Sound and Interface

There Are Times You Just Go "Duh!"

When so used to the subtleties of sound in Quake games, it becomes easy to overlook the obvious. In space you fly, not walk. There are no footsteps to give you away, no walls that you can't see through so you must listen… at first, we thought that sound was nothing but cosmetic in Allegiance. Then, during a 60 man matchup, it struck us. With 60 people fighting (often the majority in ONE sector!), it becomes a bit of a hassle trying to read warnings and text. You're too busy trying to survive to worry about reading that crap at the top of the screen, just in case there might be a warning worth worrying about.

These lasers can't hurt a fly

Check out his exhaust streak

No, you won't spend a lot of time reading in combat, so that's where the sound comes in. There are numerous voice sounds available in-game. They range from the banal and useless to game-saving. When hearing a voice warning, you don't have to take your eyes off that interceptor that you're duelling with, you don't have to worry about losing track of that stealth bomber trying to sneak in - nothing. Just pay attention and you'll hear everything you need, in addition to the regular chatter.

That's actually a funky effect...

Da Stealth Bomba!

Interface

The interface in Allegiance is very clean for a beta game. Instead of being forced to pick games on the Zone through your browser, you do it in-game. Allegiance's new Zone implementation is almost as good as Parallax Online, and there is nary a minute without a game opening.

The in-game controls are fully customizable, though most people probably won't touch them since they are fairly intuitive right now. Control options are limited right now to keyboard and joystick. We found that with all the controls that you need to use, it was easier setting up a big gamepad (Gravis Xterminator is real nice since it has the analog stick) with its myriad of easy-access buttons, than a 4 or 5 button joystick and needing to worry about they keyboard. Of course, owners of high quality joysticks (Firebird 2, Phoenix, Thrustmaster F-16/F-22 & WCS, and anything with an insane amount of buttons) will definitely get the best experience.

I've got my bomber, now I need a crew

Ooooh I'm getting dizzy

One of the nicest features about the interface is that it's completely accessible in-game. Just hit Esc and set yourself up with the mouse. Given the complexity of Allegiance and its interface, this is a near-must. A few seconds out in some menu that obscures the screen could mean death and a long trip back home in an escape pod.