Tag: c&c

Command & Conquer Red Alert – Rebuilt for the modern era

I used to play Command & Conquer Red Alert a lot back in the 90ties. Great game I really enjoyed. Interesting I play Red Alert now with my kids even more. The 2, 3 or 4 of us against one or two bots. Lots of fun. Thanks for the devs from OpenRA.net this is possible on new systems in higher resolutions.

What is OpenRA?

OpenRA is an open-source real-time strategy game engine that is inspired by the classic Command & Conquer games. It was developed by a community of volunteers and is available for Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD.

OpenRA includes remakes of the original Dune 2000 and Command & Conquer: Red Alert, as well a Tiberian Dawn mod. Tiberian Sun is at this point in time still in development. These games feature updated graphics and gameplay mechanics, as well as support for online multiplayer.

One of the key features of OpenRA is its modding support, which allows users to create their own custom mods and scenarios. It also includes a map editor and a replay feature, which allows players to watch and analyze their previous games.

Overall, OpenRA is a popular choice for fans of classic real-time strategy games who want to play them on modern platforms. It is regularly updated with new features and improvements.

We play this game from time to time at home with up to 6 players over LAN. It works perfectly fine. Just make sure that all PC’s are are not too old, otherwise this might end up as the bottleneck and the game will freeze. I our case a 12 year old notebook with an Intel Celeron-CPU was just too slow. And yes, this is quite an old machine. So don’t try this at home 😉

Installation

  1. Go to the OpenRA website at https://www.openra.net/ and download the installer for your platform. If you are on Linux, your distribution might contain OpenRA, so make sure to use that repository to stay always up to date.
  2. Once the download is complete, open the installer and follow the prompts to install the game.
  3. Once the installation is finished, you can launch the game by clicking on the OpenRA icon on your desktop or in your start menu.
  4. Starting the game for the 1st time, the installer requires artwork and audio files from the original game. This can be done automatically by the installer downloading and using the freeware version (Quick Install) or also via providing a physical copy of the game if you own it, to copy over also the music, video and other content (Advanced Install) for the full experience.
  5. In order to play online multiplayer game with others, you will need to create an account on the OpenRA website.
  6. That’s it. Enjoy the game.

Need a physical copy for the full experience?

To enjoy (legally) the full experience with OpenRA you need a copy of the full games. You can try your luck on Amazon, Ebay or any other place: