Supreme Commander 2

Let me start by clarifying that I've been avoiding purchasing newly released games Games sites on release day because of a lack of mention as to whether or not they require STEAM (I've been having to do the research manually but i hope Mighty Ape in particular will be looking into this in the Future as i hold them in high regard as a retailer).

Its a good job I didn't pre-order because as it happens it DOES require STEAM.

So i found someone who had bought a copy and thieved their PC for a decent whack.

My impressions are of a game that has been greatly scaled back to accommodate Console gaming and casual RTS fans. The reason that Supreme commander has stood out for me was the fact that it was so much bigger and more in depth than other RTS's on the market. Sure it still has some cool units (i actually find some of them a bit too over the top and almost cartoony compared to the war machine-esq look of the old units) but the maps are far too small in comparison to Supcom and the Economy no longer has the profound impact it did in the original. I didn't have the heart to play for much longer than an hour or so before i hung up my mouse. Supreme Commander has been one of my (and my friends) Favorite RTS games thanks mainly due to its massive scale, scope and varied strategies which once could utilise in order to win. The Battles in Supcom2 seem to be smaller in scale with more emphasis on less units than squads and groups in the first. You cant use build ques as effectively anymore thanks to the fact that you can only build when you have the stored mass to do so (instead of factories churning out endless units with which to wage non stop war). The story mode is the only thing that seems to have remained from the previous game; by which i mean its just yawn worthy and poorly put together as the original games were.

The only thing i enjoyed was the new customization of the Commander unit who was far too vulnerable in the previous game and seldom saw combat for that reason.

All in all i feel cheated by GPG and would have expected a bloke like Chris Taylor (of Total Annihilation and Supreme commander fame) to have been able to BUILD on the idea of grand warfare on an epic scale. Instead we seem to have been given more of a Command and conquer clone with Supreme commander's stra­tegic zoom strapped on.

After facing issues with Steam, not to mention 2GB to download plus had to find a work around to launch the game as the steam.exe didn't work.

Once all was up and running:

The graphics is very tidy, high level of detail on all buildings, units and world environment. Bonus for compatibility with low end graphics cards.

Multiplayer is great and a lot of fun, will have you gaming or hours.

Single player needs major work, storyline is laughable but easy to play through if you are new to the game.

All in all, not a bad game but wouldn't pay $89 again plus will stay clear of Steam dependent games in future.

If you are like me, you are interested in other peoples views on a product but not interested in reading a to find it out, therefore I will keep this short.

Played Sup Comm 2 for the past 4 days, it's in some ways a vast change from the original game but in my view most changes are an improvement. The graphics are a bit ho hum, but still adequate however the rendering is quick and smooth. I like the idea that you can do research to improve your units and how you only get to build what you can afford, and that there are some really cool faction specific units.

The AI can at times have difficulty with moving units through not so narrow gaps, but with the ability to fully customise your opponent you can make them go from mild to wild to suit your own skill level.

The Campaign is a bit lack luster to start with, you need to set the difficulty to hard to have any sense of fun, however the three different paths with in the game gives it depth. Still to complete it, but there are some really neat scenes and still a great deal of fun.

Overall, I give this a big thumbs up (70/100). The concept may be a little worn out but there are some really good changes which makes this worth while buying – especially of you enjoyed the first game. :)

Be warned when you buy this game wherever you get it because the updates for it are HUGE but very quick.

up to 60GB it downloaded for the patches, I'm pretty sure of that.

Its a great game though going through the campaign at the moment.

I thought it was going to be strange at first and that I was not going to be able to control my units to a necessary degree, I was amazed at the level of control that can be achieved, and the strategies that can be invoked are just beyond any other strategy game at this time