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Supreme Commander 2 is the anticipated sequel to what was quite possibly the first of its kind in the RTS genre. Truly massive armies faced off against each other, brandishing epic titan units on both sides and all controlled by just a single commander. Obviously fans of the first are expecting a lot and the question is: has the latest release kept the good and improved on the bad? My first impressions, unfortunately, weren’t very good as the graphics are definitely a step down from the first game. The reason for lowering the graphic intensity was to promote seamless gaming and I must admit the game does run smoothly, even during huge battles. While the reasons all make sense, it still came across as the Lego version of more popular RTS systems. The cut scenes and mission intros are also not up to the standard of other RTS releases and I was again left a bit disappointed with the story delivery. Game-play, though, is a lot of fun and this made up for any bad first impressions I had. The story takes place in the centre of the deterioration of peace between the United Earth Federation, the Cybran Nation and the Illuminate faction. A comprehensive campaign leads the player through each faction, boasting a total of 18 missions divided equally among the three. As the campaign progresses, the battles become more complex, as expected, but the AI is a bit predictable and can be easily beaten by veterans of the series if the difficulty is set to normal. Newcomers, though, will find themselves challenged by the AI but won’t be overwhelmed by it. The research tree in Supreme Commander 2 works very well and allows the player to research new or upgrade existing units and structures, including the ACU. Research points are earned through battle or generated through research facilities, which can be built. These points are allocated to the type of unit you want to improve which could range from an additional gun barrel to a protective energy field. As in the first instalment, the four main types of units are land, water, air and experimental units, which the player can choose to build and hurl at the enemy. The production buildings are built quickly and huge armies can be amassed in no time. Although the experimental units require their own special research and manufacturing facilities, when they do arrive they have enough punch to swing the battle in the player’s favour. Game-play, on the whole, is effortless and allows for strategy on all levels with a very easy-to-use interface. Resource requirements come in the form of mass and power, which are easily obtained but are just as easily destroyed. These need to be protected from resource denial tactics used by the AI and some players and, besides building defence turrets, the player can upgrade buildings to house defence weapons to drive off enemies. Online multiplayer matches are really what this game was made for and once you’ve completed the single player campaign it will be time for a true test of your skill. Players can choose to play casual or ranked matches online but, either way, they find themselves face to face with some serious encounters in no time. The beauty of Supreme Commander 2 is that it provides enough diversity in unit options and movement to allow players to do just about anything on the battlefield. From hunkering down defensively and cluster nuking your opponent to dust, to resource denying him through co-ordinating bombing runs, the choice of attack depends on the player’s imagination. One thing that surprised me was the huge update required through Steam before the game could be played. A massive 2GB download and patch will run shortly after installation, so players should be aware of this before they spend their money on the game. Nowadays most games do require a patch of sorts after the release of the game to fix bugs and provide tweaks to ensure smooth game-play. This we all accept but a patch that size just seems unreasonable to me and the content should have been included in the disk package that the player paid for. Supreme Commander 2 is a fun game to play but ultimately really only comes alive in the online multiplayer environment. Unfortunately I can’t help but feel that something is missing overall though to put this game up alongside the best RTS games out there. At A Glance A definite improvement from the first Supreme Commander, the game is fun to play and renders smoothly. Developer: Gas Powered Games Publisher: Square Enix Distributor: Nu Metro Interactive Platform: PC Home | Privacy |