Electronic Arts said that the free-to-play, browser-based strategy MMOG Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is now in open beta. This latest entry in EA’s Play4Free portfolio is reportedly the first free-to-play cross-platform, MMO strategy game, available now on desktops and soon on tablets and smartphones.
The only drawback to the open beta is that gamers will need an Origin account, and to accept EA's Digital Services Agreement. Other than that, Tiberium Alliances will store game saves in the cloud, making it easy for players to move from one form factor to another without having to manage separate games.
"Thousands of players have clashed during the Closed Beta phase of Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances," EA said. "The air was filled with smoke and the smell of molten armor while armies have been stomped to the ground and alliances have been forged by the fires of battle. The fight for Tiberium has reached a new level and the Forgotten stand their ground within this global conflict between GDI and Nod. Now, it is time for new commanders."
As of this writing, the site seems to be having issues. The first few connections were extremely laggy, and then the page refused to load at all. Sometimes a black page with the following message popped up, stating: "We're sorry, the website is currently down for scheduled maintenance. Please check back soon." That said, it looks as though EA is having issues handling the new load of traffic, so expect a temporarily bumpy road.
Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is one of two highly-anticipated new releases in the Command & Conquer franchise. In December 2011, it was announced that BioWare is developing Command & Conquer Generals 2 utilizing the advanced Frostbite 2 game engine. As for the current F2P MMO, players worldwide (yes, even you Jane) can get their open beta fill here.
