Try To Get The Enemies Attention, Me And The Lads Are Going To Try Something (C&C - Yuris Revenge (PC))

Name: Guile176

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Product:	C&C - Yuris Revenge (PC)
Date:	08/04/03 (951 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Best game ever, The Brits rule

Disadvantages: France can be far too cheap in the hands of a skilled player, Online cheaters, Stupid CPU AI offline.

The original Red Alert 2 was probably the first game that truly
peaked my interest in PC games. I have always been a huge fan of the
real time strategy genre, and was a huge fan of the Command and
Conquer series on consoles such as the PS1 and Saturn. Red Alert 2
however, drew me in unlike any of the previous Command and Conquer
titles. It did so much right, and so little wrong. Many people cried
it was too similar to the first game, and that it wasn't much of a
sequel. Well, those people obviously haven't invested the time that
I have into the 2 titles. Ultimately, Red Alert 2 not only became my
favorite PC game of all time but I also considered it to be one of
the greatest games ever made. Naturally, I was as gitty as a school
girl when I first heard about the new expansion for RA2 called
Yuri's Revenge. Still, I wondered how they can make an already A +
title any better. Well, I realized just how much when I got Yuri's
Revenge last fall, when it was released.

Ok so what exactly does Yuri's Revenge add to the original RA2
that's so good? First and foremost, a whole new faction to play as
has been added. Yuri, who was a major character in RA2 now has his
own side, along with an entire new arsenal of toys to use and
buildings to build. He is also not only completely unique from the
Soviet or Allied sides, but feels nothing like any other faction I
have ever used in a RTS game. Yuri's main focus for play doesn't
rely on brute strength and heavily armored vehicles, but rather a
mix of heavy strategy and a little bit of cheapness.


For structures, Yuri has perhaps the quickest building of the 3
sides. Unlike the Allies or Soviets Yuri has no Ore Refinery
structures. Instead Yuri gathers cash via mobile refineries called
Slave Miners. These Slave miners have light machine guns, heavy
armor and a numerous little slaves which go out and harvest the ore.
If the Slave Miner should happen to get destroyed then the slaves
will fight for whoever freed them. Not too much of a bonus since
their combat ability borderlines on useless.

For base defense, Yuri has machine gun turrets which can hit either
ground or air targets. The longer these guns shoot the faster and
more powerful they get. These guns can also save you a ton of cash,
since they take care of both ground and air defense unlike the other
2 factions which have to build separate structures. These turrets
however, have 1 major weakness in that their range is very short and
can be knocked out easily by Allied Prism Tanks.

Yuri also stays true to his psychic roots, and can build Psychic
towers which will posses any unit which gets close enough to them.
Yuri is not a side you care to send paratrooper units in on, or
attempt an Engineer or SEAL rush to.

For units, Yuri's arsenal is pretty lightly armored and not too
powerful. What these units lack in armor and strength however is
made up for in cheapness. Some of the units Yuri can build are
things such as light mobile machine gun tanks similar to his machine
gun towers, light Lasher Tanks, Magnetrons, which can levitate enemy
vehicles and draw them close, Master b
rains which can possess and
control nearby enemy units and Flying Disk. These disk are amongst
some of the most useful units in the game. They may have fairly weak
attack power but they more then make up for it if you manage to get
one over an opponents power plant. By placing a disk over their
power plant, they will lose all their power until the disk is
destroyed. This also means any type of fixed anti air power will be
taken offline. Better build some mobile AA, if you want any chance of
winning.

Finally, Yuri's infantry units are pretty unique as well. He can
build powerful troops called Brutes, which more then resemble the
Incredible Hulk. Then there's sniper units called Viruses. A Virus
is somewhat similar to the British sniper, but with the exception
that she doesn't instantly kill enemy infantry, but rather slowly
kills them with a virus cloud which can affect close by units.
Finally there's Yuri Clones and Yuri Prime. Yuri Clones can simply
only posses close by enemy mobile units, but Yuri Prime cannot only
do that but he can take over buildings as well. If you manage to
take over the building then its yours until Yuri Prime is killed.
You can either use the building as your own or sell it for some
quick cash. Yuri Prime is the Yuri Factions star unit, and like Tanya
and Boris, you can build only one. However, if you
happen to have a cloning vat, then 2 Yuri Primes can be built.

Now for the Allies. The Allies have everything they had in RA2, as
well as some valuable new units. First off is the Guardian GI's
Th
ese cost twice as much as regular infantry but are well worth it.
They are slow and carry 2 weapons, a standard machine gun and a
rocket launcher which can be activated by entrenching them. These
rocket launchers have the ability to target air units and work like
a charm against enemy tanks. Other new units are Robot Tanks and
Battle Fortresses.
Robot Tanks are lightly armored unmanned tanks, which can hover over
water and cannot be posses by any of Yuri's psychic units or
weapons. These tanks also function off your bases power, so if you
happen to get your power knocked offline then these tanks go to
sleep until its reactivated. The Battle Fortress has got to be one
of the most valuable new units in the game. It's more or less a big
customizable tank which can roll over enemy tanks crushing them. Its
customizable in the fact that you can put up to 5 different infantry
units inside of it. The units attack will vary, depending on what
exactly goes into it. My selection of choice is 3 Guardian GI's, a
Sniper (when im using the Brits), and a Chrono Legionnaire.

The Soviets have gotten a few new cool units but unfortunately have
lost the ability to build both Cloning Vats and Yuri Clone's. Their
new units somewhat make up for this loss, but I still can't
help but feel the Soviets got ripped off slightly. First off, they
can build all new Siege Choppers. These are standard attack choppers
which can transform into ground based artillery. They can be very
dangerous, and very annoying if you allow your opponent to take the
higher ground with them. S
econd, the Soviets can now build Battle
Bunkers. Battle Bunkers can be fortified with Soviet Conscripts, to
give them greater attack power and higher defense. These are ok, but
not a structure i'd invest too much cash into. Soviets also have the
ability to send in Spy Planes, to help reveal more of the map. These
things are pretty limited in use though, and tend to get shot down
easy. The Soviets can build their own Star unit called Boris. Boris
has excellent attack power such as Tanya or SEALs but he can also
call in Air Strikes if you can get in close enough to an enemy
building. These are pretty useless however since the MIGs that
arrive are easily shot down and take a little time to get there. It
also tips the person off just as to what's being targeted as the
structure glows red while waiting for the air strike to arrive.

Finally the Soviets are allowed to build a much needed Industrial
Plant which not only reduces the prices of all units built but gives
them faster build times as well.



Other new additions to the game, are 3 new civilian structures which
can be taken over by Engineers. The first is a Civilian Power Plant
which can give your base a nice power boost. The second is a Machine
Shop, which works the same as the hospital except it heal armored
units rather then infantry. And finally theirs the Secret Tech Lab.
Capturing this lab will give you the ability to build a random unit,
which your side ordinarily can't build.

For gameplay, you pretty much get the same options as before. There's
your single players Story
mode in which you can play through as
either the Allies or Soviets. Sadly Yuri is not available to use in
this mode. Then there's your single player Skirmish mode in which
you can chose any map you like as well as your team and your
opponents. However the Skirmish mode isn't really all that good. The
CPU always resorts to cheap rush tactics and more often then not
does a very poor job of it.

Finally, like the standard RA2 you can play Yuri's Revenge over the
net. This is my preferred way to play, as every match is different
and every opponent must be played with a different strategy.
Cheaters aren't too much of a problem. I've encountered a single
cheater since I first got this game last fall. There are some really
good players on here so if your new to online play then don't
automatically assume another player is cheating if their wiping you
out. Playing online and playing against the CPU are 2 totally
different things.

Anyway, new additions to online play are not only a slew of new maps,
but the fact that you can now pick your starting position and team,
before the match begins. This is ultra helpful when setting games
up. Unfortunately, a majority of the players i've seen are too stupid
to understand you, when you tell them to pick their starting
position. The final new addition to the online part of the game is
that the game now supports up to 6 human players in a single game. I
however prefer no more then 2 since when playing 6 there always
seems to be 1 player with a bad connection that always gets
discon
nected and ruins the game for everyone. Still, the 6 player
option is there if you like it.

My only real gripe about the online is the tournament games.
Tournaments are played via quick games, which you are not allowed to
set the rules on. This means that ultra cheap Superweapons are
automatically set on. Anyone who's played Red Alert 2, knows that
these weapons take very little skill to use, and games often come
down to who can get one built first. Even the worst of players, can
easily take out half of a good opponents base with ease using these.


Graphically things aren't really any different from the original
RA2. This however, isn't a bad things since RA2 had already
impressive 2D graphics to begin with. The only real new graphic
feature that really comes to mind, is being able to play the game in
a higher resolution. I don't believe the original had this and I
personally don't care for it as it makes the graphics ultra tiny.

Soundwise things have taken a turn for the better. The music is
still the same generic rock/techno type beats and the sound effects
all pretty much sound the same but Westwood has added a ton of new
unit voices. No longer do many of the units sound the same but now
each unit has their own unique voice when you activate them. I
particularly like the voice when using the Battle Fortress. The
driver sounds kind of like a Crazed Battle Dwarf.

Overall, Yuri's Revenge is perhaps the greatest video game i've ever
laid my hands on. Playing online has got to be the most addictive
gaming experience
i've ever had. I've been playing at least 2-3
hours a day nearly every day since I got this expansion last fall. I
highly recommend this title to anyone who loved RA2 or real time
strategy games in general. Great job Westwood. I can't wait for the
next expansion to this already near perfect title.

Summary: