Tencent is Bringing Red Alert to Mobile

Chinese Internet giant Tencent is reviving the classic real-time strategy computer game Red Alert and bringing it to mobile devices. Yes, you heard it right. You will soon be able to play Command & Conquer’s Red Alert on your iOS or Android mobile phone.

The game – called Red Alert Online – appears to have base-building features just like Clash of Clans, but may not work exactly like the original Red Alert PC game that was first released in 1996 and became one of the most popular games during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Here is the trailer released by Tencent:

Command and Conquer’s IP owner Electronic Arts (EA) is not mentioned on the game’s official website. Although EA and Command & Conquer are not mentioned, the trailer shows classic Red Alert units like the fearsome Kirov airship and the psychic villain Yuri.

The most recent entry to the Command & Conquer franchise was the free-to-play browser game Tiberium Alliances while the last Red Alert title was Red Alert 3, which was released in 2008.

EA has collaborated with Tencent in the past, releasing titles such as The Sims Social and FIFA Online in China.

Red Alert Fans Unhappy

Many Red Alert fans were not amused by Tencent’s announcement to revive the famous franchise. Aside from the poor likes-to-dislikes ratio on is YouTube trailer video, avid Red Alert fans expressed their disappointment on various online forums.

“I’m honestly surprised it took this long for the corpse of [Command & Conquer/Red Alert] to be dragged out like this,” one user commented.

“A shame the series has been reduced to this, I loved it a lot back in the day and still do. Time to reinstall RA2,” another fan explained.

Others were more optimistic and happy that the franchise isn’t completely dead, as few big-budget, real-time strategy games are being released nowadays.

“I mean this certainly isn’t what I wanted out of [Command & Conquer], but doing something in the mobile space can give a glimmer of hope for something else,” another user added.

Source: Pocket Gamer, Digital Trends