13. Command & Conquer: Red Alert. 20 Best Classic PC Strategy Games

By today's standards of political correctness, Red Alert was a pretty bold game.

So far we had two distinct teams shining in the RTS field, Ensemble Studios and Blizzard, the undisputed elite of the 1990s. Now it's time to introduce the next heavyweight contender – I give you Westwood and its Red Alert.

Let's conduct a thought experiment: imagine for a moment that, in 1946, Albert Einstein invents a way to travel through time, then moves some 20 years into the past and kills Adolf Hitler... Such a turn of events, greatly benefits Joseph Stalin, who, at the head of the Soviet Union, sets out to conquer Europe, challenging the Allied forces and starting a new global conflict.

While the story sounds like the script of a very bad C movie, it is in fact the story background of one of the most iconic strategy games in the history of gaming. Red Alert has a well-deserved place in the memory of an entire generation of gamers who, in 1996, decided how this crazy vision of alternative history would turn out.

STALIN IN FLAGRANTI BETWEEN MISSIONS

The entire Command & Conquer series was famous for presenting its plot through live-action cut-scenes. In Red Alert, each side of the conflict had about 45 minutes of footage for itself, which, when put together, gave a nearly full-length feature film. To this day you can find such compilations on YouTube, but it is worth remembering that the game didn't took itself seriously and the whole thing was kept in the convention of satire. Let us add that this is was a rather bold satire, so don't be surprised to see Stalin having fun in bed with his mistress, the head of the NKVD.

The game offered only two sides of the conflict, which differed significantly from each other, and each had its own substantial and story-packed campaign. Importantly, contrary to popular opinion, Red Alert wasn't a simple game either. It is true that many players relied on the tactic of producing as many units as possible and flooding enemy bases with them. However, if one went into details, it quickly became apparent that the different types of our subordinates countered each other, and in order to play effectively against a living opponent, we needed something more than a mass of cannon fodder.