Name:  - Red Alert 2
Electronic Arts Description:
The Soviet Empire Invades America
Wielding strange new technologies and hungering for revenge, the Soviet Army invades America. Overwhelmed Allied forces, unprepared for the surprise attack, are decimated. Will freedom be crushed under the heels of Communist aggression?
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5/15/2001 - Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 is the latest in Westwood’s real-time strategy Command & Conquer series. Red Alert 2 uses the same interface as the other C&C games, and it’s easy to learn for those that know how to use Windows! I being a veteran of the series, and a fan of Red Alert 1, was very excited when I learned they had released Red Alert 2. I would give this game an 8 out of 10.
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The Head Hunter meets a Red Alert!
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88.4
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| First Impression and Game Installation |
Installation was a bit odd, a strange voice gives you a warning that military software is detected and if you don’t enter the CD key in within 30 seconds you will be immediately liquidated! After you get through this it’s pretty normal. While it’s installing the game, which can take a while, it gives you some background information. |
9.1
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| Configurable Options and Ease of Use |
This isn’t like a first person shooter, were you have to go through and configure all your controls which can take a long time. There are hardly any uses for the keyboard and in fact you could actually play the game with just a mouse (not recommended). This game has the easiest interface I’ve ever used. Point and click is all you need to know. |
9.3
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| Graphics |
The graphics for this game swamp all competition. With the few settings all the way up it makes nuking, or lightning storming your opponents base just that much more enjoyable. Westwood really does a great job of making a 2D game look 3D. One nice thing about this game is you don’t have to have the best graphics card in the world for it to look great. |
8.0
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| Video at Minimum and Maximum |
This game looks fine on low settings, but it needs a fast processor to play at a good speed, Pentium II 250 or higher. I found, especially for experienced players that it’s more fun the faster the processor because it has a lot to do with the game speed. |
7.9
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| Sound |
Sound is one of the many great features in this game, it’s great to listen to good music blended with the noise of your tanks hammering the enemies base. Although the tracks are limited and can get a little old it still isn’t bad. |
9.0
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| Beginner thru Advanced Use |
This game has three different computer difficulty settings with completely different strategies, the easy comp is quite easy to crush, the medium is more of a challenge, but the brutal difficulty is enough to stamp out any newbie. And for the most experienced you can spend the rest of your life trying to beat 7 brutal computers all against you. |
8.5
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| Multi-player |
Now this is my favorite part of the game; although the comps are a formidable challenge to start with, after a while the experienced players can take out a 'brutal' in their sleep. So now its time to get on your LAN, if you have one, or the internet with Westwood Online and play against other people. I would prefer a LAN, of course because it’s faster and more reliable. And I have to point out my dislike for the Westwood server its really annoying to need to hit the refresh button every 5 seconds, and it can be complicated to use. Of course the amount of fun you can have on the internet is also limited by your connection and computer speed. But in any case I think that multiplay is still one of the best parts of the whole game. |
9.9
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| Help Instructions |
The game comes with a manual with everything from installation and trouble shooting, to unit and structure hierarchies. Nearly anything you need to know is in that manual, I never really used it because my friends had the game before me and taught me everything I needed to know. |
7.7
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| Value (price for what you get) |
The price is not bad considering all the replay value you get out of it especially multiplay. I think it’s an overall good deal. |
9.4
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| Recommend to Others |
I would and already have recommended this game to many of my friends who don’t already have it. It is great to play against your friends, or on their team, on the internet or on a LAN. |
9.6
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RECOMMENDATIONS to the Vendor
HEADHUNTER
To the people at Westwood I only have a few recommendations, first and most important fix up Westwood Online!! it needs it, and second hurry up and make a cool expansion set.
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