Its technology is entirely separate from those of its rivals, and makes extensive use of mind control and various means of disabling enemy units and structures (e.g. The aforementioned Yuri's army is also the first time that a third faction is present and playable in the series, and is available in skirmish and multiplayer modes. The Allied and Soviet campaigns have 7 singleplayer missions each (total of 14).
Yuri's army does not get a singleplayer campaign, which is the first and only time in a series where a playable faction does not get singleplayer content. At this point in the storyline, the player chooses to side with the Allies, or to join the Soviets and steal the time machine to also defeat Yuri, but at the same time restore the Soviet Union to power.
As all other psychic dominators go online, the Allies attempt to power a time machine to stop these events from occurring. The American president Dugan orders an air strike to destroy one of these devices on Alcatraz island, and although the attack failed, a crashed Harrier damaged the device's power supply. As Yuri announces his presence and plans, a global network of devices called psychic dominators comes online in an attempt to enslave the entire world.
While the Allies concentrated on regaining territory and fighting off forces loyal to the now former Soviet Premier Romanov, the latter's advisor Yuri secretly raised an army of his own, using his immense knowledge of psionics and genetic mutation. Apart from the aforementioned main single-player campaign, there are a large number of skirmish/multiplayer maps, short cooperative campaigns and the return of the World Domination Tour multiplayer mode (not available on LAN), which was adapted from the Firestorm expansion for Tiberian Sun.The storyline picks up right where the canonical Allied ending from Red Alert 2 left off. As in the original Red Alert, factions are divided into countries (5 Allied countries, 4 Soviet) in skirmish and multiplayer, but instead of having hidden production bonuses, each country has a unique unit, structure or support power that others do not have access to.
, oil derricks bring a small but frequent revenue stream, airfields allow paratroopers to be deployed. Both factions are completely distinct both functionally and visually, civilian structures can be garrisoned by each faction's basic infantry unit to increase power and rate of fire, the allied IFV is included as the first customizable unit in the series (which can change its weapon and function based on the infantry unit it carries), and there are neutral 'tech' structures that bring bonuses to players who capture them (e. The game uses a modified and optimized Tiberian Sun engine and expands the gameplay in multiple ways. However, the tone of the story is rather more lighthearted than previous Command & Conquer games and, following in the footsteps of Tiberian Sun, more well-known actors have been brought in to act in the full-motion video scenes. While the technological level of the original Red Alert featured WWII and Cold War weapons mixed with some technologies inspired by failed real-world experiments, the arsenals of both sides in Red Alert 2 predominantly include technologically advanced units and structures, such as Chrono Legionnaires teleporters, daisy-chained Prismatic towers, cloning vats, weather control devices, etc. As usual, the player joins either the Allied or Soviet side in the single-player campaign (with 12 missions for each faction) from that point on in the story. Soon after, the Soviet Union launches an overwhelming invasion of North America and Europe by land, air and sea. It is a conventional real-time strategy game that, in terms of gameplay, faithfully continues the Dune/Command & Conquer lineage.Īlthough the Western Allies have installed a lackey as Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, their spies and relevant contacts are suddenly muted by the appearance of a powerful Soviet psychic named Yuri, who turns out to be Premier Romanov's advisor. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 takes place approximately two decades after the first Red Alert and, unlike the original, has no connection to the Tiberium universe.