border to help the United States of America fight the Soviets. While the French Military has amassed near Poland, the Soviets send a special forces team to Paris, with special orders from Romanov and Yuri to "show the Allies the true meaning of Soviet brutality" and to "leave nothing". With this and other key victories in Europe, Europe is in a position of needing help itself rather than giving help to the USA.


During this time, Yuri has been gaining more and more power by using his mind control technology on Romanov. As a result, Romanov gives all military authority to Yuri, which greatly angers General Vladimir, who accuses Yuri of forcing Romanov to make that decision. Yuri discards these accusations and tells the player to establish a Soviet military presence in the Hawaiian Islands. The Commander is sent to the Pacific and destroys the American Pacific Fleet and all Korean reinforcements. Meanwhile, Romanov has fallen ill and Yuri's intelligence has revealed that the Allies have constructed a Chronosphere and intend to use it to launch an assault on a Soviet research base in the Ural Mountains. Yuri tells the player that this research facility is vital to the Soviet war effort and that it must be defended at all costs.


While the Soviet research facility is saved, Yuri has murdered Romanov in his hospital bed, but framed General Vladimir for the crime. Yuri orders the commander to go to Washington, D.C. to eliminate Vladimir, who Yuri declares to be a traitor and a "nonperson". The player defeats Vladimir's forces and captures Vladimir himself with the aid of Yuri's psychic technology. A Soviet strike team of psychic commandos is then sent to San Antonio, Texas to capture the U.S. president Michael Dugan. The Soviets then discover that the Allies are developing a new super weapon in the U.S. Virgin Islands, known as a Weather Control Device. The Soviets launch an amphibious assault on the islands and successfully destroys the device before it gets a chance to be activated.


Impressed by the tenacity of the “Comrade General”, Yuri asks the Commander to come to Moscow so he can thank the Commander in person. But Lieutenant Zofia tells the player about a video Romanov recorded before his death. In the video, Romanov, with much difficulty, says that Yuri is controlling his mind and is a traitor and that he must be brought to justice. The Commander goes to Moscow, but with a large army and the intent of apprehending Yuri. Upon their arrival in Moscow, the player’s forces engage with forces loyal to Yuri. The player's forces then launch a devastating attack on the Kremlin and Yuri is believed to be dead. After going through Yuri’s files, it is learned that the Allies have a Chronosphere in Alaska, where they will attempt to launch a final assault on the Soviet Union by teleporting into Moscow and capturing the Kremlin. A Soviet strike force is sent across the Bering Strait and destroys the Chronosphere and all Allied forces in the area. With all resistance destroyed, the player is now free to rule the world. However, in the end cut scene, Yuri's mind has somehow survived and telepathically communicates to the commander saying, “I may still get a chance.”