The campiness of Red Alert 2 continues full force, and is joined by an equal amount of cheesiness. The plot isn't bad, it just isn't very original, and the basis for it is something of a deus ex machina... or, in laymen's terms, it screams, "We're written into a corner, and we have no good way of getting out". This expansion has just about everybody from the game return. Their look is slightly altered, meaning, they all took a quick trip to the hair-dresser(with somewhat varying results), for no readily apparent reason(it even creates a glaring continuity error that could easily have been avoided). Dialog and acting are as campy as in the regular game. The cut-scenes are about the same quality they were in the game. Yuri's Revenge, as the title reveals, has Yuri return... as the main enemy of both campaigns. His side can also be played in multi-player. His arsenal includes some thoroughly unpleasant and highly unethical weapons, including biological war-fare. Did you like the mind-control of Red Alert 2? The developers of this add-on sure hope so. Not only do the Yuri clones and Yuri Prime return, the latter gets upgraded noticeably and they are joined by a building, a vehicle, heck, even a *superweapon* that can mind-control. The interesting thing about Yuri's side is that while what he does have is extremely useful and difficult to fight, there really isn't a lot of it. He only has one flying unit. He doesn't have a particularly powerful tank, like both Allied and Soviets do in both this and the main game. He lacks buildings that both his opponents have. As with the other two sides, use what he has right, and he can be excellent to play as. He has both a tank and a building which use a gattling cannon as their weapon, and this is a gun that I welcomed with open arms to an RTS title. It can shoot at both ground and airborne targets, and the longer it fires, the more rounds per minute, and the more powerful it gets. The campaigns are good. There are seven missions per side, and in some, you have access to the special units that the different countries get in multi-player. Both sides get a cool and interesting final level(and for how similar the story-lines are, they're actually surprisingly different, great in their own way, and the Soviet ending cut-scene is way more satisfying than in the game), and the level design in general is quite good. The way the missions were selected is fairly good, with one level having you play the other side of a battle you fought during Red Alert 2, several of them being interesting and all of them taking place, as with the main game, in real life locations. There is also much more of a definite connection between the occurrences in the intro(which, comparatively, is considerably less action-packed and awesome than that of the game) and the missions. The music isn't bad, but I wouldn't rate it as highly as that of the main game. The pace isn't as riveting, though some missions are really cool. There's one new bug in this expansion pack, but apart from that, most of the new things are improvements. There are some new features, mainly for multi-player, which makes it more enjoyable and makes for more customization before the matches start. The two returning sides get some more units. Soviets were somewhat in need, in particular, seeing as how Yuri getting his own side took away no less than two buildings and one unit. They get an Industrial Plant, which increases unit production(and works as a good counter to the Allied Ore Purifier, though that, I believe, was a counter in itself). They also get a Battle Bunker, which allows for garrisoning a small group of Conscripts(or other main infantry). As far as units go, they get a Siege Chopper, a helicopter that deploys into a cannon reminiscent of heavy artillery, and Boris, a unit that works basically like Tanya, only instead of two pistols, he uses, yep, you guessed it, an AK-47, and instead of C4, he calls in air-strikes, in a manner somewhat similar to using a Ghost to nuke the enemy in StarCraft. While Boris is definitely a cool and interesting addition, it doesn't make all that good sense for the Soviets to have a guerrilla style war-fare unit, what with their reliance on heavy hardware to get the job done(much like NOD in the Tiberium universe), but oh well. Both he and Tanya(who can now also use her C4 to instantly blow up vehicles) are put to reasonably good and entertaining use in the campaigns. The Soviets also get their Spy Plane back, which had taken an unexplained leave of absence since the first Red Alert, and it was definitely good to see the return of it. The Allies get one new building... the Robot Control Center. It enables them to build Robot Tanks, that float(letting them pass over water without thinking twice about it) and are utterly immune to mind-control. They also get Guardian GI's, infantry units that are uncrushable anti-aircraft/vehicle when deployed. However, the one that grants the player the most strategic possibilities is the Battle Fortress. This is like a merging of five IFV's. Five infantry units can be stored inside, and not only are they considerably safer from enemy fire in there, they can also shoot back. It also crushes just about anything in its path, including vehicles and walls(!). All sides get the Force Shield, which really isn't all that useful. It represents an attempt at giving the players defense against super-weapons, but I can't claim I've had much experience with the thing actually being much worth the minute of low power that follows, as opposed to either disabling any enemy-controlled super-weapons, or simply taking the hit. All in all, good expansion pack. I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed playing Red Alert 2. 7/10
