Hello there readers :) welcome to the rage quit blog site. My name is Jamie Gillespie and i will be giving you reviews of some of the best, worst, overrated and down right awful games and movies and i thought id start it off with a bang....A Huge bang actually and give you a review of one of the best RTS (Real Time Strategy) games out there. let me introduce to you your wet dream for tonight. I am talking of course about Supreme Commander!
Gas Powered Games clearly put A LOT of thought in to this game the story is well thought out the setting is interesting and all three factions are actually very unique. Now the story and how it develops isn't exactly amazing and it wont blow you away, but hell its not bad its told at a steady pace, the voice acting is decent, the characters aren't totally brain dead and you will be hooked till the end (however the game play is whats hooking you)Story time!
Set in the distant future, Humanity develops quantum gate technology which allowed humanity to push into space colonising many planets on the way and with the earth empire governing them humanity went through an age of peace and prosperity. A man by the name of Gustaff Brackman created the symbiont's (human merged with an AI implant) and of course nothing bad happens......honestly! If theres one thing movies have taught me its that AIs and robots are always treated fairly.....NAHH!! am just kidding humanity shuns the symbiont's and an all out war is waged! so much for that golden age eh?. So the dicks at the government plant a loyalty program on all symbiont's bending them to there will...MUHAH! so Brackman fucks off with the rest of the free symbiont's and founds the Cybran Nation one of three playable factions (and by FAR the coolest) Shortly after this humanity discovers an Alien race called the Seraphin and these aliens tried to teach humans about their religion which is simply called "The Way" but then some humans do the typical thing and Nuke anything or anyone that's different and they were wiped out. But from there ashes the Aeon Illuminate were formed which are basically a bunch of Pissed of Lesbians who kill all who dont believe in the holy aliens (there lesbians because i honestly think there is one guy in the illuminate, so he is either really lucky or they just use him!) So the earth empire is pretty much fucked with a two front war and so they collapse and reorganise into the final faction the UEF (United Earth Federation) who are just like your typical modern day army. This is were you come in The Player chooses the Aeon, UEF, or Cybran campaign and goes through a linear set of missions in a bid to end the infinite war. So in short the UEF are like "We will restore order to the galaxy by destroying you all! the aeon are like "worship our alien gods or we will destroy you all!" and the cybrans are like "in order to survive we must destroy you all!" so the endings kinda predictable lol XD
Speaking of game play!
Wow......just wow. Few RTS games goes into the depth of warfare like Sup Com. First of all when you start a game all you see is this giant warp explosion that blast away trees and debris and there you are. Your own Mech!! each faction has a different mech and can be upgraded in the later games with Shields, resource generators better construction gear and even nuke launcers on there backs (im not even kidding lol),so you can build your mech to whatever strategy your comfortable with for instance the cybran mech can get a Nanite torpedo tube to take boats if your a naval player or stick a mega death laser on its chest for the offensive players honestly that laser would give goku's Kamehameha a run for its money. The Mechs are unique, cool and it also makes you feel like your in the robot, I WISH!....sorry i get a hard on when mechs are involved. So anyhoo,when you start the game your robot comes with an engineering suite which allows you to build up your base, but to do so you need mass and energy, you can build generators anywhere but u need to find mass deposits to build mass extractors on top of, with good mass and energy supplies you can build land air or naval factories which can build your army's, now i will admit its a little complicated at first for any gamer to figure out what the hell he is doing in Sup Com but the tutorials are in depth and easy to follow which is good. Factories can then be upgraded to level 2 then level 3 so the higher the tech the better the units. With higher tech you get better engineers that build better mass extractors energy generators, defenses, Shields, missile launchers , missile defenses , NUKES, nuke defenses etc . You can also build your factories next to generators or mass extractors for a nice adjacency bonus which means the factory will use less resources (it also looks epic when you see the power lines form between them (you can make lovely patterns lol)
One of the best mechanics is the patrol and assist function for the engineers and factories . An engineer can be assingined to assist a factory or any other builder to help speed build times up for your units but this can also be used in really cool ways. For example if you have 10 air factories , instead of clicking on each factory individually and clicking on 10 bombers to be made you can click on 1 factory , click on bombers 10 times then command the other 9 to assist the factory making the bombers which means the other factories will help the first one with its build que! the assist command is also permanent unless you change the command so you can just click on that same factory, build any unit and each factory will help its build que (allowing you to fart out units constantly!) The patrol factory command is equally amazing as you can set a route from the factory that all units will follow once the unit is completed (so effectively you can set a patrol around your base for added protection. This also works for all factories so a naval air and land patrol can be made. Oh Think of the possibilities!, you can make air factories build gunships to patrol the base for air to ground defense, make air superiority fighters to take down enemy fighters, assault bots to deal with land based foes and Submarines to send your enemy's battleships to sleep with the fishes! Combine that with engineers helping the factory's build speed and this can be done quickly and effectively (if you have enough resources). Oh and i HAVE to mention the transport system which is hard to grasp at first but once you get it, it opens up a lot of tactical windows for you. You can build airborne transports to help you get land forces over seas or into the battle quickly, but you can do something that makes it so much easier than just point click point click. You can place a ferry beacon on the ground between two points (your base and near the enemy's position for example) and any of your units that go the to beacon are automatically picked up by the transport and taken to the other point. Now why is that good? simple! if you have a factory set its rally point on the beacon then that means all ground units made from that factory will be sent to the ferry beacon and be taken to the front line. So all you have to do is click the units you want built and you don't have to worry about manually ordering them to that location and of course you can ask as many factories as you want to send to that beacon - which means your huge army's can cross water and get to the front line quickly. Now that is deadly efficiency! ( of course you may need more transports to assist the first transport if you want bigger army's moved )
I haven't even scratched the surface of the possibilities this game has. This review would be much MUCH bigger if i put all the tactical capabilities this game has!
The units and the unit types are also superb - you can build spy planes, torpedo bombers transports, mobile shield tanks , mobile stealth tanks, mobile artillery, mobile missile launchers, nuke submarines, cruisers, long range battle ships, aircraft carriers, frigates, radar installations, anti air towers, point defense towers oh man does this list go on!!
On a side note the Cybran Salem Class frigate is amphibious....THAT'S RIGHT the frigate pops out huge mechanical spider legs and starts walking on the ground! (Fucking mind blowing!)
EXPERIMENTALS!!!!
Now at the beginning i mentioned over the top units. You may be saying to yourself "yea those units sound cool and look cool but whats this jive ass turkey saying about over the top!" well theres a tech 4 that's only accessed once you get to Tech 3. Each faction can build 3 experimentals which are untested prototype weapons of war and they...........are.....HUGE! they absolutely dwarf everything even your own mech. But size doesn't matter right? ....no but it helps! (the last words my ex girlfriend said to me). Anyway im gettin off topic, The experimentals are just Jaw Droopingly cool! examples of this are the Cybran Spiderbot, The Aeon Czar (a flying saucer with a planet ripper canon) and the UEF Fatboy (Factory/Tank with battleship size guns). They can literally ruin a commanders day and tear right though anything almost by themselves and you can build more than one so you can have 3 Aeon Galactic Coloussus walk right into a heavily defended base and tear it apart with gravitron rays or two cybran Soul Ripper Gunships rain death from the sky. You can even build a UEF Atlantis aircraft carrier/Submarine and hide it under their radar and build a huge air force underwater then submerge and let loose the birds of war! (see what i did their :3) However they cost a lot of resources and take almost forever to build, but boy are they worth the wait. They are game winners and just add to the overall cool factor and uniqueness of the game.
The Sounds Of WAR!
The sound effects in this game rock, from the thundering heavy artillery station firing non stop at long range to the the subtle sound of a torpedo impacting a battleship, the sound effects sound new high tech yet original and realistic at the same time. The soundtrack is also equally realistic. The soundtrack a HUGE GRAND ORCHESTRA! probably to illustrate the large scale of the warfare by having a fanfare and loud grand orchestra music, combine that with high tech warfare on all fronts and its a winner, you actually feel like what you are doing is huge and very important and that the fate of your chosen faction rests on your shoulders ( which it does in the game, but the music helps add to it)
Arent you a character
The characters in this game are....variable, some are quite interesting some are just bland and some are just...plain weird! Princess Burke who is the leader of the Aeon is actually kind of interesting and actually serves a purpose to the overall plot. Unlike most princesses....im looking at you Jasmine! Avatar Marxson (dont worry hes not a smurf) is the aeon military advisor and main commander and is credited for the fact that the aeon are militarily raping the UEF. He talks down to everyone and asks you to use lethal force on civilians all the time as well as making cheap insults to the princess (gee i wonder who the bad guys gonna be?). Theres no real point discussing the UEF characters because.....they're so ....bland. The President of the UEF trys to defend everywhere at once, steal valuable tech and resources and doesn't listen to any of his adviser's(sound like anyone?......anyone at all??) Lieutenant Clarke is probably the only character i can stand but the rest of the commanders you meet are not even worth mentioning. All they do is bitch about you not being a good commander even though you systematically kick ass throughout the campaign. There just your typical army douche bags. The cybrans are probably the most interesting of the three. I don't know if its just my fetish for all things dark red and evil looking but i honestly love these guys. The downtrodden underdogs that just want there freedom. Dostya is the military leader and advisor to Dr Brackman and she is alright but her Russian accent makes her a bit too in your face and annoying sometimes, but shes still a credible character by any standards. Dr Brackman (who is actually a brain in a jar) is the leader of the cybrans and.....he is weird....and probably a closet pedophile, if you listen to the way he talks it just sounds unsettling and he constantly keeps saying "My Boy" ,My Child and "Oh Yes" Really slowly and in a quiet tone. If you live for a thousand years and you become a brain in a jar i suppose your bound to be a little eccentric but molestation is no excuse Brackman! put it back in your holographic trousers you sick FUCK! Brackman also creates QAI which is Quantum Articfial Intelligence who helps you out throughout the game, its kind of cool and QAI does contribute to the plot, but i don't know something just doesn't sit right. I bet you 10 pound he turns bad in the sequel XD
Computers are smarted
Most Strategy games actually have decent and challenging AI........But fuck me Sup Com AI is a real challenge! You can set your AI opponents so they can focus on defensive, tech, offensive, guerrilla or random which spices up game play and they honestly give you a real challenge, You even have the option of giving the computer cheats to use to help beat you...THAT'S RIGHT you can give cheats to the enemy! Its also worth noting that the Online Multi player can be just as challenging and the lobbying system of the Online multi player is standard fair but is still great.
All things in Moderation
For a lot of computer games mod tools are made available so the average gamer can mess around with designs game play mechanics and make new units. Supreme Commander allowed the mods to be pre built into the game which adds variety of game play when you get bored. For example before you start a skirmish you could put a mod on that made mass and energy mean nothing at all! Giving these tools to the gaming community meant fans could create their own projects and variants of the game which is a great thing to appreciate. Many Gamers have difficulty installing mods into the games but sup com made it easier for you by having a pre built facility for mods (a mod manager)
Look at the Shiny Shiny!
The Graphics are very impressive and the effects of all the lasers, bombs water ripples fighter fuel streams as they pass by, debris, explosions are all very very impressive. The game visually looks good and appealing and very well detailed, in fact its almost too good.
Its not all good :(
No game is perfect believe me, but if you want this game your gonna need a power full computer, its very demanding and because the game can field hundreds of on screen units, this can lead to freezing and even crashing. Because of this you cant actually fully experience the greatness of the game, the game play is near faultless but it all doesn't mean much if your computer cant run its graphics specs or your processor isn't fast enough. Of course if you have a top of the line gaming computer then lucky you (son of a...) but most of us don't. Ive got an alienware net book and i cant run an 8v8 game at all, hell i cant even run a 4v4 because 30 minutes in everything just slows down. It is a shame but this is something many gamers will have a problem with. Also the games command interface can be a little.....confusing at first and it takes up a lot of the screen so you cant see all of the action because of all the buttons that are in the way. These are not huge issues and I'm nitpicking if i am being honest and it is a great game but it isn't perfect (oooo but it should be!)
SO that's my review over and I'm going to give this a rating out of 10 so here goes:
Story and setting + 1 point
Overall game play + 1 point
New Mechanics + 1 point
In depth development and overall effort + 1 point
The FUCKING EXPERIMENTALS!! + 1 point
Challenging AI and online Multi player + 1 point
Contribution to the modding community + 1 point
Good Soundtrack and sound effects + 1 point
Poor character development and average characters -1 point
Demanding (but impressive) graphics and processing power - 1 point
This brings it to a total of 8 out of 10 which is a respectable score. This game is an absolute must for any RTS gamer, If you like Sci fi warfare especially. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it and would recommend it to anyone with a general interest (wayhay theres a pun!) get it cause generals are in the army?!........man i need to get laid. See Ya Pals!
All rights reserved, THQ, Gas Powered Games and all other companies involved
PS CYBRANS RULE!!
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