Real-time strategy games are hardly ten-a-penny on the App Store, and decent ones are even rarer. What better series to redress the balance than the RTS don itself,
Command & Conquer?
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is EA's attempt to make the mouse-friendly genre work with touchscreen controls. Our own Tracy Erickson already gave a comprehensive
initial hands on back in June, but we recently had a chance to play through some more of the game at EA's London offices.
We also snagged some lovely new screenshots, which we've artfully distributed below.
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Tracy has covered the controls already, but I did notice one or two additional elements. As before, units can be selected on a basic level either by touching them directly or by hitting a button and dragging a box over a selection of units.
You can also sort these units into three squads (down from four it seems), which you can then switch to instantly via controls situated along the left side of the screen.
Next to the box-select button at the bottom left of the screen is a control that allows you to select every single unit, which is useful for those all-out attack (or, in my case, desperate last stand) moments.
Additionally, you can select all units of a particular kind by double tapping on a single unit, which is handy for an impromptu tank rush or to respond quickly to a heavy enemy attack.
Enemy AI during the mission I played seemed to be pleasingly competent and expertly placed by EA's designers, not being fooled by my attempts to draw them out with a brief incursion in and out of their territory.
I found myself faced with a large enemy base to my east, with a dangerously narrow causeway providing access. I was also coming under constant attack from a smaller outpost to the north, which had the annoying ability to send whopping great zeppelins on bombing runs over my base, thus hampering my production efforts.
Ignoring my northern tormentors, I set off with a crack squad of heavy tanks and rocket-toting infantry to engage the main base, which was shrouded in the obligatory fog-of-war.
To my horror a lethal cross-fire zone had been set up, the enemy having placed a pair of tesla turrets either side of the access ramp. The middle was blocked by a mass of at least a dozen tanks, holding me up while the turrets zapped my squad into oblivion.
Licking my wounds, I turned my attentions to a more manageable problem. Using long established tank-rush tactics I quickly overran the northern zeppelin production facilities, which was far less well protected. With that particular nuisance out of the way I was free to build up an enormous force of tanks for the big push.
Suffice to say my Neanderthal tactics resulted in another humiliating defeat, the narrowness of the access ramp meaning I could only bring a fraction of my forces into play.
What my time with
Red Alert appeared to show is that while EA may be creating a streamlined, simplified
C&C experience, it's not dumbing it down for anyone.
The game is set to be with us in the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for our review.
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