C&C 1 was just the beginning. RA is the next step.
The mission design in Red Alert contains some of the best missions in C&C history, one that stands out for me is the mission early on in which you have to track down an allied spy, and at the start of the mission you are given no more than 3 dogs to chase him with. It took me forever to figure it out that instead of rushing my doggies towards a pillbox they'd never get past, that I had to take out a guard in front of a building to free a grenadier and a rifeman. The mission had you chasing the spy all over a map until he was cornered. From the get go, this game provided some of the greatest CNC challenges yet.
There are many recycled graphics from CNC, and as such they do seem dated, but at the same time this was the first time that the two factions felt significantly different. There were more exclusive units and more exclusive buildings. I will always favour the Soviets for their tesla coils and killer attack dogs. I do love those attack dogs, with their cute little tongues hanging out and it was always a joy to see them lunge at an intruder and tear his throat out, blood splashing all over the ground as the doggie then made a cute woof and sat there awaiting another kill. Hehe.
Red Alert took everything that made CNC great and multiplied it. Another thing that makes RA an even better game than its predecessor is the map editor. The map editor is simple yet cohesive, making it very easy to create maps for skirmishes and multiplayer matches.
Red Alert one upped its own predecessor, and would remain unchallenged as the best CNC game until 2000.