There are few things more beautiful than a passion project. A group of fans are recreating Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 as a web browser game.
The group is called Chrono Divide. Their project of the same name intends to recreate the hit RTS game within a web browser. Originally as an experiment to see if the technology can handle a multiplayer online RTS game, it grew into a recreation project. And now they’ve reached “playable” status.
We say playable, but it’s pretty limited so far. Currently in Alpha version 0.5.1, major sections of the game, such as Campaign and Skirmish, remain absent. The only available mode is Custom Match, where you play against other online opponents. Even then, certain units and structures have yet to be implemented.
In all fairness, this is still an impressive level of development for a fan-made recreation. And getting the online multiplayer working WAS the original intention of the experiment. Part of us wouldn’t blame them for stopping here. The other part of us really wants to see it built to completion, though.
This does bring up some concern, legally, however. Electronic Arts owns the C&C series and they have an established history of being very stringent about their intellectual property. They’ve shut down free fan projects before. If this projects gets their attention, there’s risk of a DMCA being issued. We always feel a little bad reporting on these cool projects for that reason.
Either way, if you want to know more about the Chrono Divide project, you can visit their website. If you want to play the web browser version of C&C:RA2 yourself, you can go there directly with this link.
