Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge

THE BAD:
Super weapons still too powerful
Seems to run much slower on some systems

SUMMARY:
This game is the expansion pack to Red Alert 2. It introduces more units and evolves the storyline well from the original game, which I think is rare for expansion packs. Everything that was in the original is still here with some improvements made, for example you can now divide computer players into teams.

The single player mode tells the story of how Yuri (the mind control unit from the original game) has rebelled against the Soviets and is now trying to conquer the world himself. For an expansion pack there is actually a very good storyline here and it follows on well from the original game. Because of this, a third side has been introduced into a Command and Conquer game for the first time. This means an entire new set of units has been added into the game as well as just new ones for the Allies and Soviets.

The brunt of Yuri’s units use mind control and the ability to turn enemy units against their original forces. Even their primary defence structure is a mind control weapon. A link is shown in the game between the unit being controlled and the one controlling it. This is important because if your mind control unit is destroyed then whatever unit or units it was controlling will revert back to their original force so keeping mind control units away from the front line is important. They also can’t control air units when they are in the air. One of the Super weapons also controls units in a large radius of a location on the map.

As far as new units for the Allies go there are two important ones. A new infantry unit is one that basically has a normal gun but when you deploy it becomes a unit where you can fire a rocket at ground or air units. Another is the battle fortress, which is a massive tank, which can crush any other vehicle by running over it. But its main strength is that it can carry 5 units and they fire out from the tank. A great combination is a battle fortress with 2 snipers to deal with infantry and 3 of the new infantry units. The snipers deal with infantry from afar and the infantry deal with air units and tanks. Two or three of these battle fortresses make for an almost unbeatable team especially when they are all promoted. Many a base was crushed with just these few units because the enemy hardly gets a look in, even the might Apocalypse tanks. Mind control can be devastating so bringing a few other units along for back up is wise.

The third side adds to the skirmish maps because there are more units so a more diverse strategy is needed to deal with more units and being careful of Yuri’s mind control units. Every unit has a weakness though. The Prism tanks are weak when you get in range to hit them, the Apocalypse tanks have a short range and mind control units are the same. Because they can only control 1-3 units at a time you can simply overwhelm them with sheer numbers fairly easily.

One thing I was disappointed with was the fact that they didn’t tone down the power of the Super Weapons. They are still massively powerful and can take out a large portion of a base in no time at all. This makes these games just a race to get the powerful weapon built which takes a lot of fun out the game. Another downside isn’t to do with the gameplay. I had a 500Mhz processor and for some reason the game ran a whole lot slower than the original which I couldn’t understand since it was using the same graphics and game engine as the original game. But with the speed of today’s machines there should be no problem.

I found this expansion pack to be very enjoyable. Adding a third side to the game did seem different to what C&C games are about beforehand, but when I played the game it felt completely right because the third side was integrated into the storyline very well. The graphics still carry the high standard of the original game, which is nice to see because they are done very well. I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the original game because it is done exceptionally well. Unfortunately this was the last game with any input from Westwood and was the last good game in the series to date.

THE BAD:
Hopeless new units for the Allies and the Soviets- like the guartdian G.I and the spy plane.

SUMMARY:
C & C Red Alert 2 was the most cool game I had ever played. (You can see my review in the forum) but Yuri's revenge was med even better my the intro of an all-new side. Entering the battle is an ambitious pissed off phsycic person with the most the most amazing side ever seen. He has phsycic defense structures, phsycic machines, and even mind controlling phsycic dominators. Unfortunately ,Westwood did not bother to add a Yuri single player campaign so either you fight against Yuri in a campaign or with Yuri in a skirmish game. Still, DO NOT let this factor pull you down. This game is a MUST-BUY!!! GO AND BUY IT NOW!!!!!!!!

THE BAD:
hard to beat, and will most likely take a walkthrough

SUMMARY:
this is the best game ever! has a great story. i love the varity in the units. the movies make it even better. there are many extra downloads to keep you excited all the time, the downloads include: map editor (awsome and easy to use if you have the right one), unite editor, already made maps, and of course downloads to change the whole game (can take a while to download). but the game can be very hard at times, but dont let that discourag you, or make you stop playing, use the internet to get a walkthrough or some hints. im not a fanitic at the game, like some other people i know, but it is fricken awsome. let's go beat yuri's a@@. he been a bit crazy lately.

THE BAD:
needs more missions, needs more countries, NEEDS YURI MISSIONS

SUMMARY:
This is the stuff... its packed with more units, has more tech buildings, has a new yuri army that is totally sweet with all the mind control technology. yuri army is also decked out with new superweapons... sweet.

THE BAD:
umm... err.. *scratches head thoughtfully*
it's just devoured 2 weeks of my life!
lack of Yuri campaign =(

SUMMARY:
well... i wasn't much of a RTS fan and so i wasn't really expecting much when my friend said he'd just got Red Alert 2 and was bringin it over. When he arrived ,however, it was a different matter entirely! I had played, and enjoyed to a small extent, the first Red Alert; but it never really grabbed me. But within a few minutes of playing it i was hooked. then he had 2 go but when i went to game with £30 in my hand a few days later i saw YR and thought "hmm.. what they hey.. i'll buy it"

i didn't regret it... i loved it from the start, although the difficuly is fairly extreme, and i have barely stopped playing since.

Skirmishes as Yuri, campaigns, u name it i've been playin it...

if u have even the slightest interest in RTS games or liked the original i urge ypu: GET THIS AND DO SO NOW!!

THE BAD:
YOU CANT PLAY YURI'S SIDE IN SOLO!!! now what this!?all the pro C'n'C'ers were so anxious.. well, westwood isnt pefect too.

SUMMARY:
this is the first time westwood truly experiments with "3 camp" strategy. they decided to go step by step, so the add-on will not include solo mssions for Yuri. oh well. the game will aslo have some of the most significant "unit & stuctures" add-ins, including some very interesting units for us RA fans, the migs, that will now operate with the help o a "targeter": Boris. also, the Magnetron/Mastermind tactic where you use the first unit to pull in and immobilise tanks and the second one to mind control them. we can see that westwood is defently improving in the startegy department: game producers promise that they will try to do more and more units "perfect" for combo tactics. which is good. the bad is that as usual, westwood didnt relook the game engine, so once again the add-on will act more like a huge patch instead of a MOD: no graphics have been redesigned, no unit properties re-looked. another defintly good thing is a STORYLINE, something westwood tended to forget in some of their strategy games. this wont be just missions an units: new movies for the storyline will be made, and they promise to be very interesting.
summary: storyline, lots of new units and a brand new side to fight but not to control[only in skirmish/multiplayer]. i think its worth it.

THE BAD:
nothing

SUMMARY:
just like the other if you want a RTS than get Kohan