Red Alert Online revives the franchise on mobile devices in China

Mobile gaming giant Tencent has just announced a deal with Electronic Arts and Aiyou Interactive Entertainment to release Red Alert Online, a new game from the classic Command & Conquer series. It will be the first new game in the franchise in nearly six years.

There are copycat titles available, but Red Alert Online will be the first officially licensed Command & Conquer game on Android. A previous Red Alert title was made back in 2009 for iOS, but it never made its way into the Android ecosystem.

The trailer doesn’t give many details as to what the game will be like, but there is some cause for concern. A Red Alert Online gameplay video (which for some reason is in vertical format) has revealed that the game is more in line with other mobile games like Clash of Clans, where players have a static base and send troops out on missions.

It also appears to feature the usual trappings of free-to-play mobile titles, which will likely come as a disappointment to fans of the series. The strategic elements that made the RTS franchise famous seem to be limited, with only the visual style of the series being preserved. The iconic live-action cutscenes and music are also notably absent.

Not too much has been officially announced yet, so it’s possible that the release version could look a lot different than the gameplay video. But given the general direction that free-to-play titles on Android are going in, it’s unlikely to capture the magic of the strange alternate history classic.

Red Alert Online might not be what fans are hoping for, but at least it shows that there is still some life in the franchise. It’s currently only slated for release in China, but if it proves to be popular it will likely show up in other marketplaces around the world.