NOLAG Lans

Have you ever wondered what would happen to the world if Hitler was killed by time travelling scientists before he had a chance to rise to power? No…yeah, me neither. That is the exact premise however, of Westwood’s 1996 Real-Time Strategy (RTS) smash hit, Command and Conquer: Red Alert. Though a sequel to the landmark RTS Command and Conquer (see the abandonware article here), the storylines are difficult at best to draw connections between. With the exception of a couple of hints being dropped in a few of the games many beautifully done cinematics, there is really nothing to connect the struggle between GDI and NOD of Command and Conquer (C&C) and the fallout created by time traveling present in Command and Conquer: Red Alert. What you do have however, is a damn fine game and this week’s Abandonware pick.

The Red Alert’s premise is that after the aforementioned time-travelling assassination, Joseph Stalin basically takes over the role of Hitler and invades Western Europe. While the merits of such a “what-if” scenario are highly debatable (and as a history major, I could argue somewhat reasonable), it suffices in doling out excuses to play as the game’s two factions, the Soviet Union and the Allies. The two factions, though comparative in play style, have wildly different tactics, with the Soviet Union favoring air power and heavy armor while the Allies favor speed, stealth, and Naval power. Despite Red Alert’s suito historical setting, the game is unafraid of introducing Tesla (Electrical) weapons, Time shifters, and a slew of other less than historical technologies.

As far as gameplay goes, Red Alert, follows the tried and true Command and Conquer (and most RTS games at the time for that matter) method of building up base, amassing an army, and kicking the other guy’s ass. While the game does make some innovations over the original like stuff that manipulates fog of war and weather anomalies being created from over use of time shifting, the game more or less sticks to the C&C formula with a few tweaks and a nice graphical facelift. With that said, the original C&C was an absolute kick ass game and everything that made it great is present in Red Alert as well. From the highly refined and polished gameplay to the amazing Frank Klepacki soundtrack (Red Alert’s song Hell March was featured on MTV and is still listened to today, especially in military circles), Red Alert is one of the few sequels that not only does its predecessor justice in every sense of the word, but expands and innovates the formula as well. If you are a fan of the newer C&C games or just and RTS fan in general, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Download it here.

Before I start, I am going to assume that everyone reading this has at least a passing knowledge of the game Chess. For those of you that don’t, please go to Google and type into the search engine “Chess”, and read the first five results. Even if you don’t have an in-depth knowledge of the game, you must have remembered that growing up; the arrogant, rich kids always seemed to be the first to learn this game. Oh, look at me, I moved an oddly shaped piece of wood across a board of squares, both of which bear a “manufactured in China” engraving; I’m so refined. Considering I learned the game at the age of four, you would assume that I would be placed in this category along with overcompensating, snot-noses. To assume this would be false however, for what I played made these so-called “overachievers” look like the kids who decide to sleep at the base of the playground’s biggest slide. Hell, what I played even put the kids who played the Chessmaster line of games to shame, for I played Battle Chess 4000, a beautiful little title and this week’s abandonware game.

Battle Chess 4000, which was produced and published by Interplay in 1994, is actually the third in the popular Battle Chess series of games, but definitely the most graphically up to date of the titles and, in my opinion, by far the most entertaining. So what is Battle Chess 4000? Well, as the name implies, at its core its chess, plain and simple. The same traditional rules apply here, with Red and Blue replacing the traditional White and Black Colors and all the pieces are identical in play style. A graphical change is immediately apparent, as everything has a Sci-fi vibe to it, with Knights resembling Flash Gordon, Rooks as transforming robots, and pawns as slime like Martians. Additionally, the board is a semi-translucent and imposed over a star field.

What really sets this game apart from other chess games however, becomes apparent as soon as one piece captures another. Rather than one piece simply taking another’s place, the two pieces engage in a small battle animation layered with humor and pop culture references (everything from Monty Python to Rambo) that are very entertaining to watch. You will see everything from a knight defeating a queen with his garlic breath to an arms buildup between two Rooks ending with one tripping the other, causing him to be consumed in the explosion created by his weapons impacting the ground. All are entertaining and while you may bore of the game, I guarantee that you will keep playing just to see all the animations. Really, this game can be best compared to that crazy chess game briefly seen in Star Wars Episode IV, which was the vibe I got the first time I played this (later I learned that that scene served as the inspiration for the Battle Chess series).

As far as chess goes, you really can’t go wrong with this game, as it somehow manages to make the game better without sacrificing the time honored rules which make Chess so engaging to play to this day, despite their being so many other games being available now. You can download it here.

Now I know that any fan of Real-Time Strategy (RTS) worth his command lasso will know this game. The big C&C, released in 1995 by Westwood Studios for PC, and later to of all things, the N64, it quickly set the RTS world on fire. Using a game system similar to Westwood’s previous RTS hit, Dune 2, C&C was built upon sound game mechanics, with the player responsible for establishing a base, harvesting resources, and kicking the crap out of the opposing team(s). What set the game apart however, was that building were pre-constructed in a toolbar representing t mobile construction yard and then placed on the field, the game’s iconic resource, Tiberian, was toxic to infantry, and the two playable factions, GDI and NOD, were very different. Unlike previous RTS games, where factions were very similar *cough* Warcraft: Orcs & Humans *cough*, the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and Brotherhood of NOD were not only sharply divided, with GDI favoring heavy, slow units while NOD focused on fast vehicles and stealth technology, but well defined in terms of lore, with GDI representing the united military forces of the world and NOD as a united terrorist organization led by the iconic Kane, who uses misinformation and Tibierian in the hopes of world domination. Okay, so the story was definitely cheesy, but the live action cinematic videos worked damn it, and the story still continues in EA’s recent Command and Conquer: Tiberian Wars game.

Beside the excellent and atmospheric gameplay, the soundtrack stood head and shoulders above other games of the time and arguable, still does today. Composed by the now legendary game musician Frank Klepacki, C&C’s epic industrial and electronic tracks added to the game’s atmosphere and pumped you up to go kick some NOD ass (I was always GDI for the record). The music was much more than the traditional 16 bit tracks of the consoles and, despite the game having been released 15 years ago, has still earned its place in my mp3 alongside the Unreal Tournament(s) soundtracks.

There isn’t really much else to say. If you have ever enjoyed an RTS, you owe it to yourself to check out this game, as the rich atmosphere, iconic units and lore, and grade A kick-ass soundtrack will be well worth your time. Sure, the game mechanics have certainly come a long way since 1995, but for any fan of the new Command & Conquer 3: Tiberian Wars, the soundtrack certainly hasn’t (the writer of this article recognizes the awesomeness that is the soundtracks of everything up to and including Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2). The only question you need to ask yourself now is why have you not started downloading it already? To download click here

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you combined Tetris like puzzle patterns with frantic 8- player Real-Time Strategy (RTS) battles? No, well neither did I…until I played Netstorm: Islands at War.

Produced by the appropriately named Titanic Entertainment and published by Activision in 1997, this wildly underrated game proved to be a financial flop, but a design masterpiece. So much so that the game servers, after having been shut down in 2002, were revived by the game community and continue to thrive to this day. But you are probably wondering what makes this game so great, aside from being free of course. The answer to that can be summed up in one word, innovation.

Taking place on Nimbus, a series of floating islands, you play as a religious faction, worshiping one of three different gods (or fury as the game calls them), representing rain, thunder, and lightning. The goal of the game is two incapacitate your opponent’s priest, of whom every player is given one, and then take him to your altar to be sacrificed by your priest. Now this is easier said than done, as unlike most RTS games, this game is not all about massing units and swarming your opponent. Rather, the game limits you to only a handful of units that can be controlled, of which virtually none can be used offensively, except to retrieve enemy priests and storm crystals (the game’s resources). In lieu of units, Netstorm requires that players carefully place defensive and offensive structures to destroy your opponent’s structures and inevitably allow one of your few units to walk in and carry them off.

In terms of structures, the game gives you a wide diversity of weather related weapons, ranging from icicle cannons and gyrocopters to towers that spawn Lightning spewing Jellyfish (though these units simply make a beeline for the enemy and cannot be commanded or micromanaged). Careful placement of buildings is key, as they vary in angle of fire and range. You will quickly find however, that land is in short supply, what with the whole world consisting of a few floating islands. Furthermore, you will find that the game’s single resource, Storm Crystals, are in geysers randomly scattered around the map. So how do you access these geysers and your opponent’s islands…why with bridges of course!

Now this is where the Tetris part of the game comes in. Basically, you constantly given a choice of one of four or five bridge pieces to lay down , with the condition being that they may only be attached to either your island or to an open end of a current bridge. The variety of shapes however, means that some forethought must be put into laying bridges, lest you wish for your bridges to be coiled up messes that go to nowhere. The addition of randomly selected bridge pieces replacing the piece you just laid in your selection of future pieces means that all those hours of Tetris will finally come in handy for than impressing you Easter European friends. Additionally, buildings can be constructed on the open edges of bridges, adding another layer of strategy when laying bridges. When you add in the fact that bridges deteriorate with time and the potential use of your bridges by your opponent, you have one frantic multiplayer match.

The game is strictly built around multiplayer play, with the single player acting as more of a tutorial than anything else, which was quite different from any RTS games at the time. This is further compounded by that fact that when you first start playing, you will be severely limited in the number of structures available to you, with new structures and units only becoming available as you play more online matches. This prevents you from being overwhelmed with choice early on and encourages online play, though definitely gives a leg up to experienced players. But don’t let this deter you from playing this wonderfully unique little game, as it’s unlike anything made, not only at the time but to this day as well.

Download it here