Ultima4EVA!! & C&C Tiberium Alliance

[RetroRomper]

While I was at Home of the Underdogs browsing their Circuit's Edge page, a banner ad advertising a new "Free to Play!" game called, "Lords of Ultima" caught my eye. After clicking through, I was greeted by the EA logo on the create account screen and after dialing into it, I was greeted by a new Britannia to explore. "Okay," I thought "should be fun." But after playing for a few hours on and off and discovering that UI elements and 'automatic resource gathering' were paid for features in what is essentially a dumbed down Age of Empries III clone, I decided to move on.

Word soon reached me of other F2P titles based around beloved childhood franchises...

1) Command and Conquer: Tiberium Alliances

I was pulled in by the promise this game held: a web browser C&C title based on either Tiberium Wars or Red Alert would have been quite fun. Instead, it plays along the lines of a half completed tower defense flash game from 1998 - the controls are clunky, there is no free movement, battles are round based though attacks are initiated in real time and there is nothing of the charm or mechanics from any earlier C&C title.

After being mutilated horribly by other players once my "newbie protection shield" dissolved, I decided to move onto...

2) Ultima Forever: Quest of the Avatar



Though a proper title in the Ultima franchise does in principle excite me (regardless of the fact that Richard Garriot hasn't been involved with neither Origin or EA in years), its obvious that EA is plastering any IP with cult status onto an unrelated flash game in a bid to entice players into their revenue stream. Though on the other hand, the map in Ultima4Eva(!!!) is based on UIV...



Regardless, I'm actually more curious as to which brand EA will resurrect next as a half developed, mockery of its former self: Dungeon Keeper Online or Archon III: Grand Master? Wing Commander: Epsilon Strike or Populous: Worlds maybe?