Game Reviews

Supreme Commander 2 is much leaner game compared to the first one and its expansion. The number of available units have been significantly reduced to a core set of basic and unlockable units, which are improved through researching add-on technologies. This completely wipes away the sense of redundancy that we felt with the previous games (which had all but useless low level units), but at the same time, reduces the sense of progression. Although the strength of these units is apparent with upgraded firepower and personal shields, units still look the same but with a few special effects added. So, advancing up the technology isn't as much of a visual treat as it once was.Fans of the original Supreme Commander and the Forged Alliance expansion might be disappointed to learn that the sequel does not continue the story shown in the Forged Alliance post-credit reveal. Instead, things in a different direction. In this story, a long lasting and peaceful alliance between the UEF (United Earth Federation), Cybran, and Aeon Illuminate factions was possible. However, peace can't last forever, and as certain parties try to tear the alliance down, it's up to the player to ensure that it somehow survives. The campaign is broken into three chapters, similar to StarCraft, that sequentially puts the player in charge of UEF, Illuminate and Cybran forces to experience the conflict from multiple points of views. Although this removes the hassle of having to replay the same content all over again to experience different factions, it also means that there are no alternate endings. There's also an emphasis on a central cast of characters instead of being a nameless and faceless commander, which doesn't always work to the game's benefit. Although the overall story is pretty good (not counting the puzzling post-credit surprise reveal), the relationship between the three characters is more than a bit contrived (they were all Training Academy classmates) and some of the voice acting is laughably bad. In fact, there are precious few connections between the sequel and its predecessors. What happened to all the cool technologies, like the radar stealth generator, dedicated repair building and decoy ACU? All gone with no explanation. Supreme Commander 2 is more of a reboot of the game than a continuation. The most prominent gameplay change is the resource management system, which no longer allows players to build beyond their means. In previous games, a resource deficit meant things simply built slower. In Supreme Commander 2, if you don't have the required mass or energy on hand, production comes to a halt - and in many ways, so does the game. Production facilities set on infinite build will automatically pause production without alerting you, which gets annoying when you're expecting assembled reinforcements but discover there are none. An on-screen message would have been beneficial, along with the ability to prioritize factories so certain ones will shut down before others.