Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Bradley does, as he zooms all the way out on this strategic sequel.
Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.
And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD or Blu-ray releases.
This review was submitted by Bradley Higgins. If you’ve played Supreme Commander 2, or just want to ask Bradley more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Supreme Commander 2 (PC)
Supreme Commander 2 is the sequel by Gas Powered Game and Chris Taylor, the creative mind behind Total Annihilation and Demigod. It takes place 25 years after the defeat of the original game’s antagonists, the Seraphim, and focuses on the three remaining factions: Aeon Illuminate, Cybran Nation and the United Earth Federation. The player takes control of an Armoured Command Unit on the battlefield to build and control your forces in epic scaled RTS. If the player ACU gets destroyed, it’s game over.
Loved
Research: The new tech tree makes customising your army much easier. A huge problem with SC1 was that once you reached a new technology tier your units were useless. In SC2 all the units you build at the start of the game can be upgraded with anti-air or shields or other game changing upgrades.
The Cake is a Lie: In SC1, all the factions felt like they were sliced from the same cake: similar but just different enough to give each faction a different feel. In SC2, each faction tastes different as has genuinely different approaches to problems.
Experimentals: Are large units that define your team. Feel like making a large magnet that sucks in enemy tanks and grinds them into resources? Or do you feel like teleporting an army around the map?
System Requirements: Considering the original SC had more intense system requirements than Crysis this is was a much needed improvement for more mainstream gamers.
Strategic Zoom: This one feature that allows you to zoom out to see the entire battlefield defines Supreme Commander in the RTS genre.
Hated
Too Basic: SC2 is very different from its roots. The economy has changed so you can only build a unit or structure if you have resources in storage. Things like shields no longer require energy to use and there are “console friendly” features like auto grouping units that just don’t fit in with the mouse and keyboard nature of the game.
Campaign: The story has been done before and is your typical humans start war and the other factions fight for liberation. The characters are extremely weak and the voice acting is B grade at the best of times. In short, the campaign is an extended tutorial for multiplayer.
Multiplayer Flaws: There are a few niggling problems the developers have had due to using the Steamworks multiplayer system, such as only seeing games in your download region. The game was also promised a ranked gaming system which has yet to be implemented at the time of writing.
Supreme Commander 2 is at heart a fun game. If you are looking for some fun strategic multiplayer action then SC2 is the way to go. However, don’t come looking for an epic story or single player experience as you won’t find one. See you on the battlefield, commander!
Reviewed by: Bradley Higgins
You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 500 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.
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