[Retro Tuesday] The actual Retro Tuesday Post

Since E3 is still going strong with quite a few big announcements, none as big as the Final Fantasy XIII one as of yet though, it's kind of hard to concentrate on anything else game-related. Still, since today's theme is retro/indie games, I'll stick to the subject.

At any rate, today's subject is the Red Alert series of strategy games. What started as a prequel/sidestory to the Command & Conquer series, as well as a thinly veiled criticism of Soviet Russia and/or a Tom Clancy fangasm, eventually became its own, independent series.



The first game came out in 1996 and had a very interesting story premise. What would happen if Hitler was killed (by Einstein, no less) before he gained power? According to Westwood, the people behind Red Alert, not really that much. The major difference would be that instead of Hitler, Stalin would try to take over the world. With tesla cannons. And jet planes. Well alright, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe did teach us that during WWII the Germans did have access to jet planes as well, but they weren't exactly as advanced as the ones in Red Alert.



That was the main catch of this game. Einstein's use of a time machine to kill Hitler created a rift in the time-space continuum, which according to every rule of Comic Book Physics means that it's entirely possible for Apache helicopters to co-exist with WWII-era tanks, and Tesla coil weapons (which never existed in our timeline) to co-exist with ordinary flamethrowers. This meant that the developers were free to add all sorts of strange units to what was otherwise a very realistic game, much like its predecessor, Command & Conquer. The fact that the plots of these two games are connected through the character of Kane/Yuri also helped explain the level of technology available in the C&C games.



However, the sequel that came out four years later was much different as far as plot was concerned. In those four years that had passed, Westwood was bought out by Electronic Arts, and Blizzard had released their magnum opus, Starcraft, which went on to become a huge success and steal C&C's thunder.

It was perhaps a side-effect of the buyout, but while Red Alert 2's story is a direct continuation of the original game's, there is no connection to the main Command & Conquer storyline. In fact, as of this game, the Red Alert universe is supposed to be a different, perhaps parallel, one to the C&C universe. This was kind of a disappointment to some fans, me included, as we crave our Kane drama, and I was never a big fan of retcons to be honest. Later on, EA tried to tie the two universes together again, but this story has become one big clusterfuck already.



All that aside, while RA2 wasn't as good as its predecessor, or indeed its competitors, it was a really fun game and had even quirkier units than anything else. From Rocketeers and Chrono Legionnaires which erase enemies from time, to tanks shaped like giant spiders and attack... squids (I'm not making this up), the unit selection was definitely fresh and unique.

And then there was the main theme, Hell March. Inarguably one of the best themes in gaming history, anyone disagreeing will be tesla coil'd to death. Here's a really nice video compilation of movies from the games, with Hell March playing on the background:



Red Alert 3 was announced a while ago, and the people who bought the expansion for C&C3 will have access to its beta soon -lucky bastards, but so far we hadn't seen a single thing from it. While we still don't know much (will Yuri/Kane still play a role? He should, he gets around), the following video shows us one thing: There's a new faction, the Japanese! And true to the series, they have some really loopy units, such as jet planes that change into robots, Robotech style, and giant mechs. Can't wait, personally! I'm more excited about this game than Starcraft 2, in fact.



TL;DR version:

Retro, smetro. Here's a couple of shiny new things:

Disappointed by Street Fighter IV's cast so far? Capcom has now created a poll that lets fans vote for the next character to be added to SFIV's roster. While to someone jaded and cynical like myself, it seems like further confirmation of SFIV being complete fan service, it's still a neat thing, and will hopefully mean that we'll see more characters than just the entire cast of SFII. Better start mashing that F5 key.

And since my #1 game on my wish list is Gears of War 2, here's the cinematic trailer that's just as good as the Mad World trailer of the original (A.K.A. best trailer ever)



November can't come fast enough.