F2P Command & Conquer Now in Open Beta

By Kevin Parrish
published

The PC version of Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances has gone open beta.

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.

"Players harvest valuable resources, foster strategic alliances and engage in relentless battles as they strive for world domination," the company said on Thursday. "With in-game news and status feeds, players get frequent updates, creating a completely interactive and dynamic gameplay experience that has gamers strategizing, reacting, and adapting on the spot."

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.

Kevin Parrish
25 Comments Comment from the forums
  • memadmax
    SWEET!!!
    DUDE!!!
    SWEET!!!
    DUDE!!!
    SWEET!!!
    Reply
  • back_by_demand
    The only drawback to the open beta is that gamers will need an Origin account

    Yeeeaaaahhhhhhhh...
    ...
    That's a deal breaker right there
    Reply
  • kin3000
    back_by_demandYeeeaaaahhhhhhhh......That's a deal breaker right there
    Same here.
    Reply
  • soccerplayer88
    Ever since EA took over the CnC franchise, it's never been the same. :(

    The only hope I have is Generals 2, and that's because EA doesn't really get to have a say in how it's made.
    Bring back Westwood please.

    Ugh, just finding out it's being produced by Bioware. Sold their soul to the devil a while ago.

    GOD DAMNIT EA!
    Reply
  • cknobman
    At first I was in the same boat as many of you about Origin but then I decided I wanted to play Battlefield 3. I bit the bullet and bought the game and had to download Origin.

    Its the same damn thing as steam (although Ill admit Steam is a more polished product).

    Sure its not the greatest thing since sliced bread but its also not the anti-Christ some of you make it out to be.

    Point is that Origin is not a reason to "not buy a game" especially if your a hypocrite and use Steam (which is based on the same damn principles).
    Reply
  • hapkido
    Origin works well. I've been using it since BF3 beta with no issues at all. It loads quickly and doesn't use a lot of system resources. EA forcing users to run Origin for some of their games is no different than Valve forcing users to run Steam for all of their games. People who say Origin is terrible probably haven't used it.

    The real reason to not play this game is because F2P plays are usually terrible.
    Reply
  • rantoc
    Downloaded ME3 at 10,6mb / sec on Orgins, Was getting 240kb/sec on Steam while downloading Skyrim. I rather take 40x the speed from Orgins over Steams as of late.

    What have happened to Steam lately? Gabe decided that it should be faster to get to the car, drive to retail, purchase from retail, install the game and read the manual before Steams slow digital download is done?

    I bet there are huge bandwith differences over the the world from steam, Scandinavia have been plagued by really slow speeds as of late.. Not enocouraging when they want us to pay a premium as it is and then deliver less. Used to enjoy Steam but at this rate their loosing a customer!
    Reply
  • of the way
    Are EA accounts all Origin accounts now? I haven't done anything with Origin, but it took my EA account email just fine.
    Reply
  • sporkimus
    Sad to see such a great franchise go right in the toilet...
    Reply
  • noblerabbit
    I don't know where the gaming society went wrong, was it with the advent of facebook, or some other veered off direction in brain chemical alteration, but having played this tutorial, expecting, something along the lines of RED ALERT 1 , at the VERY LEAST? , instead, I CLICKED OK TO CONTINUE and CLICKED OK TO COLLECT REWARDS approximately 500 times, (including to re-login due to server timeout) , all this before I even had a 2nd harvester.

    Now, not only is this absolutely insulting to any veteran gamer, but if any young folks have to begin their gaming lives, based on this horrendous crap, then I really pity your youth.

    This has got to be the worst iteration of a Command & Conquer (sad to disgrace their name) and worst game in digital electronics history.

    Shame on you EA. SHAME ON YOU.
    Reply