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THE ORIGINAL RED ALERT was made by Westwood to be a prequel to Command & Conquer. Red Alert existed in an alternate timeline where Albert Einstein had invented a time travelling machine and had used this machine to travel back and prevent Hitler from ever gaining power, thus averting World War 2. But these actions caused a change in history. Russia, no longer hampered by Germany, become a massive force of power and swept across Europe. Red Alert 2 (RA2) follows on from here, with the Allied forces having successfully stopped the Russian armies. The Russian leader Joseph Stalin was killed during the conflict, and the Allied forces placed what they hoped was a puppet dictator in charge, Alexander Romanov. But as so often happens, things didn't go as planned…

The missions for the different forces are again contained on two separate CD's, one for Allied missions and one for the Soviets. Also included is a small tutorial, titled boot camp, which allows players who are new to the series to get acquainted with the controls. The missions offer the usual build and destroy scenarios, as well as several infiltration missions. These missions contain the same kind of thrill to play as did the ones in the original Red Alert, whilst being much more exciting than the ones provided in Tiberian Sun.

To accomplish the mission goals, any good leader needs his troops, and RA2 provides several excellent new units. The two forces have advanced their respective technologies since Red Alert, and now have some interesting unit types. For the Allied armies, Chrono Legionaries are the next step in Chrono technology. These are foot soldiers who are capable of chrono-shifting around the maps to different locations, and when attacking a target, they erase said target out of time. The Soviets have also advanced their standard technology. Tesla Tanks and Tesla Troopers are now available to the Russian armies. Tesla Troopers have a unique feature, apart from being very powerful ground troops. The Tesla Troopers can provide extra energy to the Tesla Coils, making the shots fired the Tesla Coil incredibly powerful, and the more Troopers providing power, the bigger the shock. But the Tesla Troopers aren't the only unit to have an extra feature, Allied GI's can entrench themselves behind sandbags and use more powerful machine guns to take down vehicles. This can be highly effective in controlling bridges, as several entrenched GI's can hold off an armoured strike while reinforcements are being built.