Red Alert Online by Tencent for mobile -what we know so far
The Red Alert franchise has always been remembered as a solid rock-paper-scissors real time strategy game replete with a bunch of kooky- B-grade cutscenes and ridiculously over-the-top acting. Now, Tencent is bringing it for mobile. Well, the gaming part of it at least as Red Alert Online.
Not much has been revealed so far barring what is seen on the website and the official trailer. What has been seen so far shows that the online game seems to be primarily based on Red Alert 2 as it features the Soviet psychic commander Yuri prominently in the line-art with significant art assets and units from the original Red Alert 2 game.
In terms of the units available, the stills seem to reveal that players will get access to at least the Soviets and the Alliance as factions. Concept art and close-up analysis of the screen captures reveal a hodgepodge of units and buildings for both sides that cover infantry, air units, buildings and ground armour.
On the Alliance side, there is the classic Prism tank, a long range light-based direct fire support piece. There are also IFVs though whether they will integrate the sophisticated game mechanics which changed the properties of the turret based on what infantry unit you plonk in remains open to debate. Other Allied units include their classic grunt tank and harrier strike jet. Structures seen so far include their construction yard, the barracks, a tech centre, a weapons factory, their chronosphere super weapon and a mining facility. Presumably, the Alliance gets the use of Tanya the commando as she figures prominently in one concept image. One new unit that is unknown in function is some sort of turret – the size and scale of it in the image above is hard to gauge so it could be anything from a point defence system to something akin to an artillery piece.
On the Soviet side, analysis of the screencaps reveals their classic sentry guns, the Rhino tank, their Kirov airship, the Tesla tank and, presumably Yuri as a limited-issue elite unit.
So far, the only factions seen and confirmed to be in RedAlert Online are the Soviets and the Alliance in terms of units seen in the stills though back in the day, there existed a third faction of Yuri loyalists that had psychic powers, flying saucers and other bizarre weapons that made its debut in Red Alert 2: Yuri’s Revenge.
The trailer reveals the image of a spinning building with red tubes on top, which represented one of the Yuri loyalist faction’s mind control super weapons. It also prominently features Yuri, who belonged to the Soviet side in the original game and who then split off on his own to helm his own faction. This could possibly feature as a purchasable in-game DLC faction or may even be offered for free from the get-go. It’s too early to tell at the moment.
There also seem to be rechargeable theatre-wide special powers as well with what seems to be a call-in for paratroopers on one still, which is a classic Alliance power to summon about a dozen Allied G.Is onto one spot on the map.
Based on the shots, it looks like Red Alert Online will have a tech tree of sorts though the control system and how the game will interact with a touchscreen remains to be seen or if it will have persistent in-game mechanics that you can take from one battle to the next. The sight of a shopping cart in one image likely means that there will be rechargeables of some sort in the game that you can purchase or ingame DLC. In all likelihood, you may either have to grind your way to the more exotic or expensive units in the game or pay for them outright. It’s speculative what it’s monetisation mechanism is at the moment.
The nature of the maps seen make it look like it’s primarily a multiplayer affair though it may not rule out a single player campaign to get players acclimatised to a mobile RTS game. For now, It also seems to be intended purely for the Chinese market. That may be the reason that it lacks any details on whether it offers any of the infamous cutscenes with live actors that made the original Red Alert so memorable. Still, if Red Alert Online does well, a global release for such a beloved franchise is a good possibility. Stay tuned for updates.