If they're wearing down the middle, then it seems that they're pretty dead on. If you see that your tire wear is on the sides, either inside or outside, then yeah, you'll need an alignment.
The tire wear could also somewhat dependent to things like tire pressure, tire wear rating, and of course, how hard you drive your car. I used to really like the Yokohama AVS ES 100's as they had incredible grip and were really cheap (slightly over $100/tire) but the only downside was they'd only last about a year. I figured that $400 on tires every year was better than $400 per tire, and if I had some freak problem like a nail, I was only out $100.
Interestingly enough, I'm running BFG Gforce sports on my 98 Cobra, and really like them. Good against the wear too.