his article is about the video game.

For the video game series, see Command & Conquer: Red Alert
(series). For the iPhone game, see Command & Conquer: Red Alert (2009 video game).

Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Developer(s) Westwood Studios

Publisher(s) Virgin Interactive Entertainment

Producer(s) Edward Alexander Del Castillo

Designer(s) Adam P. Isgreen

Michael Lightner

Erik Yeo

Programmer(s) Joseph Bostic

Barry Green

Steve Tall

Artist(s) Christopher D. Demers

Matthew Hansel

Joseph B. Hewitt IV

Writer(s) Ron Smith

Composer(s) Frank Klepacki

Series Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Platform(s) MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation

 Release PC

 NA: November 22, 1996[1]

 EU: 1996

PlayStation

 NA: November 1997[2]

 EU: November 1997

Genre(s) Real-time strategy

Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a 1996 real-time strategy video game in the Command &
Conquer franchise, produced by Westwood Studios and released by Virgin Interactive
Entertainment in 1996. The second game to bear the Command & Conquer title, Red Alert is
the prequel to the original Command & Conquer of 1995,[3][4][5][6] 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.[7] On August 31, 2008, Electronic
Arts, who acquired Westwood Studios in 1998, rendered Command & Conquer: Red Alert freeware.[8]
The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, released on June 5, 2020, through the
services Origin and Steam, contains a graphically rebuilt Red Alert, the
expansions Counterstrike and The Aftermath, additional missions and briefing videos that were
exclusive to the PlayStation's Retaliation port, and an unlockable gallery of unused and "making-of"
materials.[9]

Gameplay[edit]
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.
Players mine resources (consisting of ores and gems, as the Tiberium mineral in the
regular C&C series has not yet arrived on Earth), which are processed into credits to make in-game
purchases including building structures, produce vehicles, training troops, and making repairs. Rare
gems are worth significantly more credits, but unlike ores, they do not regenerate within the map.
Players can build additional ore refineries and ore trucks to mine these resources faster, however
excess unspent credits require storage in special 'ore silos' that can be constructed. Resource
management, including acquiring ore quickly to build up one's own forces as well as denial of ore to
opponents, is often key to victory.
While building a base, a player has to construct power plants to keep up with the growing demands of
electricity, otherwise high-powered installations such as radar and Tesla Coils will not function; so
power plants are often the first to be targeted in a base attack. An opponents' critical damaged
structures can be captured with the use of engineers, allowing the player to produce units from that
structure even if not part of one's own faction (i.e. if an Allied player captures a Soviet war factory, they
can produce Soviet units like the Mammoth Tank).
In addition to the single-player campaign and a multiplayer mode, Red Alert includes a map editor and
the bonus software Westwood Chat.[10]
Factions[edit]
The game features two factions with differing styles of play. [11] Red Alert requires each player to use
their side's strengths in order to compensate for their weaknesses, in contrast to games such as Total
Annihilation or Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, in which both sides have units with similar abilities and
rely on outnumbering or possessing a better-balanced force than their opponent.

In-game beta screenshot of a Soviet base on the PC version.

The Soviets' vehicles tend to be more durable and powerful than Allied vehicles, but are usually slower-
moving and more expensive. The Soviets also have superior defensive capabilities against ground
attacks, with Flame Towers (guard towers outfitted with heavy flamethrowers) and weaponized Tesla
coils, with the latter being able to destroy most Allied armour in 1-2 hits, although it has very high power
consumption and cannot function without a sufficient and continuous supply of electricity. The Soviets'
main weakness is at sea; their only offensive naval unit is the submarine (produced in the Submarine
pen), which only exists to counter Allied warships and gain intelligence. It is normally invisible except
when surfacing to attack when it is vulnerable to destroyers and gunboats. They also have a wide
selection of air units for assault; the Yak-9 plane armed with machine guns for strafing infantry and light
structures, MiG-23 strike fighter (though erroneously depicted as a MiG-29 in cut-scenes) whose
missiles are suited for heavily armored vehicles and buildings, and Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship
whose YakB rotary gun is effective against light and heavy targets; the unprotected Yak-9 and MiG are
designed for hit-and-run attacks as they release their payload all at once, while the armored Hind can
remain in combat longer and unleashes its firepower more gradually. In addition, the Soviets also have
access to periodic map revelation through spy planes, and can deploy infantry by air
through paratroopers. In the latter half of the Soviet campaign (but not in multiplayer/skirmish mode),
they also have access to periodic airstrikes from Badger bombers. The Soviets' secret weapon is
the Iron Curtain, a device that renders a selected unit invulnerable to attacks for a short period of time.
The Soviet 'tank rush' was a popular strategy online, involving building many heavy tanks and
overwhelming the opponent with sheer numbers.
The Allies' forces are generally cheaper, faster to build and more agile. Their infantry can survive longer
with good use of their Medic unit. The Allies' strongest tank (the Medium Tank) is weaker in a one-on-
one engagement against the Soviets' starting tank (the Heavy Tank), but it is also slightly faster and
less expensive. The Allies also have anti-tank minelayers to counter superior Soviet armour. The Allies
have only one air unit, the anti-tank AH-64 Apache attack helicopter (erroneously called 'Longbow'
despite lacking the distinctive FCR of the same name), compared to three Soviet air units; however, the
Allies also have anti-aircraft guns (more powerful but shorter-ranged than Soviet Surface to Air
Missiles). Allied defenses against ground assaults — pillboxes and turret emplacements — are less
powerful than the Soviets' Tesla Coil, but cheaper and better protected while also less dependent on
electricity. On maps with water, Allies possess a major advantage in naval power thanks to
the Destroyer, a versatile medium-sized warship armed with guided missiles capable of engaging all
targets on land, sea and air, and the Cruiser (erroneously depicted as an Iowa-class battleship in cut-
scenes), a large warship for shore bombardment equipped with turret-mounted 8-inch naval guns giving
it the longest-ranged and most powerful surface-to-surface attack in the game. The Allies also possess
several other tools of subterfuge and military intelligence, such as spies to gain information on or
disable enemy facilities, and thieves for stealing enemy resources, hiding their own units and structures
from detection via the 'gap generator' (a special tower outfitted with electronic warfare equipment, which
creates a "fog of war" preventing enemy players from being able to see the tower or anything else in a
large radius around itself), and revealing the whole game map with a prototype GPS satellite. The
Allies' secret weapon is the Chronosphere, which temporarily teleports a selected unit to another part of
the map.
In online play and computer skirmish, both Allied and Soviet forces have access to the transport
helicopters and the missile silo, which is not available to either side in single-player mode (though
missile silos are found in some Soviet bases in the latter half of the Allied campaign). In online play and
computer skirmishes, the Soviets have access to two of the Allied side's infantry: the Rocket Soldier (for
anti-air and anti-tank fighting) and Tanya, a commando capable of easily killing infantry and destroying
structures with demolition charges.
Unlike the standard Allied/Soviet factions in the single-player campaigns, in multiplayer/skirmish,
players choose a particular country to play as, each with its own unique advantage over the others.
Allied countries consist of Germany (greater firepower), England (better durability) and France (faster
rate of fire), while Soviet countries consist of Russia (lower costs) and Ukraine (faster movement
speed).

Plot[edit]
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 to find
himself in Landsberg, Germany, on December 20, 1924, where he meets a young 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 him 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 guerrilla
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:

 Allied ending: Following the siege of Moscow, an Allied platoon discovers Stalin buried alive
in the rubble of the Kremlin. As they begin attempting to remove the debris from the fallen
Soviet leader, General Stavros unexpectedly enters the room and stops them. He
"convinces" them that they saw nothing and orders them to leave the premises. Stavros
then stuffs a handkerchief into Stalin's mouth before covering his head with a large stone
and walking away.
 Soviet ending: As the Soviets celebrate their victory at the newly captured Buckingham
Palace, Stalin commends the Commander (the player), but is poisoned by Nadia, who guns
him down as the poison overcomes his body. Following Stalin's death, Nadia tells the
Commander that the Soviet Union is now under the rule of the Brotherhood of Nod, who
plan to return to the shadows again and reemerge in the 1990s, leaving the player as the
puppet ruler of the USSR, ready to do the Brotherhood of Nod bidding for "the foreseeable
future". She is betrayed and shot in the back by Kane, who reveals to "Comrade Chairman"
that he is the true mastermind.