Who got Red Alert 2?

[Embattle]

I did

 

[luap]

I did too. I'm not that impressed tbh. There's no eye candy and you can't set waypoints for aircraft. It's early days though so I will see.

 

[luap]

FFS RA2 has a patch already.
http://www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_temp.asp?patch=ra2

No info yet and there's nothing on Westwood.com about it.

More news as it happens.

 

[Embattle]

Yeah but C&C games have never really been about eye candy, look at TS which had eye candy but wasn't that good. I used the auto updater to get the patch.

 

[bodhi]

Graphics doth not make a game.........

 

[Ono]

Just bought it. Why is it £35 and not £30 like most new PC games from HMV?

Ahhh, I see. It's an EA GAmes release. MOFOs.

I like the use of the DVD casing though. Lot easier to store and looks nice.

 

[kryt]

Red alert 2 is class.
Uses a cut down version of the Tiberian Sun gfx engine... yet looks nicer.
Plays a LOT nicer too... its again addictive, playable, fun and worthwile.. unlike Tiberian Sun. Red Alert has always been, arguably, the best ever RTS game all round. Tiberian Sun was hyped up SO much to its release... and was shit. Red alert 2 was not, it was kept fairly quiet. On its release ... wow ... mag's and sites are giving it rave reviews, the gamers out there more importantly are enjoying it vastly... it took me a lot to convince myself that it would be better then Tib Sun.. and it is. Westwood provide us with yet another top class rendition of the successful Command and Conquer series, and a worthy sequel to the smash hit Red Alert.
I for one will be playing this a lot

 

[Ono]

Internet Play

Anyone tried Internet play yet?

I use to play Total Annihilation online and that was ace.

Is there the option to connect directly to another computer to play?

I just tried it for a couple of mins and it looks OK.

I do think Westwood should get a new engine for the game's next installment. It looks shit. And don't say the graphics don't matter, coz in this day of GeForce 2 Ultras with 1 gig PCs we deserve better.

 

[kryt]

well, not ALL of us have 1 ghz PC's and geforces
/me whispers sweet nothings to his celeron 366 and tnt2

Westwood have always been good at creating games that are as accessible to as many people as possible. It would be stupid to create a game that looks the bollocks but runs like shit on the "common" PC's.

It doesn't look too bad considering. It certainly has me gripped, regardless of graphical content.
Hell, Grand Prix 2 is still fucking playable despite gp3 (which i am also addicted heavily to) and the fit of EA shitpiles which are graphically fancy.

IMO it's better for a game to be accessible and playable for more people, so more people can enjoy it, then the game to look like the nads but only be playable and enjoyable for a minority.


Oh, forgot. I haven't tried Internet play, because i'm generally too shit at it
Otherwise, I have set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to simulate a LAN over the 'net, and played a couple of Co-operative missions with a mate and found it really rather enjoyable

 

[luap]

tbh I haven't had a chance to play it much, just a few of the single plyr missions. It was just my first impression. RA1 stole months off my life cos I played it to death, AI, Internet, Lan, head to head on a free dialup. RA2 has a lot to live up to.

 

[old.Mikey]

Got this morning, but I haven't played it yet. At work so.....



Mikey out!!

 

[old.Mr.Bee]

Sudden strike kicks the shit out of RA2...but the mags gave it 76% compared to RA2s 93%. comments like "oh its nothing new" really get on my nerves. Tib sun and RA2 have nothing new yet score high anyway!

sstrike is heavy on tactics rather than C&C's "whoevers got the most tanks wins."

Ra2 is better than tib sun tho...its great blowing the shit out of american buildings

 

[Embattle]

Actually tank rushing isn't possible, unless a base isn't defended or defended poorly.

Sudden strike kicks the shit out of RA2

Your view.

C&C doesn't have to do a great more new since its still the RTS thats at the top of the pile. If you're going to take the crown you have to do a lot better than what SS has.

 

[old.Mr.Bee]

its not just SS but there are loads of RTS games out there which beat C&C at its own game. Games like ground control and earth 2150 are superior (yes...that IS my view) but they still live in the shadow of a VERY out of date engine. I mean the graphics on some of the units are laughable in tib sun.

I feel westwood are like Rare (goldeneye64) ...produce average/poor products but are still viewed as gaming gods

 

[Embattle]

Hmm you prove that you view doesn't count for much if you think Goldeneye isn't very good.

Graphics aren't everything, yes the graphics in 2150 are very nice but I reckon because of certain limitations they shouldn't of bothered changing to 3D.

 

[old.Mr.Bee]

My view doesnt count? My views are just as good as yours...just because I think goldeneye is a poor game(which it is) doesnt make less intitled to an opinion.

too some degree, graphics do make the game...without it you dont get a sense of atmosphere. Dont get me wrong..the C&C series is good...but its becoming the same game over and over.

ok, so SStrike has kept the 2d but still has better graphics (no large black outlines on these units) and the way it plays is completely different to that of any other RTS.

 

[old.Mr.Bee]

whats happened to me...im usually a nice person...must be computer rage

 

[bodhi]

I feel I should be the lone dissenting voice here about Tib Sun. Granted it was horribly delayed and over hyped. But I never knew that as a reason to say it was crap. The core gameplay that has kept me hopelessly addicted since Dune 2 was still there, along with new units to play with (what most C&C fans want) and a new storyline (I always found the GDI versus NOD story more absorbing than the Allies vs Soviet, but thats just a matter of taste). This was enough to keep me addicted for a good 3 months after Tib Sun came out.

Random Point: Goldeneye was a good game spoilt by the controller from hell.

After I was finally weened off Tib Sun by a mixture of Unreal Tournament and alcohol, I tried playing a multiplayer game of AOE2 at a LAN (I4 iirc). The difference was like night and day. Halfway through the game (about an hour into it :/ ) I decided I'd had enough of this tedium and decided to go to the bar, have a cig and chat to some clan mates. I came back and my base HADNT BEEN FUCKING TOUCHED. Can you see that happening in Tib Sun?

Random Point 2: Sudden Strike was shit. End of discussion.

I havent got round to buying Red alert 2 yet (Still reeling after the 288 quid paid for meh Radeon ), but I shall, and no doubt I will be hopelessly addicted like with C&C, RA and Tib Sun.

"graphics do make the game...without it you dont get a sense of atmosphere" - This is wrong im afraid. Doom 2 still had more atmosphere than Half-Life and Deus Ex combined, yet do you see it winning any prizes for the quality of its 3D acceleration?

Bodhi

 

[old.MeddlE]

Tib Sun wasn't a bad game, it just wasn't a great game. I bought it, and the expansion pack, as I did with Red Alert before that and C&C before that. To be honest though, the idea of giving Westwood anymore money for the same old game just sticks in the throat a bit.

GDI vs NOD was always a better story as it was made up and didn't date, unlike Allies vs Soviets.

You can't really knock Half-Life single player for it's atmosphere, it was definitely the best thing since Doom.

Of course, all of the above is just my opinion whereas anything that Embattle posts is just pure fact.

 

[Embattle]

Originally posted by MeddlE
Of course, all of the above is just my opinion whereas anything that Embattle posts is just pure fact.

I think what TS really missed was ships. Plus TS seemed to have a problem running on my computer at the time.

Christ you graphics freaks would be well and truely f*cked if you every played on a Atari 2600.

Who can forget the Doom Series, it was the shit graphics which made the dark areas. Suddenly a moster would appear, I found myself scared just to go around corners in case one was there

Most people who play Goldeneye loved it, me and my m8s had massive multiplayer fights.

I remember getting C&C, a time when you started it through DOS RA was my fav to date although the multi player in RA2 seems damn good, World Domination Tour looks like it could be real good fun.

Radeon, do you find it any good Bodhi?

 

[bodhi]

Dunno yet m8 the shop hasnt got it in yet. Starting to get a bit pissed off (they said 2-3 days, that was last tuesday :/) as you can imagine. Still Im confident it shall rock if me processor (P3 500) can handle it.

As for the atmosphere in Half-Life single player, cant say I noticed an awful lot, but then I got bored just as the troops turned up. HL was imo one of the biggest dissapointments in recent gaming history. I found the storyline about as absorbing as motorway service station toilet roll, the weapons as weak as Carling Black Label and the actual action as gripping as a Linux convention in Milton Keynes. Remember, this is my opinion.

Anyway it appears to me, as in the case of 3dfx, Intel and Microsoft, it has become fashionable to bash westwood and Tib Sun at every opportunity (this is not a reflection of most of the comments on this board). Just an observation......


BTW go to http://www.trippingtherift.com and download the movie. It may be 38meg, but worth every second imo.

Bodhi

 

[old.Mr.Bee]

Just played a multiplayer coop against 2 computers...the AI is REALLY piss poor.

Me and my brother had troops taking out buildings while the computer just stood there and watched! (this was in coop rathar than battle mode)

must say the nukes and storm weapons look very nice..tho I think the storm weapon could be a little too powerful

 

[granny]

hmm well RA2 is just another in westwood's series, nothing new, doesn't stop it being fun although I think the fun factor will wear off relatively quickly for me simply 'cos it's so derivative.

question: wtf use are the chrono soldiers? I build a bunch of 'em, warp 'em into enemy base and before they can kill a single unit the get wiped out. Am I missing summit? They seem like expensive cannon fodder to me... although it's a giggle warping 'em about the map like crazy... just no fuckin use...

sudden strike seems very good but it's a lot tougher than RA2 and much more about careful strategy therefore it won't appeal to many people - our attention spans are too short these days and SS doesn't deliver enough instant gratification. I think that the true RTS nutters will probably find it a far more rewarding game in the long run than RA2 but the casual gamers will get more of a kick out of RA2 (I class myself as a casual gamer btw in case anyone takes offence at the categorisation

 

[kryt]

Excuse my slip of tongue and random use of french...
Mr.Bee - turn it off "easy" you fuckwit. I've been playing it over a VPN network quite a lot, coop'd with a mate against 2 hard opponents : you DO have to think and you DO have to act carefully... they position their base's nicely, defend them how common sense says they should place them, they make thorough use of Iron Curtain properly, they rush in a few tanks, iron curtain them up in the mid of your base and can really cause damage. The AI is nothing special, but it is certainly amongst the best, since sudden strike really is poor imo.
I was leaning towards the "slag westwood off stage" since tiberian sun was such a pisspoor attempt at a game (again imo) but i held out for red alert 2, and found it to be a completely immersive and gripping game that i am once again addicted to and play as often as possible, it has already taken primary gaming time away from q2 and q3.
Im a little like bodhi in this respect, except back to front : I found the allie / soviet storyline to be a little better for me to adjust to, as having a rough idea of weaponry beforehand makes me able to pick weapon balances : I bought both tiberian sun and c&c gold (win95 ver), and although enjoying the game, i couldnt get into the gdi/nod storyline as well.
Personal taste's always preservere and there is nothing that is not touched by taste and bias. I don't go slagging off a game, saying "oh its shit" because i dont like it : theres probably 100 to every 1 out there that does like it.
the C&C series has always been number 1 in its own game genre for years and probably will be for years to come. Just like ID. People always say "oh, duke nukem 0wned doom 2" and "total annihalation r0x0rs red alert" but with so many people making what is essentially the same game underneath : people go with the original. It was very much westwood's concept, as was the FPS with ID.

I did enjoy Blake Stone, Corridor 7 and Rise of the Triads though, but nothing could touch doom's atmoshphere.

 

[old.Mr.Bee]

kryten = "Mr.Bee - turn it off "easy" you fuckwit. "

me = "(this was in coop rathar than battle mode)"

if you look at coop mode there is NO option to make the AI hard.

In the other modes yes you can change the settings but I was just pointing out that this couldnt be done in coop mode. but still even on easy the computer should at least TRY to attack you.

oh and...grow up


[Edited by Mr.Bee on 31-10-00 at 15:21]

 

[old.Mikey]

What systems are you lot running Red Alert on and what resolution do you play in? How does it perform? I've got RA 2 but I haven't played it. I would at least expected them to use Direct 3d as let's face it all of us have a Direct 3D card, yeah?


Mikey out!!

 

[Ono]

Running on Athlon 900TB with 128k Ram and 32 meg GeForce 2 GTS card at (you've gussed it!) max res of 1024 x 768.

No slowdown at all when things get busy.

I use to play Tib Sun on P3 550 with 128k and Voodoo 3 and that was prone to slowdown on skirmishes with lots of units.

 

[old.[GA] Shovel]

from Bodhi
Random Point: Goldeneye was a good game spoilt by the controller from hell.

Oh so true. You seen the ones for the Game Cube? they WEIRD - God only knows if they will be usable. (Plus point to XBox - sidewinders )

Back to RA2... suppose its too much to ask if it'll run on a P166? 32 meg.
I see the specs say P200, but I managed to run the TibSun demo alright in min res.
is there gonna be a demo?

 

[granny]

chrono legionaires...

anyone know what good they are?

/me repeats himself a bit

 

[old.[MOD]Psycho]

I have always been in to strategy games since Dune 2, I loved dune 2, played it on the arc for the first time and couldn't stop until I won, sure Dune 2 had many problems (only moving one unit at a time, jerky graphics, sandwarms getting very annoying), suprisingly though the AI attacked walls, I don't know why this was but they did.

Come C&C Tiberian Dawn (yes it did have a subtitle you fools!), I loved this and have still found this to be problem the best single player strategy game ever. Sure the AI was chump, the multiplayer was dodgy at best and you could build snadbags in to their base, build an obelisk and take out all of their power stations, then attack with 10 tanks and kill them. Still best storyline single player though. Oh yeah and level 6 of GDI (the commando mission) was piss easy and yet annoying at the same time, but depending on what you killed in the base, you completed the mission and skipped a level or had to return to the map and kill the ppl. The atmosphere still to this day in my mind has not be beaten, I would start playing it again if I didn't want to ruin my memories!

After this Red Alert, the creme de la creme of strategy games, the missions in single player were class, the story line quite interesting, yet kain appears and looks older than C&C, why we ask? The power station missions did everyones nut and tanya, well she was annoying back then and still is today. The multiplayer was where the game shined, sure the sides were completely unbalanced, soviets being so much better than allies (300 games undefeated using soviets). Allies were piss poor at everything, and I do mean everything, except perhaps being annoying with crap accents in the mission briefings.

Finally after the longest wait in the history of games (except Duke 4 ever and Daikpileofpoo) arrives Tiberian Sun, a great game by most means, let down by a piss poor graphics engine compared to some games and again an unbalanced multiplayer. Single player once more was annoyed with missions using one troop or just a few troops for ages, no power station missions this time though thank god. Great story line, the return of kain, what more could we have hoped for, probably one of the greatest villians created in computer games history that is actually believable and comparible to modern day / historical figures. Some great ideas and units though ultimately let down by the over hype that everyone had created (bit like Star Wars episode one, except jar jar binks in that wasn't nearly as annoying as the boy called 'annie'.

Now we have Red Alert 2, once more let down by piss poor graphics, however in my opinion 3d spinny rotaty graphics in strategy games actually take the emphasis of playing and confuse the players and waste time, they get in the way basically, most ppl stick to one perspective unless they are forced to change it and just leave it there for the game, wasting valuable time at the start of the game (force commander for instance, crap!). The missions, far to easy even on hard, I completed the soviet missions in under 8 hours I think, still going on the soviets, however the multiplayer aspect of the game, wow, tis brilliant, the sides are very evenly balanced although I still think the soviets have the edge. The story line and plot is totally unbelievable probably with the worst acting yet, at least the prior games were believable, just. Different nations getting different things is a nice touch, however all of the Soviets bonuses are useless and on the whole the allied ones are. The main flaw I can see though for multiplayer is the maps, they are all shit and gay and none are big enough for 8 players. As for defences being good, a tank rush easily overcomes a defensive line, plan out strategy, take out a powerstation, they're low power, they have no tanks to draw fire, meanwhile you destroy the construction yard and the rest of the power stations, simple aye?


And there ends my passionate rant about the C&C games!!