Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy game created by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin in 1996 for MS-DOS and Windows 95. It was later ported to PlayStation.

Red Alert is the second game in the Command & Conquer series but it's not exactly a sequel. Set in an alternate universe where Hitler has been killed and Stalin, with the USSR, has started invading the world, the game is based on the war between the Soviets and the Allies. It was designed as a prequel to the original Command & Conquer game, but it ended up being a spin-off, with two more Red Alert games coming in the following years.

The gameplay is similar compared to the first game, but the graphics and UI were enhanced, the balance was improved, the story and the units available extended.

Red Alert was a tremendous commercial and critical success, with more than 2 mln copies sold in the first 2 years, and extremely positive reviews (average higher than 90%). The game also won the title of Best Strategy/War Game at the Game Developer Conference.

Electronic Arts acquired Westwood Studios in 1998 and ten years later, in 2008, released Red Alert as freeware.