Command & Conquer: Red Alert (series)

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Genre(s) Real-time strategy

Developer(s) Electronic Arts, Westwood

Publisher(s) Electronic Arts

Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation

3, Mac OS X, PlayStation, PlayStation
Portable, DOS, iPhone

First release Command & Conquer: Red Alert

November 22, 1996

Latest release Command & Conquer: Red Alert

October 16, 2009

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a series of real-time strategy video games set within the Command &
Conquer series.
The Red Alert series takes place in an alternate timeline, created when Albert Einstein travels back to the past and
eliminates Adolf Hitler in an attempt to prevent World War II from taking place. This plan indirectly backfires and
results in an unchecked Soviet invasion of Europe by Joseph Stalin in 1946. The Stalin-led invasion of Europe
serves as the backdrop for the first Command & Conquer: Red Alert game. Two expansion packs for Red Alert were
released: Counterstrike and The Aftermath. New units, missions, multiplayer maps and music tracks were included
in these expansions.
The story of the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert game portrays the early in-universehistory of the
main Command & Conquer storyline, and leads directly to the Tiberium story arc of the Command &
Conquer franchise.[1][2][3][4] However, with the addition of the title Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 at the hands of a
new team of developers in September 2000, this connection was rendered unclear, with fans of the series becoming
split as to whether or not the time travel excursions of the Red Alert series were forming a separate continuity
altogether, or just another side adventure on the way to the Tiberian era. At the time of the release of the 10th
anniversary compilation pack, known as Command & Conquer: The First Decade, this new and second Command &
Conquerdevelopment team claimed in interviews on the pack's bonus DVD that the games existed as three
separate universes -- Tiberium, Red Alertand Generals. However, with the release of the title of Command &
Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars in 2007, at the hands of a third new development team from EA Los Angeles, Electronic
Arts published a featured document pertaining to ''Tiberium Wars's storyline in which a direct reference to Kane's
appearance in the 1950s of Command & Conquer: Red Alert is made.[4] On July 25 of the same year, a Command &
Conquer: Renegade-themed modification for the game Crysis was officially announced by Electronic Arts, which is
stated to directly link the first Red Alert game to Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn.[5]
 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a stand-alone sequel to the original Red Alert game, which unlike its
predecessor makes no references to the Tiberium story arc, and which came with its own expansion
pack; Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge. In the storyline of Red Alert 2, the Soviet Union invades the United
States, using mind control technology to capture US forces and deactivate America's nuclear arsenal. In Yuri's
Revenge, Soviet Premier Romanov's advisor Yuri attempts to overtake the world by using his "psychic dominator"
technology. A second and last attempt to stop Yuri's plans sends the player back in time to the conflict occurring
in Red Alert 2, but instead of fighting the Soviets/Allies, the player fights against Yuri.
Command & Conquer creator Westwood Studios also released a music disc with the music from the Red
Alert series. This disc came bundled with some of the later release versions of the games.

Contents

 1Plot
 2Games in the series
 3Production history
o 3.1Command & Conquer: Red Alert
o 3.2Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
o 3.3Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
 4References
 5External links

Plot[edit]
The basis of the Red Alert series is that in 1946, at the Trinity site in New Mexico, Albert Einstein created a
"Chronosphere" time machine. Traveling back to Landsberg, Germany, he met a young Adolf Hitler just after the
latter's release from Landsberg Prison in 1924 and shook hands with him to cause a reaction that eliminated Hitler's
existence from time by disturbing the "space-time continuum". This prevented Nazi Germany from forming and
averted World War II as we know it from taking place.
Without Nazi Germany to stand in the way of Joseph Stalin's ambitions of conquest, the USSR tries to form a Soviet
Union stretching across the entire Eurasian landmass in 1946. The nations of Europe, including Germany, form the
Allies as a Soviet invasion precipitates a different World War II (Red Alert) and eventually a Soviet invasion of the
United States in 1972 (Red Alert 2, Yuri's Revenge). The Soviet Union is ultimately on the losing side.
In Red Alert 3, by 1986, the Soviet Union teeters on the brink of collapse. Seeing the Premier's office empty,
Cherdenko reveals Dr. Zelinsky's Soviet time machine to General Krukov. To retroactively save their country,
Cherdenko travels back to 1927 with Krukov and Zelinsky in tow to assassinate the man behind the Allies'
technological superiority. As Albert Einstein comes off stage from giving a speech, Cherdenko shakes his hand with
disintegrative results. The trio is then returned to 1986, where the Soviet Army has the Allied forces on the brink of
defeat in Europe and Cherdenko is Premier of the USSR. Just as the gloating starts, an ultra-advanced and
previously nonexistent Empire of the Rising Sun embarks on world domination. Without Einstein, calls to use the
USSR's formidable nuclear weapon arsenal are met with blank stares, as the atom bomb has apparently never been
developed in this new timeline. Thus while the Soviets and Allied battle amongst themselves the Empire of the
Rising Sun enters the chaos and a three-way world war breaks out for total control of the globe.

Games in the series[edit]

 Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996)
o Command & Conquer: Red Alert: Counterstrike (expansion pack) (1997)
o Command & Conquer: Red Alert: The Aftermath (expansion pack) (1997)
o Command & Conquer: Red Alert: Retaliation (1998) - This was a compilation of Counterstrike and The
Aftermath released for the PlayStation
 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000)
o Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge (expansion pack) (2001)
 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008)
 o Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising (standalone expansion pack) (2009)
o Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Commander's Challenge (standalone game for the PlayStation 3
and Xbox 360) (2009)
 Command & Conquer: Red Alert (iOS) (2009)

Production history[edit]
Command & Conquer: Red Alert[edit]
Main article: Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Released in October, 1996, Command & Conquer: Red Alert was the second Command & Conquer game to be
released by Westwood Studios. Instead of returning directly to the Tiberian universe, Westwood Studios decided to
create a game centered around the concept of "What would happen if World War II hadn't happened?" The resulting
game of Command & Conquer: Red Alert became the prequel to the original Command & Conquer.[1]
Two expansion packs were released within a year, called Counterstrike and The Aftermath, these were also
released for the PlayStation in a pack called Retaliation, with additional missions and cut scenes.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2[edit]
Main articles: Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
In this sequel to Red Alert, the Soviets launch an attack on the United States. With the aid of Yuri, Premier
Romanov is able to avert the nuclear retaliation of the Americans and he is able to gain a foothold in the United
States itself. Red Alert 2 features new and old units and technologies and feature a variety of countries within each
faction (Allies/Soviets). Each country features his own unique unit/building/technology; the Americans have
Paratroopers, the Koreans have Black Eagle fighter jets, the French have a Grand Cannon defensive structure, the
Germans have a Tank Destroyer vehicle, the British can train Snipers; Russia has Tesla Tanks, Libya has suicide
Demolition Trucks, Iraq has Desolator troops and Cuba has suicide Terrorists. An expansion to Red Alert 2, Yuri's
Revenge, was released in which the powerful psychic Yuri tries to achieve world domination. Secretly during the war
with the Americans, Yuri has been constructing his own army across the globe and he turns on the Soviets which
result in the Allies and Soviets having to ally against Yuri. The game takes place in another alternate timeline,
starting with the end of the war in Red Alert 2 having the Soviets lost, but Yuri taking over the world's minds using
his Psychic Dominator. The Americans use Einstein's Time Machine to go back in time to the beginning of the war
so they can try and stop Yuri before his plans of world domination are finished. This expansion pack includes a new
faction; Yuri and new units/building/technologies for each of the three factions.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3[edit]
Main articles: Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising
A third Red Alert was unofficially announced by Electronic Arts' then Command & Conquer lead Mark Skaggs in
December 2004,[6] shortly after the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth. However, Mark
Skaggs left Electronic Arts for reasons unspecified shortly thereafter, and there was no mention of a Red Alert
3 until over three years later. In February 2008, both American PC Gamer and Hungarian PC Guru revealed that
they would feature Red Alert 3 as cover stories.[7][8] On February 14, EA announced that Red Alert 3 was in
production and offered screenshots, interviews and beta testing details.[9] Red Alert 3 features three factions, the
Allies, Soviets and the Empire of the Rising Sun. The game features old units from the previous Red Alert games
such as Tanya, Kirov airships, and dolphins. Red Alert 3 was the first to feature a 3-D engine. Red Alert 3 takes
place in another alternate time line that occurs just after the Soviets lost the war in Red Alert 2 - they go back in time
and kill Albert Einstein, removing his influence with the Allies and thus removing the existence of nuclear weapons.
In Asia, the Empire of the Rising Sun secretly builds a vast army with technologies and weaponry that forces the
Allies and Soviets to occasionally form alliances.