Supreme Commander

There’s nothing quite like building a giant UFO-like spaceship and blasting apart enemy forces with a laser beam that was ripped straight out of Independence Day. And then there’s nothing quite like zooming out of the action to find that your enemy actually has five separate armies circling around the map, preparing to strike at your own forces from many different directions. Welcome to Supreme Commander: a game that really brings the strategy back into real-time strategy games.

Now, I can’t put it any simpler than this: Supreme Commander is a game for the kind of RTS fan who thrives on complex unit structures, extremely deep and nuanced gameplay, and epic battles that require both tactics and strategy to win. This is not a game for people who consider themselves casual RTS players, and who are not prepared to scale a somewhat steep learning curve. However, if you put in the time to really get a grip on how Supreme Commander works, you’ll certainly be rewarded.

Simultaneously the most impressive and the most daunting aspect of Supreme Commander is its scale. This game can get huge - and while it might put you off at first, after a few games you’ll be an expert at zooming in to particular battles and zooming out again to study the entire playing field. I strongly recommending playing some of the Campaign missions before heading into a skirmish or multiplayer game – they do a good job of introducing the various elements of the game bit by bit.

The Campaign itself is good, but not great. While there are interesting back stories for the three sides, you never really grow to care about whoever you might be fighting for – which is a shame, as it’s obvious that a fair amount of effort went into crafting the fiction behind the conflicts. Still, the single player missions you’ll attempt are generally entertaining and involving, and will often take several hours to complete, as the map gets expanded after you complete each set of objectives. It’s a good system, and there is a nice flow from small-scale skirmishes to full-blown war.

Of course, the hardcore will most likely skip the Campaign and dive right into the multiplayer – so it’s lucky that the action in Supreme Commander is even more satisfying when played against human opponents. You’ll really need to keep on your toes when up against a skilled Supreme Commander player, as battles can get pretty epic and intense.

Aside from the lackluster single player campaign, the other major problem of Supreme Commander is its ability to cripple even the most powerful of PCs. If you try playing on a large map with several AI, expect your system to start chugging, no matter how low you turn the graphics down. I guess it’s the price to pay for such a large scale. If your computer isn’t hugely powerful, I’d recommend sticking to the smaller maps (which are still freaking huge).

In the end, Supreme Commander is a game both for RTS enthusiasts and for those who don’t mind putting in a few hours in order to get the most out of a game. The payoff is a strategy game that is one of the most satisfying of the past few years. If you’re after something with gameplay that is deep and rewarding, you can’t go wrong with Supreme Commander.