Command & Conquer: Red Alert

One of the greatest real-time strategy games of all time, C&C: Red Alert brings a sci-fi twentieth-century conflict into the C&C mix. According to the background story, Albert Einstein invents a time machine and kills Adolf Hitler to prevent WWII. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, however, launches a full-scale attack with advanced Mammoth tanks, Tesla coils, and V2 rocket launchers. Red Alert is intentionally unbalanced. The Soviets have more powerful infantry, tanks, artillery, aircraft, and defensive towers. The United States and Western Europe have only a couple strengths: warships and "smart" units such as medics and mine-layers. Great music tracks, an excellent control system, good-looking graphics (by mid-'90s standards), and superb gameplay make C&C: Red Alert a classic. Former C&C fanatics will shed a nostalgic tear after launching this small demo, but first they'll have to make sure they have Windows 95/98, since the installer won't run on Windows XP or Windows 2000.