Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge

Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
Developer(s)	Westwood Pacific
Publisher(s)	EA Games
Series	Command & Conquer
Version	1.001, 2001-11-12
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	NA October 10, 2001 EU October 19, 2001
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 15+ ESRB: T
Media/distribution	1 CD-ROM
System requirements Version of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000 266 MHz Processor 64 MB RAM 350 MB HDD space 4x CD-ROM Drive 2 MB video card DirectSound-compatible soundcard

Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge is an expansion pack to Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 developed by Westwood Studios. The game was released in North America on October 10, 2001^[1] by EA Games. The game is centered around the idea of a shadowy ex-Soviet figure named Yuri having established a secret army of his own and posing a threat to the free-will of the world.

Plot

Yuri's Crisis
Date 1973 Location United States, Europe, Australia, Antarctica, Egypt, Russia, Moon Result Allied version Allied Victory Allied-Soviet Alliance Treaty Capture of Yuri Soviet version Soviet victory Soviet Global Dominance Yuri`s Death
Belligerents
Allied:  United States  United Kingdom  France  Germany  Republic of Korea Allied-Soviet Alliance Forces	Yuri	Soviet:  Soviet Union  Iraq  Libya  Cuba

In Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge, the true story starts off assuming the Allies won in Red Alert 2. The plot is based around Yuri, the former head of the Soviet Psychic Corps, coming out of hiding to take over the world by using his Psychic Dominators. These devices have the power to mind control everyone in the world.

The game begins with a presidential briefing in the White House concerning Yuri and how he has begun his take over of the world through mind control. Yuri interrupts the briefing to explain how he plans to take over the world, telling the American President Michael Dugan that he has a network of Psychic Dominators around the world, which he is now beginning to reveal. One of Yuri's Psychic Dominators is on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, which Yuri activates just before ending his transmission to the White House. The President immediately calls in an airstrike on the device, but all the attacking aircraft were shot down, although one crashes into the nuclear reactor on the island, causing the device to lose power and to not function. Despite this, Yuri activates his other Psychic Dominators around the world and the majority of the planet quickly succumbs to Yuri's mind-control.

Allies

The Allied story begins with the player being sent to San Francisco to protect Albert Einstein's Time Machine, which the Allies plan to use to go back in time and prevent Yuri’s Psychic Dominators from ever coming online. The player must capture power plants in the city to power up the Time machine. Once enough power plants have been captured, the player successfully goes back in time, but arrives at the time that Soviet forces are first invading San Francisco. The Soviets are caught by surprise by Allied reinforcements from the future and the Psychic Dominator under construction on Alcatraz island is destroyed.

Anachronistic map of Allied and Soviet nations
Blue: Allied
Red: Soviet
*Yuri territory not shown

The player is informed that Los Angeles has fallen under Yuri’s control, and Yuri is using his Grinders to slaughter the city's population for raw materials. The Grinders and the rest of Yuri’s forces in the city are destroyed, liberating Los Angeles. With this vital loss, Yuri is forced to look for a new source of income, and finds the chairman of the Massivesoft Corporation (parodies of Bill Gates and the Microsoft Corporation, respectively) in Seattle. After receiving a plea from the CEO, General Carville, who is still alive in this alternate timeline, orders the player to free the Massivesoft Corporation and its CEO and to destroy the nuclear missile silo that Yuri had constructed in the city. The nuclear missile silo is quickly destroyed and the Massivesoft Campus is freed. No longer being forced to fund Yuri’s war effort, the CEO of the Massivesoft Corporation makes a "healthy donation” to the Allied war effort as thanks.

In the midst of these great victories, Yuri has captured Professor Albert Einstein and is forcing him to work on the Psychic Dominator at a base near the Great Pyramid (called the "Large Pyramid" ingame) so it can come online sooner. The Commander quickly goes to Egypt and frees Einstein before destroying Yuri’s Psychic Dominator and base there. Now in a very desperate situation, Yuri plans to kidnap several world leaders and replace them with mindless clones loyal to Yuri. By orders from General Carville, the player goes to Sydney, Australia, where Yuri’s cloning facility is located, and promptly destroys Yuri’s cloning facility and the rest of his forces.

After a long war on two fronts the Soviets are defeated and Yuri's armies are now beginning to fall back. Wishing to bring the war against Yuri to a quick conclusion, the Allies and Soviets consider joining forces. The two superpowers schedule a meeting to ratify a treaty in a top secret location. While informing the player of this, Lieutenant Lee falls under Yuri’s mind-control and reveals the location, Parliament Building in London, England, to Yuri. With this critical information now known to the enemy, General Carville bluntly orders the Commander to go to London and defend the Parliament Building at all costs. With the Commander’s protection, the treaty is ratified and signed and Soviet forces soon join the battle, destroying Yuri's London base. Lieutenant Lee is about to resign because of her failure to resist Yuri's mind control, but is interrupted by Carville who reminds her that many world leaders have been controlled by Yuri as well.

The Allies locate Yuri's last Psychic Dominator on Antarctic Peninsula, and promptly send in forces to eliminate this threat. They begin the operation at Tierra del Fuego by taking over an abandoned Soviet base. With the radar facilities there, a small Allied force is teleported into Antarctica by Chronosphere. An Allied base is set up in Antarctica and Yuri’s base and remaining forces are destroyed.

With Yuri now defeated, he is locked away in a specially designed cell that Albert Einstein created, a Psychic Isolation Chamber, where he "won't be able to mind-control a fly". At that moment, the timelines of Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge begin to merge. As Professor Einstein explains, "One series of events must take precedence over the other." The alternate timeline becomes the new reality; General Carville is alive and Yuri's plans remain foiled.

Soviet

The Soviet story begins with the remnants of the Soviets discovering the Allied plan to go back in time. The opportunity to capture the Allied Time Machine, would allow the Soviet Union to regain its former power. A Soviet strike team goes into San Francisco and manages to capture the Allied Time machine, which unfortunately has insufficient power, so the player must capture four power plants in the city. Once enough power plants are under Soviet control, the player goes back in time, but due to the over efficiency of Soviet engineers the machine travels back in time too much, to the time of the dinosaurs. The player defends the Time Machine from attacking Tyrannosaurus Rexes until it recharges. Once the Time Machine is recharged, the player arrives at the time that Soviet forces are first invading San Francisco. The player quickly assumes command of the Soviet base in the city and then destroys Yuri's Psychic Dominator, while it is still under construction on Alcatraz Island.

With the successful time shift, the Soviet forces from the future take special papers back to Moscow to inform the Soviet leadership of how the Soviets lost the war and of the threat Yuri poses. Premier Alexander Romanov tells the Commander to go to the Black Forest in Germany and destroy Einstein’s laboratory and prototype Chronosphere, a device with that can transport troops anywhere in the world (At Red Alert 2, there is an Allied campaign that requires the player to defend the laboratory and Chronosphere from Soviet assault). The Commander promptly destroys this potential Allied threat before it can become a real problem, causing the Allies to retreat on all fronts.

Meanwhile, Soviet intelligence has discovered that Yuri has built a Psychic Beacon in London, England and, as a result, the Allied forces there now fight for Yuri. To stop this, the player goes to London and frees the Allies from Yuri’s mind-control. However Yuri has created a base and Psychic Dominator in London, but the player soon destroys Yuri’s forces in the area. The Soviets do not consider the Allied forces their allies, though the Allied forces do.

Soon after this victory, Premier Romanov’s plane is shot down over Casablanca, Morocco. The "Comrade General" is sent to the city to find and rescue Romanov before Yuri's forces do. Romanov is found and appears to be having a great time. He is transported to the only airport in the area after it is brought under Soviet control. With Romanov rescued, the Commander then proceeds to an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean where Yuri has set up a submarine base. After landing on the island, the Commander destroys Yuri’s submarine base and all his remaining forces.

After the battle is over, it is revealed that Yuri also had a launch facility on the island, which still has a rocket ready for launch that is programmed to go to the Moon. The Soviets use this rocket to send forces with a limited amount of credits, led by the player, to the Moon where they destroy Yuri’s base, which he planned to go to after he was in control of the world. In this battle the forces the Commander can recruit are limited but compensated by the new Kosmonaut units.

Losing ground on all theatres of operation, Yuri takes refuge in a castle located in his ancestral home of Transylvania. Romanov orders the player to Yuri’s hideout and to "crush him beneath the stones". Once in Transylvania, it is discovered that Yuri has built two Psychic Beacons, used to control an Allied and a Soviet presence in the area. The player then sets up a base and launches a massive attack on Yuri’s forces. The castle is successfully destroyed and Yuri is assumed to have been defeated once and for all.

However, Yuri had survived the destruction of his castle in the dungeon. A special transmission from Yuri shows that he had stolen the Time Machine from San Francisco, to travel back in time so that "the world and all its history is Yuri’s to command and conquer". But this is thwarted by Lieutenant Zofia, who quickly changes the destination of the Time Machine to the early Cretaceous and depleting all the power reserves of the Time Machine. Yuri is stranded in time and is implied that he is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. With Yuri's destruction assured, the Soviets take complete control of the world and begin to expand communism into the far reaches of space.

Cast and characters

Main articles: Allied characters of Command & Conquer and Soviet characters of Command & Conquer

In Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge, there are a wide array of characters portrayed through Full Motion Videos. The main characters in the game are Lt. Eva, Lt. Zofia, Premier Alexander Romanov, Professor Albert Einstein, President Michael Dugan, General Carville, Yuri, and Agent Tanya Adams. All of the characters on the Allied and Soviet sides have a hatred for Yuri and do all they can to assist in the demise of the madman. As they go back in time, Yuri tries to either capture or mind control several characters to do his bidding and compromise that sides defences. However, every time a response is able to swiftly ensure no damage was done.

In their role in the game, Premier Alexander Romanov and President Michael Dugan are the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States of America. Lt. Eva and Lt. Zofia are the debriefing and intelligence gatherers of both sides. Their mission is to assist the commander (the player) in knowing what exactly the mission is and where. General Carville and Tanya Adams are both in the military of the United States. Carville is a top ranking General who is a major force against Yuri and Tanya Adams is a special forces agent. Their efforts are key to the demise of Yuri. Lastly, Yuri is the main antagonist of the game. In both campaigns, he is defeated, in one by a dinosaur, and he is captured in the other one by combined Allied and Soviet military might.

Gameplay

The core gameplay for Yuri's Revenge is very similar to that of its predecessor, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. The objective of the game is to gather resources while training an army to defend the player's base and attack the player's enemies.

Additions

The expansion presents two new campaigns, one for Allies and one for the Soviet Union, each 7 missions long. The missions feature some technical elements absent from Red Alert 2, for example time travel that makes certain missions take place on several different maps. A new faction introduced in Yuri's Revenge, Yuri, is present in both campaigns as the main antagonist and is playable in multiplayer mode.

Several new units have been added to the Allied and Soviet armies. Yuri's faction is composed of mostly new units and buildings, but also retains the former Soviet technologies of psychic technology and Cloning Vats. His units generally rely on unconventional tactical elements such as their characteristic mind-control.

The factions present in Red Alert 2 also receive new features. Allies gain the new anti-tank infantry Guardian GI, Robot Tanks that are immune to psychic attacks, and Battle Fortress tanks that can be used as mobile bunkers for infantry as well as crushing enemy vehicles. The Soviets receive a new defensive structure Battle Bunker that allows infantry to fortify inside, and a new commando unit, Boris, capable of defeating most ground units with his AKM and destroying buildings by calling airstrikes. Having lost their Cloning Vats and psychic units to Yuri, the Soviets now have access to a new building, Industrial Plant, that reduces the price and building time of land vehicles and ships. During the Moon mission, both Yuri and the Soviets can train Cosmonauts, a slightly modified version of the Allied Rocketeers.

Various special weapons were also added: Force fields that become available upon constructing the Battle lab make buildings on a small area temporarily invulnerable while cutting the entire power supply of the user. Soviets have access to Spy planes that can explore territory but may be intercepted. Yuri can use his Psychic radar to reveal territory, and has access to the superweapons Genetic mutator and Psychic dominator that are about as powerful as the Weather Control Device of the Allies and the Soviet Nuclear missiles.

The concept of "tech buildings" present in Red Alert 2 was expanded on in Yuri's Revenge. As in Red Alert 2, capturing tech buildings gives the player access to various bonuses, but new buildings were added and some of the old ones were modified to be more beneficial. New tech buildings include power plants, machine shops for automatic healing for vehicles and ships, and secret laboratories for unlocking weaponry otherwise not available to the player's faction.

Balancing

The multiplayer community has established Yuri to be superior to the other factions at all levels of play, due primarily to his unique ability to immobilize entire advancing armies with Magnetrons and Masterminds, as well as the more efficient resource income from the Slave Miner compared to the miners of the other two factions. Many have gone so far as to ban Yuri's forces from matches altogether for their unbalancing effect. However, the faction also has significant weaknesses, with Slave Miners easily put to almost uselessness with a sniper unit, and having a lack of naval units and air units, only a submarine and a flying saucer.

Reception

Yuri's Revenge has received mostly positive reviews. IGN gave the game 8.6 out of 10, saying that it "gives a really excellent game some really impressive enhancements."^[2] The lack of a single player campaign for Yuri's army was noted as a weakness. GameSpot said that "All its new features combine to make Yuri's Revenge ideal or even downright necessary for anyone who enjoyed Red Alert 2", and awarded 8.5 out of 10.^[1] GameRankings reports an average score of 85% based on 31 reviews.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge for PC - Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge PC Game". GameSpot. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
2. ^ Butts, Steve (October 9, 2001). "Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge". IGN. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
3. ^ "Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge". GameRankings. Retrieved 2010-03-28.

External links