Command & Conquer: Red Alert (2009 video game)

Did You Know?

• The game takes place shortly after Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge and before the Soviets' defeat at the beginning of Red Alert 3.
• The events in the game lead to the Soviets acquiring time travel technology.

Development

At the 2009 E3, a playable demo of the iOS version was shown at EA's booth. More details and screenshots followed that September. EA planned a launch-day multiplayer patch to allow Wi-Fi and Bluetooth matches. A 2010 expansion was in the works, adding the Empire of the Rising Sun faction plus new units for the Soviets and Allies. EA pulled the game from the App Store in August 2015 after failing to update it for the latest iOS version.

Reception

Command & Conquer: Red Alert landed with mixed reactions from critics, as reflected in its Metacritic scores. The iPhone version earned a 72 out of 100, while the iPad version dropped to 64, largely due to criticism of its upscaled presentation. Reviewers widely praised how well the classic real-time strategy gameplay translated to touchscreens. Slide to Play found it superior to other iOS strategy games, though it noted a shortage of game modes.

TouchArcade commended the intuitive controls and effective multitouch gestures. IGN appreciated the simplified resource management for mobile play but pointed out the lack of content and missing multiplayer at launch. Many critics agreed the game felt thin, with TouchArcade observing that the campaigns were brief and tutorial-like, and skirmish maps were scarce without paid downloads. The iPad version drew harsher reviews.

Eurogamer and NZGamer cited poor upscaled visuals and performance problems, while IGN called it a rushed port that didn't leverage the platform properly.