 Review By: David Pulgar |
Developer: | Gas Powered Games |
| Publisher: | THQ | |
| Genre: | RTS | |
| ESRB: | Everyone 10+ | |
| # Of Players: | 1-8 | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | N/A | |
| Buy Now: |   |
That brings me to the ACU and engineers. Players are represented by the ACU. If the ACU is destroyed, you loose the game. Armored Command Units can build most tier one structures and can be upgraded to build tier two structures. Other upgrades to the ACU allow for increased resource production or combat upgrades that make your ACU a one-person army. However, this is obviously dangerous. Engineers are the expendable builder. There are three engineer tiers, each tier can only build structures specific to its tier. Also, a tier three engineer cannot build a tier three factory. Only tier one engineers can build factories, which must then be upgraded individually. However, tier three engineers have the ability to construct a faction’s experimental unit.
Experimental units are MASSIVE. They take a while to build and drain enormous amounts of resources. But these structures can annihilate entire bases on their own. However, this doesn’t make them unstoppable. Enough concentrated fire from a particular unit (or weapon installation) can bring down an experimental unit. Experimental units are the eye candy of SC. Walking units crush anything below them instantly. That includes factories, other units and even your ACU, so watch out! If you’re opponent’s build an experimental unit and you don’t have one, the game is over. Nothing short of a truly massive army can defeat these weapons of mass destruction.
Even though SC’s three factions are essentially the same, there is enough strategy within SC to keep any RTS fan occupied. Aside from learning unit strategies or build order, base building is also important. In SC buildings gain bonuses depending on their placement. Any building placed next to a power generator reduces operating cost. Place a factory next to a mass extractor and it produces units at a faster rate. These basic traits evolve to complex strategies, allowing SC players a lot of depth. Base building is also important for when you want to protect it. Supreme Commander makes stationary defenses useful again. Setting up ground turrets or anti-air turrets can easily hold an army at bay. Other defensive and offensive structures include shield generators, cloaking devices, artillery pieces and tactical missiles. To accompany these weapons is a similarly varied set of sensor suites. Gamers will need to set up sonar and radar towers to detect enemy movement (because there’s no way your army can be everywhere at once). Supreme Commander players must employ sensor towers and scouts to monitor enemy movement and be able to react to attacks before they strike.
And once players have learned SC’s ins and outs, they can move on to multiplayer. This is where SC really takes off. It uses GPGnet, to power its very active online community. It didn’t matter what time I logged on. There was always a game to join and always players available when I wanted to host. It’s a friendly community too (for the most part). I titled my first hosted game “New to SC – Come Slaughter Me,” needless to say, the room filled quick, but not with gamers looking to blast me back to Earth. Instead, I found gamers willing to share tips and tricks to get me started. If it’s not apparent by now, while I love RTS games, I stink at RTS multiplayer. I found the community fair and welcoming. GPGnet’s matchmaking tools are also great. There are two match types available: ranked and unranked. Unranked games are where gamers can test new strategies and practice. Ranked games, obviously, help your standing in the global ladder. If you’re a gamer looking for some cash, there are also a host of ladders with cash prizes (up to $5000 that I’ve seen so far).
Bottom Line:
Supreme Commander is certainly NOT a game you will win easily. Matches (both single and multiplayer) last quite a while, but it’s all worth it. There’s a sense of satisfaction when you win a game. And if you lose, there’s always the opportunity to learn and become better. Supreme Commander’s depth can be a turn-off to some gamers. It takes a while to learn and even longer to master the intricacies of build order, unit production and economy management but it’s all worth it when your Sacred Assault Bot single handedly wipes out our opponent. I highly recommend this game to RTS enthusiasts.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 9.5 |
Posted: 2007-11-06 14:13:38 PST