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Very Good

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Campaign gets hard. I like it. This is very similar to "Total Annihilation". Improvements over T.A.: Mouse Wheel zooms in/out main map @ stratigic map (I don't know how we got along without this), larg maps, many units (my system typ. 500/side for 20x20 map, don't know max yet but more), good skirmish, good graphics (trees sway/fall/burn, waves roll into beaches). !!You Must Download two patches!! Then all is very cool. So, bad: Check syst req. (I'm good @ 2.53GHz P4, 1Gb, GeForce 7800GS some infrequent stutters, worse at faster playing speeds, but I like slower @ am just fine). I've not seen any Weather,Day/Night or deformable terrain.(In case you were currious). No Map Bookmarks(ie. map location hotkey)(Maybe later!?). Huge HD space (over 7Gb). Overall, if you liked "Total Annihilation" you will like this.

Uncomprising and unconventional game for hardcore RTS players only

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: April 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Supreme Commander doesn't have the charm of Company of Heroes or Dawn of War. The only concession to aesthetics is Jeremy Soule's soundtrack, which still isn't as good as his opening theme for Total Annihilation.

The unit composition takes awhile to get used to. Inexperienced players may find balancing their power/mass consumption extremely difficult at first. It's important to note that the game focuses on strategy, rather than tactics. The emphasis is on large troop movements rather than close quarters combat. A large amount of time is spent on the zoomed-out view supervising your forces. Players used to admiring eye-candy and micromanaging their units may not like this.

I found the user-interface and commands to be excellent. It's extremely easy to carry out complex commands that are impossible in any other game. Examples include automatically transporting units directly from the factory to another landmass via air transport. Setting complex patrol paths. Or setting up coordinated attacks.

The Single Player campaign is, to put it mildly, lacklustre. The missions are predictable, and consist of either attack or defend scenarios. And having piecemeal access to the Tech Level 3 units until late in single-player only makes it more boring. Skirmish is much more fun, as there's more room to experiment with different tactics.

In summary, Supreme Commander is one of the most unforgivable and uncompromising RTS's that's ever been released. It fulfils the goals of its developers, but runs the real risk of alienating a great many RTS players. Supreme Commander is a game you can admire and respect for its abmition and scale, but it's not a game you can fall in love with. Based on my own experiences, I'd only recommend this game for hardcore RTS gamers who are looking for a strategic challenge.

Intuitive but Somewhat Problematic

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 24 / 50
Date: February 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Supreme Commander breathes new life into the RTS genre. In a field of games that has often been overly reptitive, this game brings new elements to the table. Combining massive maps and gigantic units, Supreme Commander impresses players with its size and scale.

Unfortunately, the game also has its serious shortcomings. The most obvious one is the rediculous performance requirements. To experience this game at its fullest, in a 3v3 or 4v4 match in multiplayer, one must have a very up to date machine. The game fails to run well on most reasonable computers without cranking down the settings to the point where graphically it isnt appealing. Another problem is the environments. They are to be honest quite bland. The pristine looking water is nice, but the landscapes often only feature a few trees and one tileset color. Another issue is that this game doesn't truely have 3-unique sides. Although the units visually are all different, they all fill the exact same role and are very similiar, except for the highest technology experimental units. This makes the game quite balanced out of the box, but it is an easy way out for the developers. The way that every side has a "tech three strategic bomber", or a "tech two cruiser" means that the unit variation only runs skin deep. This means the possible strategies in this game will be very limited compared to other popular RTS games like Warcraft III. Another thing is that while the strategic view is impressive, it really will hurt the game's enjoyment at the competitive level. Advanced players will find themselves using 10 parts base management to 1 part unit control. The game will become one in the omninous "world scale zoom" a group of squares going at another group, while players quickly build more groups of units.The units themselves lack control options and the abilities are very limited. This makes it a macro based game, and in the end it lacks excitement and true player interaction. Gas Powered Games truly succeeded in bringing something new to the table, but has failed to take hints from other successful games that have come out since Supreme Commander's predecessor: Total Anihilation. The result is that Supreme Commander doesn't reach its potential.

No Where Near Total Annihilation - THIS GAME IS BORING

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 29 / 75
Date: March 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was excited to see a new game based on the now defunked Cavedog Entertainment's Total Annihilation model. I rushed out and paid full price, HUGE MISTAKE.

PROS: Graphics and dynamic zoom

CONS: No difference in units between factions so no replay value
View is too narrow forcing you to zoom out & watch an icon show
Heavily skewed toward the enemy forcing excessive unit creation
Maps are boring and lack any real strategic design
Face it this game is about building exhausting quantities of units and trying to overwhelm by sheer numbers
Anyone that played TA knows what a "TANK RUSH" is, well this game is nothing but a big tank rush, no strategy beyond that.

The whole game is based on MASSIVE unit creation. You have two choices, build a huge defense so you can build MASS quantities of units or squander one series of units after another in an endless stream of attacks hoping to make a crack in the level. After 4 levels I am getting quite sick of queing up about 200 units and waiting for them to build all the while getting hammered by the seemingly endless ability of the enemy to build with abandon.

The maps are wide open spaces with no imagination in terrain objectives or advantages. No sneak attacks, no vantage points, on and on......The view is so narrow that you never get to see the action, you will spend the entire game zoomed out controlling groups of icons instead of witnessing the carnage. BOOOOOORING

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE in unit type from one faction to another so no need to play the other races as they are essentially the same only different graphics.

HERE IS THE ONE AND ONLY STRATEGY: Build so many units that you overwhelm the enemy. Period. Any other method fails. Stealth, forget it. Smarts, forget it, creativity, forget it. Varied gameplay, no chance.

What a waste of time. I keep playing hoping it will get better but I am thinking of re-loading my now 10 YEAR OLD version of Total Annihilation which is FAR better than this game and the graphics aren't half bad either.

SAVE YOUR MONEY, find a copy of the original TA from Cavedog along with Core Contingency

The biggest disappointment of 2007 by far.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 24 / 61
Date: March 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I wish to note at the outset of this review that THQ ignored numerous requests for information on the game as well as media information which I thought was necessary to answer some of questions and concerns I had about the game. I mention this as usually a company is more than happy to answer questions that are posed by members of then media, which might be an indicator that support for the game may be lacking so potential buyers may want to bear this in mind.
RTS guru Chris Taylor has returned which the mega-hyped Supreme Commander which is said to take RTS games to a new level. The game offers much potential as players can compete as one of three races on distant battlefields each with their own unique weapons and technologies.
As I played the game, I was at first impressed with the abilities to reclaim fallen units for mass necessary to create new units and that many of the units could be upgraded as a players technology level increased.
The game also offers a nice array of land, sea, and air units that allow players to develop attack and defense postures that suit their styles. For example, if you prefer to pound them on the ground to open a whole in the enemy's defense line for your air units, then you may do so.
Sadly, once you get past the initial eye candy, numerous issues in the game arise. One thing is the amazingly poor unit A.I. that happens at a frustrating level. I commanded a squadron of bombers to stay put at a locale while I built up my forces, only to see them and other units time and time again rush off into battle on their own.
Another issue for me was the fact that the game cut scenes were complete with a voice track, but when you are in game, and getting commands from your superiors, the commands come in via text message. It is 2007 folks, when I am in the middle of a battle; I do not want to take the time to have to read text, when voice conversations should have been included.
Despite my early frustrations, I continued on in the game, and soon discovered another issue with the game. One mission required me to relocate units to a base and then evacuate them. The problem is that it never said what units it needed, so I moved all of them to the new base, and was constantly frustrated by a counter that listed 3 sets of numbers but required me to move units over one style at a time to learn exactly what they expected me to move.
Undaunted, I decided to try the multiplayer portion of the game, and found that even though I had the latest update patch, the game still wanted to patch and posted numerous errors when trying to update to allow access to the online network for the game. I finally solved this by locating a folder in the game directory and patching manually.
Once in multiplay, the game was so slow, that is was practically unplayable with four human players all boasting high end systems and high speed connections. Case in point, a bomber took 5 minutes to go from one side of the map to another.
Another bug noted in the game was that at times when I attempted to start the game from the icon on my taskbar, the system would reboot. As a person who worked in tech support for years in the early days of my writing career, I of course know the need for updated drivers and a lack of other programs running and I can assure you that none of those reasons were behind the system rebooting. I had to take to opening and closing my DVD drive to get the game menu up to play.
Graphically the game has some nice features, and the explosions in the game are very well rendered and make up for the average to poor sound of the game and the poor voice work.
I had very high hopes for Supreme Commander based on the hype and early reviews. Sadly the game is buggy and dull and does not rate more to me than a good idea gone horribly wrong.
My advice ignores the hype, skip this one and wait for Command and Conquer 3.

2 stars out of 5
Gareth Von Kallenbach
[...]

Promises are cheap

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: September 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

People who have actually followed this game know that its very different from what it was claimed to be, both by Chris Taylor and the fans. I was expecting a game about grand manoeuvres, strategies, and intense battles, and I was expectant because it was supposed to be the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation, which was a great game, and one of the standouts of the RTS genre.

And indeed:
Strategic Zoom is awesome when its not being a gimmick (that is, when I dont have to stay zoomed out all the time and watch little icons battle each other), cool experimentals, a general feeling of combined land/air/sea generalship which most modern RTS lack, and big explosions/pretty graphics. The unit ferry and the abundance of shift-queuable commands are also nice touches.

But:

1) The game is almost wholely about economic management if you're playing to win. Every little econ thing matters since it gives an exponential reward, and late game devolves into creating huge farms of mass fabricators since they are extremely useful to the point where metal extractors don't matter. This makes map control unimportant, and games very, very boring. Most of the game is babysitting your economy. TA got this right and managed to balance mexs with metal fabs to make a rewarding economy model.

2) The game's not balanced, 6 months later, and I mean its not even close. UEF sucks, basically none of the top players play UEF. A single new unit introduced by GPG (the Mercy) managed to break the game enough so that few of the top players even play anymore, many are quitting or waiting for the "fix" with the expansion. Tier 2 is far more important than any other tier except on very small maps. A great many of the units in the game are actually useless and most tactics and strategies come down to the same few options.

3) Terrain matters diddlysquat. It can't even hold a candle to Total Annihilation, its 10 year old predecessor, in that regard. You have passable and impassable terrain. Thats it, literally. Forget about controlling the high ground, flanking, and pincering or enveloping, very little of that matters.

4) Pathfinding and unit AI mostly blows. Units have a hard time getting around obstacles. The formation function blows, since putting units in a formation if theyre not all next to each other will cause your forward units to all come bumbling back to your base to group up with the one laggard. Unless the path is flat, it takes too long to get from place to place. Fighters, bombers and ships all suffer from AI glitches or frustrating issues (swarms of fighters, for example, will chase just a single unit over half the map while on patrol, and end up in the middle of a forest of AA guns).

5) The campaign is drab and nearly entirely forgettable.

Much of what is here is sad simply because it was done better in Total Annihilation 10 years ago. From pathfinding to terrain, to having a working economy model, Total Annihilation is simply the better game.

Outstanding RTS, but lacking originality and still suffering... issues.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 14
Date: March 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

When Chris Taylor announced Supreme Commander for PC, I was totally stoked. I hungrily devoured news of its impending beta and then subsequent release. I installed the demo while I waited for my copy from Amazon to arrive by International Post. I was blown away by the zoom capabilities, amazing soundtrack, and awesome Cybran experimental units. When my full copy finally arrived, I was again blown away by the rest of what I had missed on the demo, the big maps. Imagine, a 500 unit army about to crash into another, an epic battle to be sure. Loud brass and drums are crescendoing to a fever pitch as you prepare for the final bout, when you hear a "ding!" and you are dumped onto the desktop of your computer. It is enough to make one scream and curse the heavens for such punishment.

SupCom shipped with a known issue that causes the game to use system RAM to the point that it crashes the game. Search for "SupCom crashing" on Google and you will see what I mean. Several disappointed fans came out with fixes for the issue, including one who wrote his own shell code and distributed it so that others could play a game for more than twenty minutes on a level over 10x10. However, support from Gas Powered Games has been excellent besides that one issue. There are even rumors that a 64-bit version of the executable will be compiled ( fixing the issue ).

Beyond the very minor technical shortcomings, there is an obvious feeling of, "...and?" after playing the game for several weeks. The three Race's ( Aeon, Cybran, UEF ) units ( besides experimental units and one or two exceptions ) are simply reskinned and reanimated clones of each other. Imagine my disappointment when it became obvious that side balance indeed was not an issue due to the fact of all the units being the same. It makes for instant mastery of any race, since all you have to get used to is how the units of each side look.

However, to talk about the good things, because there are plenty. To say it simply, despite any shortcomings this game may have, it is absolutely OUTSTANDING in its class. It will not redefine the RTS genre, but it has definitely brought a breath of fresh air. The strategic zoom is a welcome new feature that helps keep control of such an enormous playfield. The soundtrack is amazing, one of the reasons that I think I like the game so much. If your system can handle this game, absolutely buy it.

lackluster

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: May 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I played this game for a week or two and just never really got into it. Part of the reason was related to performance issues (system=3ghz, 2GB RAM, Radeon x1950 Pro) when there were more than 10-20 units on the screen which kills the game play compared to a C&C3, Company of Heroes, or similar RTS which I found to be very smooth.

Quite frankly, given all the hype around Chris Taylor I expected a pretty good game....but I was really disappointed.

As a footnote, I have never played Total Annihilation, which is supposedly Supreme Commander's predecessor. Maybe if I had I would have expected something different...?

Game Needed a Better Development Commander :/

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 18 / 47
Date: March 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game had the potential to be great - solid financial backing, noted designers, great graphics, and an impressive story idea. So, what happened? The game we get is buggy, uninspired, repetitive, and contains poor multiplayer. Yes, it looks pretty and has multi-monitor support - but who cares? The gameplay is weak, and that is why people buy RTS (real time strategy) games.

General and Single Player Complaints:
- Single Player Campaigns too Short. There are roughly six missions for each of the three factions, and the first few for each faction are training missions.
- Single Player Factions Repetitive. The missions for each of the three factions are mirror-images of each-other with only slight modification. Ex: The map for Mission 6 of the Cybran campaign is the same as the map for Mission 6 of the UEF campaign. The goals are slightly different, but (for the most part) only slightly.
- Units are too similar. The units for each of the three factions are almost identicle, though there are slight modifications (the Tech 1 tank for Aeon may hover, while the same Tech-tank for the others does not).
- Linear Campaigns. There is no altering the "fate" of the game besides the initial choice of faction. If one general wants you to "cleanse" a civilian settlement and another does not, you'll have to do it if the computer says that is your objective - otherwise, the game does not continue.
- Unit limits include too many structures. At this time, building certain structures (including cement barricades) added to your total # of units - a number that has a ceiling. Which would you rather have, a tank that can kill the enemy or a single, immobile concrete barricade (that you'd need ten of to be useful?). The limits simply do not make sense.
- The AI is weak. Don't expect impressive techniques and strategies.

Multiplayer Complaints:
- Multiplayer games were EXTREMELY buggy at the time of this writing. There were known bugs that crashed 8 player games, build bugs, etc... Supreme Commander was simply not ready for multiplayer on release.
- GPGnet (Gas Powered Game's multiplayer connection network for Supreme Commander), is poorly designed. Example: It will load the Supreme Commander Game (taking time and comp resources) when entering a mission room - instead of just using the chat client. Considering many missions fail to launch (parameters change constantly since there is no way to NOT post a mission before setting them), this is simply annoying.
- Lack of Valid Opponents. Most players do not have computers that can support large-scale battles with multiple opponents. Prepare for the game to desync or for people to crash out on a regular basis.
- "Teching Up" is still not perfected. Rushers tend to beat techers 9 times out of 10 at the time of this writing. Techers have to use a standard "playbook" in order to get anywhere.
- Experimental unit balance is lacking. The experimental units for certain factions are far superior to others.

General Praise:
- The ending and movies for each faction are different, and lends to overall enjoyment.
- Multi-Monitor support is interesting (if you use two monitors).
- The graphics are impressive (for a RTS game).

Final summary: There are better RTS games on the market - save your money.

Good, but fails to be great

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 13
Date: March 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

There's no doubt that Total Annihilation was the inspiration for this game (but due to legal rights, it can't be an official sequel). If you played Total Annihilation, you'll find that most of the core mechanics of this game are the same. The graphics have been greatly polished, but that can be a problematic. Large battles crawl with all the graphical glitz the new game offers, but the visuals are not so jaw-dropping that it feels justified. The campaign missions are playable, but the story is not up to par compared to other real time strategy games and the missions can be frustrating, especially because large maps or maps with lots of units tend to lag severely. While my system is certainly not the best on the market, it runs games with more impressive graphics without any problems. If you have an older graphics card, do not buy this game...as it will simply refuse to start. And even with a compatible card, expect this game to run slowly, no matter your graphics settings.
When it comes down to it, this game is Total Annihilation with a new skin, only that new skin can sometimes get in the way of fun real time strategy mayhem. This is certainly not a bad game, as many of the same fun elements from TA still apply. Overall, this is an average RTS.

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