GH Review: Supreme Commander Forged Alliance (PC)

***Zardon*** · Jan 15, 2008, 07:13 PM

Read The Review Here
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Earlier last year, Gas Powered Games released Supreme Commander, the spiritual successor to the revolutionary RTS game Total Annihilation. SC's reception was kind of a mixed bag, due to its rather unforgiving, newbie slaughtering game-mechanics, monstrous system requirements and flood of issues. SC capitalised mostly on catering to players who want to control grand armies, and coordinate lengthy, well planned combat manoeuvres, compared to the micro-management that we are accustomed to from games such as Company of Heroes or Command & Conquer 3. Supreme Commander's expansion, Forged Alliance, aims to enhance this in every possible way.

Lowfat · Jan 15, 2008, 08:14 PM

Still haven't beat SupCom yet, but i'll likely be picking this up sometime

mkk · Jan 15, 2008, 09:40 PM

I've been knowingly saving this experience for later so it was interesting to read some reflections on what kind of changes had been brought to the game. I'm especially glad to hear that the skirmish AI has been touched up a bit.

Had any time to play it yourself, Z?

Arklon · Jan 15, 2008, 10:15 PM

It really does improve on the original game in every way. Get it.

OmegaRED · Jan 15, 2008, 11:05 PM

Good review, although a bit late, it touches on most of the criticisms I've seen in other reviews and then found myself. The most annoying change in the expansion was the nukes being useless and mass fabricators not being as good as before, the rest is all improved. It's been a couple of months since I last played it but the missions are long and entertaining plus there's plenty of "Oh Shit! Oh Shit! Oh Shit!" moments when a wave of experimental units marches on your base. It's definitely worth getting and puts C&C 3 to shame.

Arklon · Jan 15, 2008, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OmegaRED

The most annoying change in the expansion was the nukes being useless and mass fabricators not being as good as before, the rest is all improved.

I think nukes still build fast in skirmish or multiplayer, just slowly in the campaign (probably because the campaign AI sucks at defending itself from them). Mass fabs farms were a huge problem in vanilla SupCom, they completely encouraged turtling and discouraged map control. They needed to be nerfed, though I think they're just slightly overnerfed in FA.

OmegaRED · Jan 15, 2008, 11:14 PM

Maybe so, but for people like me who like to go through the campaigns (which can be quite time consuming) it's a real setback struggling to get your economy going while your energy is in abundance. There's just something not right when you've always got more energy than mass and since the AI doesn't seem to have monetary problems it would be nice to cut the player some slack.

***Zardon*** · Jan 16, 2008, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkk

I've been knowingly saving this experience for later so it was interesting to read some reflections on what kind of changes had been brought to the game. I'm especially glad to hear that the skirmish AI has been touched up a bit.

Had any time to play it yourself, Z?

Yeah, I gotta say SC was my game of last year. I love it, although the downside is, the only PC I could really play it properly on, cost quite a bit of money. Its a system killer to run at 1920 resolution.

Arklon · Jan 16, 2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OmegaRED

There's just something not right when you've always got more energy than mass

You also use a lot more energy than mass.

Shaga · Jan 17, 2008, 05:46 AM

Should get my hands on SC. I already have C&C3 on line to be played next, should I play SC before it?

Playing The Witcher now. Just finished Crysis and Call of Duty 4.

OmegaRED · Jan 17, 2008, 09:10 AM

Play C&C 3 first because after playing SupCom you'll find that game far too simple.

Shaga · Jan 17, 2008, 09:12 AM

Allright, thanks for the advice.