Brute

The Brute is Yuri's anti-armour infantry unit in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge.

Official description[]

“

Yuri’s anti-tank infantry unit is the Brute, a genetically engineered monstrosity designed to crush everything that blocks its path. Dogs will avoid Brutes and will not attack them.
- Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge manual^(src)

”

Background[]

The Psychic Dominator Disaster saw the worst of decades of secret research and science unleashed upon the world. Allied and Soviet forces who had found refuge in the new timestream found themselves facing not only the mind control they had anticipated, but a wide range of hitherto unseen technology. Among these was the Brute, the human form twisted into the perfect crushing machine. Armed with nothing but their fists and their thick skin, one may be forgiven for believing the deployment of a melee soldier in a modern war to be lunacy.

The Allies and Soviets' first encounters with them quickly proved otherwise, however. Many soldiers could only watch as these behemoths thundered toward their targets, ignoring bullet after bullet that sank into their thick gray skin and ripping apart their victim with equal impunity. Vehicle or infantryman, it did not matter; they punched and pummeled until nothing remained. Dogs, who normally excelled at tearing through hordes, refused to even attempt to bite them, forcing soldiers to use less certain methods to eliminate groups of the things.

Yuri's scientists were not content to end with the creation of such a being. They wished to take this discovery to the absolute limit, and to that end developed the Genetic Mutator: a superweapon that, once charged, twisted the minds and bodies of any human soldiers unfortunate enough to be in the target area into the powerful but mindless Brutes. The process was instant and irreversible, and they would be forever loyal to Yuri until, one day, their massive frame gave way under a hailstorm of bullets or missiles from those they once called comrades.

Game unit[]

Brutes were fielded as dedicated Yuri's anti-armor units. They were surprisingly well-rounded; they had decent speed and above-average durability, which allowed them to easily close the distance. Their damage, too, was nothing to scoff at; Brutes could kill most infantry with a single swing, and most vehicles could not stand against them for very long. Structures held up better under their attack, but if left unchecked they could even take down Construction Yards. This was all further helped by the fact that they were uncrushable by all but the Allied Battle Fortress, which left vehicles without anti-infantry weapons sorely out of their depth.

Due to their unique mental and physical structure, they were immune to the effects of mind control and Attack Dogs alike. This, especially the former, ironically made them excellent weapons against mind control units fielded by other Yuri players, as many are fully reliant on said ability, rendering them vulnerable to anything they could not dominate.

Counters[]

However, the Brute's most notable quirk is that it had to get within melee range to strike. As a result, most enemy combatants would have already dealt some damage to the Brute by the time it closed the distance and began retaliating. Additionally, units or buildings that often utilized range could eliminate them before they reached their target; artillery units, advanced base defenses, and specialized long-range anti-infantry units were the most notable examples of this. Soviet Terror Drones remained as effective against Brutes as they were against any other foot soldier, and the Battle Fortress's bulk allowed it to run over Brutes. They also were helpless against aircraft. Perhaps the biggest weakness was speed; while the Brutes themselves were by no means slow, faster units (such as the Allied IFV or the Soviet Flak Track) were capable of outrunning them, eventually kiting them to death.

AI behavior[]

Brutes controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:

Easy[]

2x targeting vehicles, accompanied by 1 Yuri Clone

Medium[]

1x targeting infantry, accompanied by 4 Initiates and 1 Yuri Clone
2x targeting infantry, accompanied by 1 Virus and 1 Yuri Clone

Medium/Hard[]

2x targeting infantry
- This strike force will only be constructed if the enemy owns 5 or more Attack Dogs
5x targeting vehicles
4x targeting base defenses, accompanied by 2 Lasher Tanks, 2 Gattling Tanks, 4 Magnetrons and 1 Mastermind

Hard[]

3x targeting production structures; accompanied by 2 Viruses and Yuri Prime

Quotes[]

When selected[]

Huh?
Give me something to break!
I want to play!
I like big toys!
Ready to crush!

When moving[]

Turn me loose!
Is clobbering time, no?^[sic]
Heh-heh-heh!
Okay!
Goody!

When ordered to attack[]

Come to papa!
They're not my friend!
Give me your lunch money!
It's playtime!
I will break you!

When suppressed[]

Ouch! That hurt!
I wanna go home!
I was only playing!
You make me mad!

Gallery[]

Concept art by Tom M. Baxa
Concept art of two Brutes escorting Yuri Prime
SHP sprite

Cameos[]

The English and French versions share the same cameos.

English	German	Korean	Chinese

Trivia[]

Mutant marauders, who appear in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, have voices that are similar to the brutes'.
The Soviet Grinder, an anti-surface melee vehicle introduced in Uprising, has a number of voicelines that pay homage to the Brute's temper.
They are similar in appearance to a Marvel comic book character Hulk (in early appearances, the Hulk even had a gray skin personality named Joe Fix It, like the Brutes). Additionally, their line "It is clobbering time, no?" is a reference to Joe Fix It, and The Thing, another comic book character in the Marvel universe.
Brutes also appear to have a different attack sound when attacking vehicles, including a line "whoopsie!". These sounds are cut for reasons unknown and use the melee attack sounds instead, the unused alternate attack sounds can be found within the game's audio files.