Command & Conquer Red Alert Retaliation

by Westwood Studios

Product Features

• playstation

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000038AAU
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: July 20, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,098 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

There is at least something to the belief that console owners would rather blow things up than deal with advanced strategy, and never has that been more apparent than in Westwood's Command & Conquer: Red Alert: Retaliation for the PlayStation. It quickly becomes evident after dealing with even the first handful of missions - which require the exact use of key personnel at precisely the right times or that goals be met before the rapidly ticking clock runs out - that the game could've been better adapted for the console set, perhaps even by adding in a few basic search-and-destroy missions in the start. Even the stages that are more straightforwardly destructive require maintaining a war on two fronts or provide limited resources to build your forces up with.

The game itself is an adaptation of two add-on packs created for the PC game Command & Conquer: Red Alert, the prequel to the original Command & Conquer game. As before, you take on the role of one of two opposing armies, commanding your troops and vehicles to take out enemy forces, while defending your base and harvesting materials to keep the old war machine running. Some missions demand more precise goals than simply overrunning your opponent, such as sneaking spies into his camps to learn shipping routes or even commanding a small platoon of soldiers, sans base and vehicles, within an enemy research facility.

But if you don't already know all about Command & Conquer, C&C:RA:R is a horrible game to start with. On the PC side, it's understood that if you buy an add-on pack, you've already played earlier missions, because owning the basic game is a prerequisite to playing them. But that's not the case here, and those who hope to pick it up as their first taste of C&C will walk away entirely frustrated. It's a shame that Westwood couldn't follow the lead of perhaps one of the companies out there adapting PC games to better fit the console market (3DO with Uprising X, Crave with Battlezone, and so on) by either adding some simpler and more explosive extra missions or altering the preexisting ones to better suit the console market. Having complex mission after complex mission without a few easy victories sprinkled in between can be an arduous experience.

The same criticisms that were leveled at Command & Conquer: Red Alert also apply here: The graphics aren't nearly as good on the PlayStation version as the PC, and playing the game with a PlayStation controller instead of a mouse takes a lot away from the ease of play (the PlayStation mouse is incredibly rare). But the largest complaint - not being able to save at any point as in the PC version - is further compounded because of the game's extreme level of difficulty, leading to matches where you'll end up having wasted hours of fighting and planning because you made a crucial error near the end.

If you're a fan of the console ports of this series and are looking for another round of challenging missions (the likes of which might have taken you several days each to accomplish in the earlier versions), then you're definitely on target with this game. But newcomers and the more action-oriented of you out there beware: This one's not for you. Certainly the original PC add-on pack designers should be applauded for not just creating more of the same, but having such a high difficulty level without being able to provide a better save system seems to point out that this may have been an inappropriate port for the system. It's of course a great PC strategy game, but one that's either not very well suited or not very well adapted for console audiences. Or both. --Joe Fielder
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Product Description

Command & Conquer: Red Alert Retaliation is a Sci-Fi Real-Time Strategy game, developed and published by Westwood Studios, which was released in 1998.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A game for those who don't play games., July 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Command & Conquer Red Alert Retaliation (Video Game)

Command and Conquer Red Alert Retaliation is the only game I can play every second of every year and never get tired of playing it. I ordered this game from amazon because I knew I could depend on it being here in one peice and this game is impossible to find, yet Amazon has everything.
When I purchased it, I had a special reason, I was off work for a week and all my roomates worked until 6:00, so I had all day in my house with no cable, car or phone, or even internet, so I knew this game would keep me company and happy. I have never been so exited about a game and I would never write a review on anything that didn't deserve it. Educational and so much fun, this war game is the top out of all games ever written. If you want something so many people have played but got caught up in the new scene of video games, than you need to come back to the good stuff.
Command and Conquer Red Alert Retaliation

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War in your own home, May 11, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Command & Conquer Red Alert Retaliation (Video Game)

If real-time war gaming is your thing, then this is your game. Truly addictive, it is also one of the best games to play with someone else through the link cable. It involves elements of financial & resource management, as well as military strategies and tactics. Control individual soldiers, tanks, ships, and aircraft - build factories, barracks, gun turrets and missile silos. All this and more - by far the best game Westwood Studios has transferred to Playstation - in fact, the best game by far in this genre

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many hours of fun, July 12, 2004

By 

womp (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Command & Conquer Red Alert Retaliation (Video Game)

If your a fan of command & conquer, or rts games in general, pick this up... The game is years old, and I still have a blast setting up the link cables and having hours of skirmishes with friends.