Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 17
  2. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. For the casual gamer, Allegiance finally gives you a space shooter that's fun to play in multiplayer. It has a point, it has huge furballs with dozens of fighters flying around and it can be played at any time. Just fire up the computer, find a public or premium match, join in and fly.
  2. It may take some time to master and feel comfortable with the controls and movement, but the combination of genres (real-time strategy, space flight simulation, group cooperation, etc) makes it worth the effort.
  3. Except for the game's rather pathetic documentation - made utterly redundant by the tutorial missions that ship with the game - Allegiance is about as good as it gets when it comes to an online multiplayer gaming experience.
  4. If this is the wave of the future for multiplayer games, I can't wait to see what's ahead. Allegiance sets forth a goal and achieves it on almost every level.
  5. The only real, but minor, issue I have with Allegiance is the stiffness of the tech tree. While it is a very big tech tree full of all sorts of upgrades, once a person commits to a path on the tech tree, the amount of resources required makes it really hard to change tactics if required.
  6. Could have been a 10, but interface, learning curve, documentation, and the 10 bucks a month brought it down a bit. In short... Thumbs and big toes up on this one!
  7. Real-time strategy, intense space combat, intellectual battle tactics and cooperative teamwork are all elements that play major roles in the unfolding of this experience, but it's not this combination that's so surprising; it's that they're combined so well.
  8. The visuals are terrific. Explosions are robust; the particle effects shine; starbases are huge and panoramic.
  9. Its real-time strategy elements and its focus on cooperative piloting tactics are so central to its gameplay that Allegiance can be very challenging to learn, but it's well worth the effort.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Mar 8, 2012
    I played Allegiance way back in 1999-2001 during beta/retail. It had a really responsive group of developers (Microsoft Research) and a vibrant community. All these years later and the game is still just as fun, while the community (with the help of Microsoft's release of the games source code) has continued to expand the game and develop its potential. 12 years on and this is still a must play... check it out at! Full Review »
  2. BryanE
    Dec 6, 2009
    Excellent game with a mix of FPS and RTS. Truly original and never gets old!