Command & Conquer vs. Red Alert

Command & Conquer is one of the first RTS games I played and as such, I have fond memories of its campaign. But returning to the original C&C today wasn’t quite the happy nostalgia rush I was hoping for.

The game has two campaigns, one for each of the two opposing factions – The Global Defence Initiate (GDI) and The Brotherhood of Nod. This is the game that set the stage for the GDI/NOD conflict in terms of story, but also established the basic style of play of each faction.

A GDI army will typically field less (more expensive) units, but also stronger units. Whereas NOD will field more (cheaper) units, but less powerful units. The GDI campaign takes place across Europe, whilst the NOD campaign is set in Africa. But what this really means in terms of missions is that the GDI campaign features ‘grass’ maps and the NOD campaign ‘sand’ maps.

The unit/building variety and design across the two factions is great and many of the units and buildings established here will continue to feature in later titles. Unfortunately, due to the way missions are designed, you’ll rarely use the full arsenal at your disposal regardless of faction.

Because it’s the missions of C&C that are its greatest weakness. I still adore everything else about the game – the setting, the story, the units, the sound and particularly the music, which is irritatingly catchy – I AM A MECHANICAL I AM A MECHANICAL I AM A MECHANICAL MAN.

The basic gameplay remains fun and addictive, but the mission design is poor. There are many missions across both campaigns that I’d call ‘bullshit’ missions. These are missions that feel more cheap than challenging in terms of difficulty and practically require ‘cheese’ tactics on the part of the player in order to progress.

A great example is a late NOD mission that grants you a handful of basic units and a construction vehicle, then immediately blocks your only path with two GDI mammoth tanks – their most powerful land unit. The only way to progress is to cheese your way past them, using your construction vehicle as bait (as the AI will automatically target it as the most ‘valuable’ unit). And there are countless missions like this, where you’ll be forced into taking advantage of the predictable AI in order to progress.

Another great example is how you can use a single unit to attack an AI harvester, and the AI will (always) send every unit it has to defend it – thereby leaving its main base extremely vulnerable. You don’t feel good exploiting the AI like this, but on many missions it’s the only real way to progress at a steady rate. If you try to play the game in a more ‘conventional’ way, you’re in for a tedious f**king slog as you slowly whittle down your opponent.

Sure, you can sit back, take your time and build up a varied and strong attack force, but doing so won’t be any more effective (and is actually far less effective) than massing a couple of basic unit types and swarming the enemy. I’m sure you could argue that’s how many RTS games are played, but in the original C&C, it feels like the only way to play.

Some other issues include not being able to queue build orders, the fact that many missions only complete when all enemy units and structures are destroyed – including that single f**king infantryman hiding behind a tree in a far corner of the bloody map. The game speed always feels either too fast or too slow, which means you’ll frequently be switching between modes. And the path finding in the game is pretty terrible, forcing you to continually babysit your units.

I feel like I’m taking a real dump on C&C which I don’t really like because it’s a game I have fond memories of. And I do still like the game. I like everything about it … aside from the bloody missions, which I can’t deny I didn’t really enjoy at all.

Red Alert, on the other hand, I had an absolute blast with. I must admit, the new units and buildings aren’t as cool in terms of design (and Red Alert reuses several unit and UI assets from C&C). The music isn’t as catchy either. Despite that, Red Alert remains a fantastic RTS.

Like C&C it features two campaigns – Allies and Soviets – but there is more environmental variety in terms of maps across both campaigns. And it does have some unique and fun units, like Tanya and the Spy. It also introduced naval units to the series (C&C had automated naval gunboats that you couldn’t build or control).

But honestly, Red Alert does feel a little like a copy and paste job compared to C&C, and that’s evident in how many assets are reused. That said, I had way more fun with Red Alert than C&C as the missions are by far more enjoyable. They’re more varied in terms of maps, terrain, objectives, units and strategy.

I never came across a single mission in either campaign that felt like a ‘bullshit’ mission. Unlike C&C, the campaigns of Red Alert are well paced, varied and interesting to replay, offering multiple ways to progress. It is, purely in terms of mission design, the superior title.

It’s never tedious. It’s faster paced in terms of engagement and production and it lets you utilise the full arsenal at your disposal. The game speed feels comfortable, so I wasn’t continually changing settings. The AI is slightly better, at least in the sense that it’s less easy to bait.

Unit path finding also seems better, but I think this is mostly thanks to how the maps are designed. If I had to rate the individual campaigns in order, I’d say the Soviet campaign was by far my favourite, followed by the Allied Campaign, the NOD campaign and finally GDI.

I suppose it’s time to wrap this up and pick a winner, but I think at this point it’s fairly obvious which game has emerged the victor. Red Alert takes an early lead. Whilst it may lack in many areas compared to C&C it absolutely excels where it really matters – the missions.

Roll on Round 2, when Red Alert 2 goes head to head against Tiberian Sun.

FINAL SCORE

Command & Conquer – 6/10

Red Alert – 8/10