There are two kinds of military games; there are those that portray battles between warriors, a conflict of skill and technique and individual character, and those that portray wars of attrition, of the ability to muster resources and effectively utitilise them where casualties are inevitable, and frequently massive on both sides. Supreme Commander is the shining example of the latter category. Released in 2007 by Gas Powered Games, it?s worth noting that the only two kinds of games currently released by GPG, as they will henceforth be known, are either Supreme Commander games, or Dungeon Siege games, with the much anticipated Demigod still on the horizon. Normally I don?t mention the developers of the games I talk about unless there?s a good reason, and the reason in this case is that every single series released by this company has been incredibly successful. Anyhow.
The premise of the game is pretty simple really, and you can?t fault it for getting to the point; blow up the enemy commander-walker thing by building lots and lots of units. It?s certainly a winning formula, if not entirely original. The resources used in the game are equally as basic; Mass and Energy. You extract the one from the ground at Mass Points, and the other via power generators. This isn?t entirely true but it?s generally the case. These resources are used in building structures, and in building units, with several structures needing Energy to keep running. The terrain is fairly varied actually, and the seas are as much of a battlefield as the land is, which is a refreshing alternative to lots of modern games who look down on naval combat like it?s a member of the lumpenproletariat. You play the commander of one of 3 human factions looking to wipe the other players off the galactic map.
The factions are billed as ?Three Unique Factions? on the box, but frankly I think this is overstating just a leetle. They conform to your three human stereotypes pretty much exactly; capitalist modern humans what look just like us, with the same fondness for economy and with nothing special about their stuff; religious spiritual nutcase humans with a fondness for absolutism and a class structure and high defences; and last but not least cybernetically enhanced humans ruled over by a benevolent but crazy scientist who created them in the first place. I have to say that these stereotypes have been honed to a fine art in Supreme Commander, however, and they each have their own distinct feel to them, so I can?t really fault the game for this.
The actual game is surprising complex in a few ways. It has something of an ?economy? in that structures close to resource generating points will use up less of said resources, and that you really rely on your ability to have the necessary gubbins to generate lots of units continuously. There are also the choices to be made between, at the least, aerial and ground combat, and devoting yourself to one will inevitably be at the expense of the other. Each unit type has its own tactical capabilities, relating to its function and its strengths and weaknesses. However, I can?t help but feel that the combat remains at its heart a battle of attrition.
Unless your units really are uberly superior to the enemy?s, the greatest numbers will win any battle, and really if you balance the unit types in a given horde and just send it on its merry way, very little micromanagement is required, unless there?s a circumstance where you want to prioritise targets. However, the interface is very simple to use, and there are lots of tools able to help you manage such a large scale operation; for starters the map can zoom out to a ridiculous degree, and considering the size of some of the maps this is a feature any player is grateful for. Also, not only can orders such as building or movement be made into a series of waypoints, the game very specifically shows you how to do this, and early on. The problem sometimes, for me, is that the game can sometimes get simply too vast, and relies too much on being bothered to do your ?economy? properly, and any game that makes you spend a long time on stuff like this had better have spider-legged huge robot things with a massive laser.
Which Supreme Commander does. It?s almost the sole purpose of the game; to get to the point where you see these ?experimental? units in action. They are the wet dream of anyone into guns or robots or any other pasty-faced male fantasies; massive great big things with huge amounts of firepower, and in the case of the flying saucer air carrier massive amounts of aircraft inside it. It feels like these were designed as treats for any fans of the genre, because they take the whole RTS concept to a level of hyberbole beyond any other game i?ve seen. It?s like when they realised this entire game was basically about large scale stuff and killing lots of things, they just rolled with it. In fact, the entire game feels like it?s about taking mainstream concepts and working on them to make them the best they can ever be.
That?s not to say this is a game without faults. Most of all its easy to complain about the entire ?economy? thing, especially if one is used to games like Company of Heroes where the ?economy? consists of ?capture this point here? and occasionally ?build outpost on this point here?. To anyone who likes strategy games to get the the point, or at least the combat, quickly, Supreme Commander will certainly be a let down, because you can?t ever afford to be half-arsed over the resource-gathering. My other problem is the fact that the single player campaign, for me at least, was very boring. A game that has tutorial missions and instruction videos does not need the first two or three levels of each faction?s campaign to act like yet more tutorial time, I feel.
Frankly the game is boring, in fact, when not playing online. It?s slow paced enough to take a long time to get going, and fast paced enough for a decent computer to shred anyone who dares to place a power generator in an inefficient location. Which brings me onto my next point; the game is very unforgiving of anyone who doesn?t place everything in the optimum location and build everything at the optimum time. This combines with the fact that there is no real adjustment between difficulty settings, it very quickly turns from cakewalk into murderously hard. The game gets boring when you?re being stomped on for the umpteenth time, and it gets boring when you?re never ever threatened remotely for the umpteenth time.
Overall, I like the combat segment of the game because it?s really easy to get things to do what you want, it gives equal attention to all aspects of warfare, it?s large scale, and it?s definitely explosive. On the other hand, the economy segment of gameplay is only interesting when you get it right, and at all other times extremely irritating and distracting. I?m sure it?s perfectly simple to master it, but it quite obviously requires a dedication to the game that borders on the obsessive. Anyone who just isn?t into the resource collecting part of strategy games at all is likely to hate Supreme Commander with a passion. The game is well presented, and done with a great deal of genuine enthusiasm, but I can?t blame anyone who finds the game boring or off-puttingly confusing. I?m sure the ?economy? is well-balanced and quite intelligent but that certainly doesn?t mean it?s condusive to fun. I?d only advise people to play this game if they have buckets of free times, vats of patience and a small canyon?s worth of brain space. But I still say the actual ?war? bit is pretty damn fun.
The premise of the game is pretty simple really, and you can?t fault it for getting to the point; blow up the enemy commander-walker thing by building lots and lots of units. It?s certainly a winning formula, if not entirely original. The resources used in the game are equally as basic; Mass and Energy. You extract the one from the ground at Mass Points, and the other via power generators. This isn?t entirely true but it?s generally the case. These resources are used in building structures, and in building units, with several structures needing Energy to keep running. The terrain is fairly varied actually, and the seas are as much of a battlefield as the land is, which is a refreshing alternative to lots of modern games who look down on naval combat like it?s a member of the lumpenproletariat. You play the commander of one of 3 human factions looking to wipe the other players off the galactic map.
The factions are billed as ?Three Unique Factions? on the box, but frankly I think this is overstating just a leetle. They conform to your three human stereotypes pretty much exactly; capitalist modern humans what look just like us, with the same fondness for economy and with nothing special about their stuff; religious spiritual nutcase humans with a fondness for absolutism and a class structure and high defences; and last but not least cybernetically enhanced humans ruled over by a benevolent but crazy scientist who created them in the first place. I have to say that these stereotypes have been honed to a fine art in Supreme Commander, however, and they each have their own distinct feel to them, so I can?t really fault the game for this.
The actual game is surprising complex in a few ways. It has something of an ?economy? in that structures close to resource generating points will use up less of said resources, and that you really rely on your ability to have the necessary gubbins to generate lots of units continuously. There are also the choices to be made between, at the least, aerial and ground combat, and devoting yourself to one will inevitably be at the expense of the other. Each unit type has its own tactical capabilities, relating to its function and its strengths and weaknesses. However, I can?t help but feel that the combat remains at its heart a battle of attrition.
Unless your units really are uberly superior to the enemy?s, the greatest numbers will win any battle, and really if you balance the unit types in a given horde and just send it on its merry way, very little micromanagement is required, unless there?s a circumstance where you want to prioritise targets. However, the interface is very simple to use, and there are lots of tools able to help you manage such a large scale operation; for starters the map can zoom out to a ridiculous degree, and considering the size of some of the maps this is a feature any player is grateful for. Also, not only can orders such as building or movement be made into a series of waypoints, the game very specifically shows you how to do this, and early on. The problem sometimes, for me, is that the game can sometimes get simply too vast, and relies too much on being bothered to do your ?economy? properly, and any game that makes you spend a long time on stuff like this had better have spider-legged huge robot things with a massive laser.
Which Supreme Commander does. It?s almost the sole purpose of the game; to get to the point where you see these ?experimental? units in action. They are the wet dream of anyone into guns or robots or any other pasty-faced male fantasies; massive great big things with huge amounts of firepower, and in the case of the flying saucer air carrier massive amounts of aircraft inside it. It feels like these were designed as treats for any fans of the genre, because they take the whole RTS concept to a level of hyberbole beyond any other game i?ve seen. It?s like when they realised this entire game was basically about large scale stuff and killing lots of things, they just rolled with it. In fact, the entire game feels like it?s about taking mainstream concepts and working on them to make them the best they can ever be.
That?s not to say this is a game without faults. Most of all its easy to complain about the entire ?economy? thing, especially if one is used to games like Company of Heroes where the ?economy? consists of ?capture this point here? and occasionally ?build outpost on this point here?. To anyone who likes strategy games to get the the point, or at least the combat, quickly, Supreme Commander will certainly be a let down, because you can?t ever afford to be half-arsed over the resource-gathering. My other problem is the fact that the single player campaign, for me at least, was very boring. A game that has tutorial missions and instruction videos does not need the first two or three levels of each faction?s campaign to act like yet more tutorial time, I feel.
Frankly the game is boring, in fact, when not playing online. It?s slow paced enough to take a long time to get going, and fast paced enough for a decent computer to shred anyone who dares to place a power generator in an inefficient location. Which brings me onto my next point; the game is very unforgiving of anyone who doesn?t place everything in the optimum location and build everything at the optimum time. This combines with the fact that there is no real adjustment between difficulty settings, it very quickly turns from cakewalk into murderously hard. The game gets boring when you?re being stomped on for the umpteenth time, and it gets boring when you?re never ever threatened remotely for the umpteenth time.
Overall, I like the combat segment of the game because it?s really easy to get things to do what you want, it gives equal attention to all aspects of warfare, it?s large scale, and it?s definitely explosive. On the other hand, the economy segment of gameplay is only interesting when you get it right, and at all other times extremely irritating and distracting. I?m sure it?s perfectly simple to master it, but it quite obviously requires a dedication to the game that borders on the obsessive. Anyone who just isn?t into the resource collecting part of strategy games at all is likely to hate Supreme Commander with a passion. The game is well presented, and done with a great deal of genuine enthusiasm, but I can?t blame anyone who finds the game boring or off-puttingly confusing. I?m sure the ?economy? is well-balanced and quite intelligent but that certainly doesn?t mean it?s condusive to fun. I?d only advise people to play this game if they have buckets of free times, vats of patience and a small canyon?s worth of brain space. But I still say the actual ?war? bit is pretty damn fun.