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> Results: Supreme Commander
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The ESRB Says
Comic Mischief: GamerDad ... is not sure why the ESRB called this one out. So, um, consider it an nonissue. Fantasy Violence: Things blow up, but always from a distance and without blood. Mild Language: Mild cursing like "damn, dammit, and hell" The once-trendy "real-time strategy" (RTS) genre popularized in the late '90s with games such as Blizzard's Starcraft and Electronic Arts' Command and Conquer -- is poised for its long-overdue comeback. The game deserves the online hype it delivers an over-the-top futuristic war experience to your desktop though inexperienced players, or those with aging PCs, need not enlist. Supreme Commander takes place in the 37th century the year 3844 as three rival factions continue their centuries-long fight, an intergalactic war that has claimed billions of lives and turned once-thriving planets into rubble. In the single-player campaign, your goal is to end this Infinite War by choosing one of the sides the United Earth Federation (UEF), Aeon Illuminate and Cybran Nation and destroying its foes so there can finally be peace. As with most other RTS games, you must establish a base camp, build structures, create fighting units and vehicles, and collect resources from the environment to fuel this growth. Then you use the map to find your enemies and fight them. Over time, you will have access to better buildings, personnel (such as engineers), vehicles and weapons as you climb up the "tech tree," to keep up with the escalating conflict. But Supreme Commander differs in a few respects. For one, all three sides have access to Armored Command Units (ACUs), which are giant armored mechs, piloted by a skilled person inside. The ACU, which you control, is responsible for building the armies and giving them orders. Throughout missions you can choose to enhance your ACU with a handful of upgrades that vary depending on which side you're on. For example, the Cybran ACU may be upgraded with a cooling augmentation that increases the rate of fire, while an Aeon ACU upgrade may be a shield generator to better protect the unit. Some upgrades are available to all three, such as a teleporter to quickly access new areas of the enormous battlefields. Supreme Commander also gives you access to land, sea and air-based fighting units from tanks to submarines to bombers. In fact, more so than any other RTS in recent memory, this game offers an extreme military experience with dozens of insanely powerful weapons in your arsenal. The visual reward for launching this kind of virtual firepower is, in a word, gratifying. Sometimes winning a skirmish or an entire mission takes a bit of trial and error as you figure out which units and weapons work the best, and how to best approach a conflict. Along with the lengthy and intense single-player campaign is a skirmish mode, in which you play against the game's artificial intelligence in a variety of multiplayer maps. There are also online head-to-head modes via the game's built-in matchmaking service. A so-so tutorial is designed for those new to this genre, yet many will find that it doesn't provide enough guidance especially for a tough game like this with its smart A.I. and many units, weapons, structures and vehicles. Another issue with the game is steep system requirements. Minimum specs are at least a 1.8GHz processor, 512 megabytes of system memory and 128MB of video memory but for it to run smoothly, it's more like a 3GHz processor or better, 1GB of system memory and 256MB of video memory with vertex and pixel shader support (if you have to ask what this is, chances are you don't have it on your video card). The game also suffers from some technical bugs, most of which are addressed with a free, downloadable patch. But serious RTS fans with a powerful PC will be more than satisfied with Supreme Commander. The game delivers an intense and deep strategic futuristic war experience with plenty of replayability.  
Real-time strategy games teach about tactics, prioritization, and making the most of limited resources and units. It teaches that violence is best answered with violence, but what action game doesn't? All the violence is seen from afar and there's no blood or disturbing imagery.
Kid Factor by Andrew Bub
This review edited by Michael Anderson Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Supreme Commander |
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