Red Alert 2

PC

Westwood

Due later this year

Review: Peter Eley

Wasn't Tiberian Sun meant to be the sequel to Red Alert? Obviously not, as Westwood has decided that you can't have too much of a good thing.

They've certainly milked the success of the original Command & Conquer, with Red Alert, the clone-like Dune 2000, Tiberian Sun, and numerous expansion packs.

All have been good games, some even outstanding, but Tiberian Sun showed signs of tiredness. What, more minerals to harvest, more tanks to build and more bases to destroy? Give it a rest.

So what new features will Red Alert 2 have to tempt those jaded real-time strategy fans?

Judging by Westwood's early screenshots, the graphics are better than Tiberian Sun's - especially the units and bases. The terrain seems simpler and the scale much bigger.

Many familiar weapons and units are still there. The Allies have machinegunners, light tanks, spies, that female "Rambo" Tanya, and chronospheres.

The Russians - the Red in Alert - still have Tesla towers, vicious attack dogs and Scud missiles.

But there are lots of new weapons, too. The Allies have a storm generator as their most potent weapon, while the Russians now have a much more powerful nuclear capacity.

The puny power of these in earlier games was laughable - all they did was damage or destroy single buildings or small groups of units.

Now it seems that will do some real damage and radioactive fallout will be a problem, too.

The naval capacity has also been increased, and both sides will be able to pound each other's bases from long distance.

This fixes a flaw in the original - the Allies cruisers could pound Russian bases into submission, and there wasn't any real answer to their power.

Hopefully the artificial intelligence will be better and stop single units or small groups attacking impregnable bases.

And let's hope, too, that Westwood will allow saves in skirmish mode, and perhaps even include a random map option.