Command and Conquer: Red Alert

 Real-time strategy games are some of my favorite on the list, and this game is probably the first one I played. It came out in 1996, paving the way for an awesome game series that rocks worlds to this day. In C&C, your most basic objective is to construct a base, train an army, and whoop your opponents sorry Soviet ass. It also features an intriguing solo campaign as either Soviets or Allies, requiring you to complete various missions. Personally, I just play the skirmish modes against a bunch of AIs, and even to this day, it's a great RTS game.

 Gameplay: 8/10

It's simple, really. Drag and click to select a bunch of units and send them over to your opponent. On the right is the construction bar, which you'll be scrolling through a lot. You need to build power plants so you can harvest this stuff that you'll turn in to money so you can purchase tanks and stuff. It seems to lack certain functions that would have been nice, such as waypoints or group formations. -2 pointaroos.

 Graphics: 7/10

Although everything is small and underdetailed, you'll end up being wowed at the amount of units, explosions and gunfire. The maps are good, but the cutscenes look pretty weird. It's a little easy to lose your units sometimes thanks to them being so small, -3 points for that and the fact that it's hard to distinguish units, sometimes.

 Sound: 7/10

In these games, sound is very important, as it alerts you to if something is happening on the map that you're not currently viewing. You can tell a lot of work went into the sounds in this game, and they did a really great job. It does get a little repetitive, you're going to hear "training training training unable to comply, building in progress training training" -3 points for ouchies on the ears.

Overall: 8.5/10

It's an awesomely entertaining RTS, with a strong focus on action and speed of gameplay. 12 solid years after its release, Electronic Arts purchased the rights to the game and graciously made it freeware. So get your war on, this is one of the best free games in history.

http://download.cnet.com/Command-Conquer-Red-Alert/3000-7483_4-10017271.html