Saturday, August 9, 2008

Kneel to be "Supreme Commander"


My Exprience with this game is quite gud but it's pretty tough to have control over this game.
There have been very few concessions made to create a more accessible strategy experience on a console - everything is pretty much as complicated as it's PC brother. As a result, unless you're willing to put in the time to really learn what you're doing - at least 2 to 8 hours to get up to speed - there's no point in even trying because the amount of frustration will likely be too much to counter any fun you might be able to wring out of the game.

Steep hardware requirements; large battles can bring the most powerful systems to their knees.

For those of you unfamiliar with Supreme Commander, it's pretty straightforward. Think of your regular old RTS games like Commander and Conquer or Starcraft. Now multiply that by a factor of 10. Everything in this game is big: the weapons, the maps, the unit cap, even the system resources. And as we know, bigger is always better.

It's time to fire with big guns Hunny!!

Case in point: the experimental weapons. Each faction has three unique weapons of mass destruction that represent the pinnacle of the respective faction's technological abilities. The unique abilities of each experimental unit not only grant you an immense edge in battle, but they also allow you to personalize your play style.

Of course, a few jumbo-sized offensive weapons isn't all Supreme Commander has to offer; it's also the sheer number of units that can duke it out at once that sets it apart. Up to 500 units per side can be produced and fought in battle, meaning combat can be intense and protracted, but also a hell of a lot of fun, given you have the resources to build so much.

A Big Fight..

At the highest detail levels, Supreme Commander is incredible to look at. Seeing dozens, if not hundreds, of air, land, and naval units battling onscreen is amazing, and large battles are littered with smoke trailers, particle effects, and explosions. Meanwhile, watching a nuclear detonation slowly expand, with the shock wave destroying everything in its path and setting off a chain reaction, is bliss.

Even more impressive is the ability to pull the camera back far enough to see the entire battlefield. Limited zoom has always been one of the primary frustrations in many RTS games, because you never could feel like you were getting a grasp on the battlefield. But in Supreme Commander, you can pull the zoom back far enough and feel like you're really sitting back in a command bunker somewhere as you watch the military icons that represent your units move and fight onscreen. If you have two monitors, you can keep one zoomed in on the action while the other gives you the strategic view, and it's very cool, though you'll need a fairly advanced video card to support it. The good news is that if you have just one monitor, you can do a split-screen view with one half zoomed on the action and the other giving you the strategic view.

No comments:

Template Design by Games News