I had high hopes for a browser based massively multiplayer Command and Conquer game, so when I was invited to try out the Beta I was ecstatic.
I’ve played C&C games from the very start, every single one. There have been some highs and lows
in the series but when it came to Alliances I was envisaging a type of Command and Conquer Risk hybrid that played like Red Alert with real-time battles but the global strategy was more akin to the latter.
So you can imagine my disappointment when the game presented in front of me was nothing more than a time based, pay-to-win milking exercise more resembling a Facebook game rather than a C&C game; where strategy has very little to do with anything, and once again those with lots of time or money to burn, win – and those with both float to the top of the leader boards.
So how does it work?
When you enter the universe for the first time you a placed at a random location on a huge map. Other than bases of other players and the occasional tunnel that leads to a different spot on this expanse the terrain has no bearing on play what-so-ever.
You are set a date and time when the force field around your base will disappear, this prevents you from being attacked during this time however if you attack another human player the field disappears – in other words a noob shield.
Your base looks very much like a typical Command and Conquer base and you can build structures, defenses and an army. However you cannot control any of these units or structures – they are static. You simply buy the item and plonk it down somewhere and that’s it. Even the harvesters endlessly circle crystal or Tiberium patches, they never return to a refinery and you cannot move them or recall them, everything is just a looped animation.
Also, each major part of your base is split out into sections. You have your main base section, the section your defenses are built within and your army section. None of these sections interact with each other and are accessed through buttons on the left side of your screen.
The defenses section allows you to place any type of defensive unit or structure you have researched. Defensive units and structures, offensive units and special units for your base are all researched separately. This means that if you research the Predator tank to use as an offensive unit in your army you must research it separately to use as a defensive unit for your base.
To make things clearer its worth mentioning now that everything in Alliances work with channels — everything.
Attacking
When you attack an enemy base or an AI outpost (which appear randomly around the map) you place each unit in channel. These channels are 9 across and 4 deep. If you have played any Magic games of late you will see where this is going. Your units are built from a separate section accessed through your main base, the size of your army is dictated by your Command Center and the maximum level you can upgrade your units to is the level of this Center.
Once you have placed your units in a channel you have no control of them, they will mindlessly travel forward and attack anything within their range. The first row will launch straight away and each row after this will be delayed by ten seconds. You can also only add up to 6 units in one row.
You are allowed to preview the battlefield before you set your positions, both the defensive part and the main base you are attacking and this brings us nicely back to how defense works.
Defense
The defensive part of your base is controlled indepently from your main base, it is the only way into your base so all opponents will have to traverse this section before being able to attack any of your structures.
Everything you place in this field uses defensive points which are based on the level of your Defense HQ, also everything here can only be upgraded to the maximum level of this HQ.
To begin with you have two things you can build to defend your base, walls and MG nests. You will need to research the rest.
Resources
Resources consist of credits, crystals, power and Tiberium. Crystals are used to maintain and build your army, Tiberium is used to maintain your base and defenses and build new base structures. Power is used in construction and upgrading and credits are used for trading, research and special technologies. Additionally research is completed by using credits and research points in conjunction.
All of these resources are slowly created by your base, however you can obtain research points and sometimes additional types of resources by attacking AI outposts that will randomly spawn around you. Some bases will also contain crates, these crates (if collected by destroying the building they are within) will be added to your inventory, they can then be used at any point to quickly inject resources, provide command points or other useful side affects.
The higher the level of base you attack the more reward you will get.
As something to aim for, you will also be set missions. These missions range from attacking your first human player, upgraded a certain building to a specific level to founding a new base. On completion of the mission you will be given a reward, more often than not in the form of resources.
Time based
The nature of this game is time based, it can take up to an hour to obtain enough points to perform one attack from zero and of course this gets a bit better as you level up. The rate at which you collect resources is also time sensitive and you must login periodically to take advantage of incoming resources, as just like a Facebook game, the resources stack above your structures and you must click to collect.
Conveniently you can purchase both Tiberium and Credits using EA’s Play4Free funds, for perspective the highest amount you can buy in one go is 50,000 funds at a cost of £29.99 and the lowest 4,000 funds for £3.49.
4,000 in-game credits equates to about 100 Play4Free funds, so in terms of funds required to research units:
- Predator (defense): 1,750
- Missile squad (defense): 2,250
- Anti-tank barrier (defense): 3,000
- Predator (offense): 3,750
- MCV (special): 55,000
for £3.49 you could research a Predator tank in one hit, and if you had to travel the normal route of earning in-game credits:
- Predator (defense): 70,000
- Missile squad (defense): 90,000
- Anti-tank barrier (defense): 120,000
- Predator (offense): 150,000
- MCV (special): 2,200,000
Yes, you read that last one right, but more importantly the numbers are skewed by volume for people willing to pay to win, not by a bit but by a lot. Its worth mentioning you also need research points in the addition to credits to gain research, but once you have a deep pocket of credits a lot of things fall in place and getting these becomes much easier.
But is it fun?
For the first few days its fun, building up your base, destroying lesser camps and outposts spawned by the AI, but the flaw in this game is its complete time based mechanic and when this dawns on you it suddenly becomes no fun to play whatsoever, especially since you will most likely get owned by another human player who has either spent too much time in front of his computer or simply bought his way up the levels.
The issue is that only if you dedicate a lot of time to this game and login about every hour are you even going to have a chance at winning. This is because firstly you must ensure you resources are being collected but also that you are given no warning about your base being attacked or the enemy drawing closer around you, unless you physically go and have a look.
One Dimensional
The game also feels very one dimensional, its a hollow shell of a Command and Conquer game with no spirit or soul. There is no depth to proceeding in the game, placing units in the right channels is the only real strategy and there is no real reward in taking over the map other than seeing your username a few more times.
Conclusion
I really wanted to like this game, I do feel that browser based games can be very good and make gaming far more accessible. The trouble is that Alliances isn’t advertised as a casual game but as “an epic strategy MMO”, however epic it is not, and strategy is sparse. Players will be expecting more out of this franchise and will be sourly disappointed.
Have you played Tiberium Alliances, let me know you thoughts in the comments section below.