Red Comrades Save the Galaxy


Red Comrades Save the Galaxy is a 1998 point-and-click graphic adventure game developed by S.K.I.F. and published by Buka Entertainment. Also, the first installment in the eponymous series. On February 16, 2016 the remastered version of the game updated for compatibility with newer Windows OS versions and wide-screen displays was released, entitled Red Comrades Save the Galaxy: Reloaded. It also featured full English subtitles.

Gameplay

Red Comrades Save the Galaxy is a 2D adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Via a point-and-click interface, the player guides three main characters — Pete, Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev and Anka through the game's world. Game controls include various cursors, with two basic commands being Go and Look. Three remaining commands are available from minimenu designed as the Red Army Star which can be opened anywhere in the screed by right-clicking. There you can also find a suitcase-shaped Inventory menu. It looks like the suitcase interior with three more options, which can be selected on the lid: map of the Blackwoods Village, photo of Chapaev and a floppy disc. Protagonists move using several postures determined by animation. Communication with certain characters results in branched dialogues. Minigames may utilize specific single-use interface types.
"Reloaded" version featured switching between traditional and unitary interface systems. When the latter is selected, the redesigned minimenu is activated by holding "click" command and available actions are switched by circular finger movement. Inventory is displayed on pinching-in/pinching-out. Such menu is functional only on touchscreens, while the controls schemes switching option is available for all devices.

Plot

Long time ago in galaxy far away... A huge spaceship, the size of a planet was heading through the Solar System with millions of alien colonists on board. Something went wrong, and all of a sudden the alien spaceship lost control. It is yet unknown what caused the crash. However, thanks to this accident the Earth has obtained its very own satellite - the Moon. Most of the aliens died in a crash and just a bunch of them, placed in suspended animation, survived.
With no one to reanimate them, these poor creatures were doomed to the eternal sleep though. It was a shot from a Russian navy cruiser Aurora main gun that signaled the beginning of the October Revolution of 1917. Drunken sailors missed the Tsar's Winter Palace and hit the Moon instead. This shot deactivated alien sleeping machines and awakened the rest of their crew. A short while after remaining aliens realized that there was only one hope for them to survive - invade Earth.
While preparing the invasion, they accidentally discovered with their telescope a sign right in a middle of the largest continent. The sign with a few scratched words on it — «Backwoods is a Hub of the Earth». This shabby road sign was in a tiny godforsaken Russian village Backwoods. Of course alien commanders made a decision to begin the global invasion with capturing such an important strategic point with a mysterious name - Backwoods. Meanwhile, Russia was in a midst of Civil War and Bolsheviks were trying to clear this area of anti-communist forces. Both the front line and Ural River split the village Backwoods in two.
One part of the village was somehow controlled by the brave Red Army but some remnants of the cowardly Whites were still comfortably stationed on the other side. Both parties were pretty sick and tired of fighting each other and it seemed like they were settled here for a long time. No side had a significant advantage and the end of war a distinct possibility. If it weren't for aliens, the situation was not going to change soon...

Main characters

The idea of making an adventure game with Pete and Vasily Chapayev as main characters arose in early 1996, as the editors of SBG Magazine e-zine were speculating on the idea of "perfect adventure game" and its possible publisher. Discussions resulted in the decision of making their own game in that genre, with the heroes of popular jokes – namely, Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev, Pete and Anka – as protagonists. After a while, in mid-1996, the development process was well under way. Vyacheslav Pismenny became the project's lead script writer. Oleg Zakharov took the place of the lead artist. Generally speaking, the whole editorial staff of the e-zine was involved in the development.
In SBG Magazine #7’97, issued in December, 1997, editors officially announced Red Comrades Save the Galaxy. The feature story included synopsis of the game and a dozen of screenshots. Also, it partially covered the development process. In addition to that, game's script writer, Vyacheslav Pismenny, gave interviews to several video game magazines, including Game World Navigator. It was much about that time, that the contract with the publisher, Buka, was signed.
In June, 1998, a non-interactive demo of the game was released. Alongside with descriptive information, it included about 10 animated scenes from Red Comrades. The game's release was scheduled for Q3, 1998. A demo of Red Comrades was presented prior to the retail release. Virtually, it was just a video showing some characters and locations from the game.
Finally, Red Comrades Save the Galaxy hit the shelves in early November, 1998. Its development took SBG studio two years and a half – one year more than it was initially planned. Upon release, Red Comrades became a real breakthrough in many ways. Firstly, it was the first 3-CD game ever released in Russia. Secondly, the game was among the first so-called "jewel-box" releases – such model allowed cutting the production cost of every copy and increasing the total print. Thirdly, Red Comrades Save the Galaxy was one of the progenitors of the so-called “Russian adventure game” genre which is also represented by such earlier published titles as Pilot Brothers: Chasing the Striped Elephant, GAG and others.
On September 11, 2014 Red Comrades Save the Galaxy was released for Android OS devices. It was published again by “Buka”, while the porting was done by Eltechs team. The game is distributed as shareware product.

"Reloaded" version

On February 18, 2016 the remastered version of the game updated for compatibility with newer Windows OS versions and wide-screen displays was released on Steam. It features unitary cursor system in addition to the traditional one as well as improved in quality and/or revocalized lines of main characters and more detailed backgrounds for certain locations. One of those, for example, got a portrait of Russia's President, Vladimir Putin as the Emperor of All Russia. At the time of the original game's release he was the Head of Russian Federal Security Service.