Command & Conquer: Red Alert - The Aftermath

With The Release Of Command & Conquer 2: Tiberian Sun still months off (next Summer, if you're lucky), this Red Alert mission disc is essentially just a stopgap release from Westwood Studios' action-strategy department. Or 'yet another' stop-gap release. For as you may well remember, we've already seen one mission disc in the form of Counterstrike.

Actually, come to think of it, wasn't Red Alert itself something of a stopgap too? It may have introduced a different storyline, new units and buildings, hi-res graphics and so on, but it was still Command ft Conquer underneath wasn't it? And let's not forget that Westwood released a mission disc (The Covert Operations) for Command & Conquer too. If you've bought the lot, you may well have already spent over $100 on what is essentially one game (albeit a very good one).

So is it worth spending yet another $15? Probably not, to be honest. Just like Counterstike, The Aftermath offers 18 new missions (plus 100-odd new multi-player maps), but once again there's no on-going campaigns, no new cut-scenes and, most disappointing of all, the missions are still merely variations of what are by now very, very familiar themes: Get a spy into base, take on the enemy with one unit, defend a pre-built base, rescue captives, destroy radar sites...you've seen it all before.

There are, however, seven smart new toys in the cupboard, including demolition trucks (atomic bombs on wheels), field mechanics (roving medics for vehicle repairs), shock troopers (soldiers armed with portable tesla coils) and MAD Tanks (which send out harmonic shock waves, damaging everything within a screen's radius).

These additional units can be used in multi-player matches (provided each player has a copy of the disc), and this alone puts The Aftermath ahead of Counterstrike (where, to the annoyance of many punters, this option wasn't available). The repercussions are too complex to go into here, but the new units have a huge effect on tactics, giving the player numerous new attacking options and causing even more defensive headaches. Hell, it's almost like having a whole new game! Kind of.

It's a predictable summary, I know, but The Aftermath is only going to appeal to die-hard Red Alert fans. And even then, only really to those who play it against others on a semi-regular basis. If you're anything like us, though, you will have moved on to something new by now, such as Cavedog's Total Annihilation. By the way, Cavedog are providing free unit upgrades via their website.