Sometimes you really want to like a game, but you just can't. It's too buggy or maybe the artwork is sloppy. Perhaps its interface is aggravating or the AI is incapable of providing a challenge. Sure, you love the subject matter or the basic concept, but the developers just weren't up to the task. No matter how badly you want to like it, you just can't.

My reaction to Red Alert 2 is exactly the opposite. I want to hate the game, but I just can't. There are a million and one reasons to not like Westwood's perennial rehash of their real time strategy franchise. It's lazy, it's a step backwards, it's stupid and many things about it make no sense. It's stitched together with a ridiculous concept and an embarrassingly bad story. In many ways, it's sadly limited. At times it's just downright broken. It can't hold a candle to some of the excellent real time strategy games we've seen this year like Majesty, Earth 2150, Warlords: Battlecry or even the little known Tzar. I should be uninstalling it and moving on by now.

But Red Alert2 has an irresistible ungainly likeability, almost like a dumb puppy that you just can't help but play with. Ever since Command & Conquer, Westwood's RTS titles have suffered from arrested development; most of them (including the original Red Alert) have been characterized by a weary sense of "here we go again". But somewhere in the course of playing Red Alert 2, the game's enthusiasm rubs off on you. Between grousing about Westwood's same old screwy building routine and rolling your eyes at the gruel thin single player game, you'll find yourself grinning at some of the little touches. Then you'll come to appreciate the clever unit variety and careful balance. Finally, you'll find yourself wrapped up in the game's smooth pace, frenzied epic battles and the ongoing strategy of trumps and counter trumps. By this point, you've forgotten why you were supposed to hate it.