But before gamers write this off as a simple Wing Commander knockoff, they should read on. At the start Forced Alliance is astoundingly similar, but it quickly evolves into much more. As the game progresses, players are promoted, first to Lieutenant, then to Commander and finally Captain. Each jump in rank brings more duties. Lieutenants are in charge of a flight squadron and must see to assigning missions to the pilots under them, as well as outfitting their ships.
Commanders do the same for all four squadrons on the carrier.
These negotiations are open-ended. Players can end up allied with any or none of the various factions as they head for the big showdown with another new enemy at a place called the Glarious Sector. As a space shooter, Forced Alliance isn't bad, although there are better ones out there. The fighter ships have a variety of weapons suitable for different tasks, and choosing munitions involves more than simply picking the most powerful guns. Each race's fighter ship is quite distinctive, but capital ships, on the other hand, look rather lumpish.