Rose-tinted Replay: Dodgy Alliance

My memories of Fragile Allegiance are very specific. I remember playing the game for hours while listening to 'Equador' by Sash. In fact the two are so intrinsically linked that whenever I hear the song I think of the game and vice versa.

Looks complicated... but it's not.

Replying Fragile Allegiance now I'm struck by two things. The first is how addictive the game seems to be, buttons litter the page and once clicked reveal even more tantalising buttons. A flowchart of clicks that lead to detailed information about one aspect or another of your growing mining empire, which is... ultimately pointless due to the simplicity of the economic model. And secondly, that without the rhythmic beat of 90s dance music, the game just isn't that good, but yet you still play. One click after another, 'I'll just build one more ship. I'll just colonise one more asteroid. I'll just slip into a semi comatose state and play for another four hours I think.' I have a certain level of ambivalence about this game. It's a love/hate thing only replace the 'love' with 'slightly confusing feelings for a previously platonic fat friend'; the 'hate' is still just plain 'hate' though.

Thirty One buttons and not one fucking tool tip!

The aim is to colonise asteroids and mine them of their resources, forever growing your territory in the relentless pursuit of profit. There is diplomacy involved as you meet other alien races trying to exploit the same resources and so inevitably wars break out from time to time. The races are fairly distinct and the diplomatic model can be interesting to play with but ultimately it comes down to one thing. Gather lots of resources and then annihilate their asteroids one by one. Combat boils down to building a massive fleet and sending them to attack when you think you have enough ships to defeat whatever defence (and potential counter attack) the AI has amassed. Again, like every element of the game, it feels too simple. As a strategy gamer I find the game soothingly mindless but devoid of challenge which leaves me feeling empty when I play. As a young stupid child I thought the game too hard to even beat the first scenario. Now though, having studied at the prestigious institutions of Civilisation, Total War, Galatic Civ, I find Fragile Allegiance enjoyable but ultimately unsatisfying, kind of like shagging that Platonic fat friend.

My budding empire, I'm going to take over the universe...
one insignificant asteroid at a time!

Finally though the game makes the big mistake of never ending. There are no true victory conditions, once all the competitors are eliminated or alliances forged the game (theoretically) goes on forever. You never win, just continually drudge through the same menus time and again until your mouse buttons turn to dust and your joints fuse with RSI induce paralysis. It is like the never ending hand job. Fun for a while but eventually leaves you desperate for the euphoria of the Victory splash screen.

And with that image another childhood memory is ruined. Fragile Allegiance was a good game at the time but now stripped of quality by the pace of technology. I've now ruined the song too... I hate this feature.