Command & Conquer: Red Alert vs Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a strategy game from Westwood Studios (1996) while Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a strategy game from Westwood Studios (2000).
Quick answer: Command & Conquer: Red Alert has the higher Metacritic, 90 to 84.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
What each one is
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is filed under Strategy. In contrast, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 under Strategy.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy video game in the Command & Conquer franchise, developed and published by Westwood Studios in 1996. The second game to bear the Command & Conquer title, Red Alert is the prequel to the original Command & Conquer of 1995, and takes place in the alternate early history of Command & Conquer when Allied Forces battle an aggressive Soviet Union for control over the European mainland.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a real-time strategy video game released for Microsoft Windows on October 25, 2000, as the follow-up to Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Red Alert 2 picks up after the Allied campaign of the first game. Its expansion pack is Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge, released a year later in 2001. Red Alert 2 was principally developed by Westwood Pacific in collaboration with Westwood Studios.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Command Conquer: Red Alert takes place in a parallel universe. At the Trinity Site in New Mexico in 1946, Albert Einstein prepares to travel back in time. He activates his experimental time machine and returns to Landsberg , Germany , on December 20, 1924, where he meets Adolf Hitler just after the latter's release from Landsberg Prison . (Wikipedia)
Reception
Sales In the United States, Command Conquer: Red Alert debuted at No. 2 on PC Data 's computer game sales chart for November 1996, behind Microsoft Flight Simulator . Following a third-place finish in December, it became the United States' seventh-best-selling computer game of 1996 as a whole. (Wikipedia)
Plot
Setting Like previous Command Conquer real-time strategy games, Command Conquer: Red Alert 2 contains two separate campaigns with distinct story lines, one for each playable faction. Red Alert 2 is set in the same alternative history universe as Red Alert in which Adolf Hitler was erased from history by Albert Einstein who travelled to the past through a Time Machine. However, although Hitler is gone, the Soviet Union has taken place of Nazi Germany to… (Wikipedia)
Characters
Ray Wise as President Michael Dugan Barry Corbin as Gen. Ben Carville Kari Wuhrer as Special Agent Tanya Adams Athena Massey as Lt. Eva Lee Larry Gelman as Albert Einstein Nicholas Worth as Premier Alexander Romanov Udo Kier as Yuri Adam Gregor as Gen. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Sales In the United States, Red Alert 2 debuted at No. 1 on PC Data 's computer game sales chart for the October 22–28 period. Holding the position in its second week, the title became October's ninth-biggest computer game seller, according to PC Data. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Command & Conquer: Red Alert | Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | — | — |
| Steam rating | — | — |
| Critic aggregate | 90/100 | 84/100 |
| Price | Unknown | Unknown |
| Install size | — | — |
| Steam Deck | Untested | Untested |
| Released | 1996 | 2000 |
| Developer | Westwood Studios | Westwood Studios |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert vs Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Command & Conquer: Red AlertStrategy gameCommand & Conquer: Red Alert 2Strategy gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Command & Conquer: Red AlertNo descriptive tagsCommand & Conquer: Red Alert 2No descriptive tagsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Command & Conquer: Red Alert ✓Metacritic 90Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2Metacritic 84Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Price
Command & Conquer: Red AlertUnknownCommand & Conquer: Red Alert 2UnknownRead live from Steam and subject to change.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: Command & Conquer: Red Alert (Metacritic 90)
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Command & Conquer: Red Alert is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
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Common questions
How different are Command & Conquer: Red Alert and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 in scope?
Command & Conquer: Red Alert lists little scope data. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 lists little scope data.
Is Command & Conquer: Red Alert or Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, Command & Conquer: Red Alert or Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Command & Conquer: Red Alert or Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2?
Command & Conquer: Red Alert has the higher Metacritic, 90 to 84. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.