- Date: 11/03/2000 | Author: GammyLeg
Is Red Alert II Westwood’s solution to revive the Command and Conquer community? Sure, this is riding on a lot of circumstantial evidence, but this could be another reason for Red Alert 2.
The C&C community really began in an era between the releases of Red Alert and Tiberian Sun, with the excitement of Tiberian Sun. Tiberian Suns’ release marked the end of that era, and unfortunately disappointed many (myself excluded, I really love the game :), and the community came into what could almost be called a ‘depression’. I have analysed this and the reason the community was so great was because of Red Alert. When Westwood released Red Alert, while still using the Tiberian Dawn engine, and without much change in gameplay, it was a great game that was welcomed my millions. When Tiberian Sun fever came along, the fans expected the game to have all of the goods of Red Alert but with a new engine and hundreds of neat features. Unfortunately Westwood told the fans too many of the games possible features, and many got cut, causing disappointment.
What I think Westwood is trying to do is re-make the community, and use the success of Red Alert to attract more fans, and gain back the fans that didn’t like Tiberian Sun, but liked Red Alert. If they could have a community that was looking forward to a sequel of their favourite game, then Westwood would know exactly what to do as far as public relations and giving out information, and learn off the mistakes of Tiberian Sun, as it wasn’t the game that was bad, it was the hype that made the game look bad.
There is evidence against my theory however. For one, if Red Alert II was underway, then what game engine are Westwood going to use? Westwood announced that they were not going to use Tiberian Suns’ engine again, and I doubt very much that they have superior one just sitting around.
Personally, I like the chances of Red Alert 2, and it could just be what the C&C community needs to be what it once was.