It took me longer than most to board the Command and Conquer train back when RTS games were quickly becoming the preferred choice for competitive gaming over Counter Strike. I was much more a Warcraft/Starcraft guy, and the C&C series, while undoubtedly awesome, was a very different style of game.
It was the first Generals title that grabbed me; actually, it was Tob who got me into it. It took me a few weeks to fall in love, but eventually I did, and I’ve been a staple supporter of the series ever since. I even went back to the original titles, and played that terrible FPS title they made – but it wasn’t until I started playing Tiberium Alliances that I feared for the future of the franchise.
I understand why it was made; with the current trend in resource management games in the social/casual market, it’d be silly for a company like EA to ignore the potential here, and let’s face it, the last few C&C titles weren’t exactly memorable – but still, when I logged into C&C:TA for the first time, I was expecting to see something a little more ambitious than a Kabam game made within the C&C universe. Sadly, that’s exactly what C&C:TA is – a resource management sim, browser-enabled, with basic macro, no micro and a mostly unimaginative combat system.
Which is to say: it’s probably going to do really well. By comparison, it takes the concept of an online, social browser game to a new level. First, Command and Conquer is a well known name in gaming; and second, with EA’s budget, there’s really no limit to what they can achieve. And going in, it’s obvious that these elements played a large role in shaping the game.
The interface is clean and crisp, and the opening tutorial is simple enough to be completed by a 5 year-old – click this, follow this, watch this – making it the perfect pick-up-and-play browser experience it strives so hard to be.
Conceptually, it’s identical to its competition. You build a base composed of several buildings designed to increase your income, you train an army and use it to capture nearby territory, allowing you to expand and grow. And, if you’re keen, you use your credit card to increase any of your resources at any time, effectively creating an impassable balance curve that allows the rich to gain advantage at any time.
Oh, right – I forgot to mention the oh-so-complicated combat mechanics, which allow you to choose the location and order of your units before sending them into battle. You make these decisions by looking at your opponents defences, and positioning your units accordingly. Skill? Not likely. Credit cards will win this war, of that I have no doubt.
And that’s really all there is to it: the tutorial will explain the basic uses of each building and unit, and teach you how to create or join and alliance and defend your territory from attacking players. It’s disappointing to see a mammoth like EA back Phenomic in the development of a completely unoriginal, lackluster title like C&C:TA – but it’s obvious that such innovation would provide no monetary benefit here.
C&C:TA is exactly what it needs to be to fill a gap in a particular market; and if you, unlike me, prefer your games simple and easy, capable of being played in your free time, a minute here and there, then it’s likely that you’ll find a lot to love about this one. It’s just a shame to see the license wasted; there’s a lot to enjoy about the C&C universe, and it hasn’t been captured in TA at all. Maybe next time we’ll see an actual RTS running in a browser… you know that’s possible now, right, EA?
Want to play Command and Conquer: Tiberium Alliances? Check out the Game Page.
This is a terrible review.
There is no mention of the strategy it actually takes to succeed in this game.
I did earn some credits using the Netflix Trial option, but still, there is no way to buy repairs for your units, once you are out of time, you have to wait, just like everyone else.
Not only defenses are what you need to look at when you are placing your offensive units. You also need to look at building placement within the base and decide if you are going for the quick kill (destroying the Construction Yard) or are you going to farm all of the resources and Research Points from it.
There is a lot more depth to this online RTS than the author cared to point out… but it really isn’t his fault, he didn’t start playing C&C until Generals.
Terrible game, the worst!
After changing my name in the account settings it stayed the same in game. When i contacted LIVE SUPPORT i was told that the case would be forwarded to someone who can help me and they will get back to me within 12-24 hours. After THREE weeks i was informed that the name can only be changed on the front page and will remain the same as before in game unless i start all over again. It took three weeks for me to get that response, that must have been so hard for them to figure out…When i encountered my second problem i had a bad feeling right away about contacting them again but i did anyways. After buying EA funds and trying to purchase crystals my game would freeze and it would say i can’t purchase at this moment for some reason, so i tried 5 more times with no luck. When i came on the next day i noticed that all my EA funds i tried to purchase with were gone BUT i got no crystals in return…when i contacted LIVE CHAT support i was, once again, advised that i have to speak to someone else about my issue. I really have no idea why LIVE CHAT is there when all they do is say that they can’t help but someone else can…I was provided with a phone and case number to call in with to get this sorted. After i tried to call the first time the case number was not valid so i had to contact LIVE CHAT again, only to be informed that the first person that helped me out never registered the case number so it did not work, as if his job was hard enough already…So, i called in and was told that i would have to wait around 30-35 minutes to talk to someone. Around 30 minutes of me waiting on the line i heard a weird noise and though, about time someone answered, only to have the phone disconnect and hang up on me. i was very frustrated and never bothered calling back. Few days later i came on the game to collect resources and whatever, only to find the game with a very bad lag. Everything i clicked would have a 3-4 second delay and when i tried to attack a base the game got so laggy and then just shut off and took me back to the main page. I WILL NOT be trying to contact those morons you call ”SUPPORT” about this because i know that they are useless because of my previous experiences. Before all of this i actually though EA was a good company and would often buy their games BUT that has all changed. Their support is crap, so is their game that lags to a point it can’t be played and they basically robbed me of my money since they never helped me resolve my issue when it just vanished from my account. DO NOT bother playing this game, it is nothing but a headache and will just keep freezing on you! I still play BF3 but god forbid i ever need customer support with that, cause if it ever comes down to it i would rather just throw the game in the trash then have to deal with those idiots again!