Calculated Conflict- Supreme Commander 2 Review

Despite their long-standing popularity on PCs, real-time strategy games have only recently been embraced on home consoles. A significant portion of this sluggish acceptance can be attributed to the construction of a capable control system- translating an intricate mouse and keyboard interface onto a controller design for action games has been an enduring challenge for developers. The recent adaption of Supreme Commander 2 onto the Xbox 360 illustrates that RTS can succeed in proficient hands. 

The title’s control scheme is intelligently implemented and intuitive once players invest a couple hours into skirmishing. Gamers use the left thumbstick to pan across the battlefield, while the right stick adjusts the viewing perspective from tightknit closeups of clashing forces to omniscient outlooks which display the entire arena of war. Movement or attack commands are handled by designating an objective with the ‘X’ button. Sadly, the game’s pathfinding intelligence is questionable, forcing players to be continually conscientious with the trajectory of their troops.

Unit building is handled through a convenient radial dial, with the option to move through land, sea, and air construction facilities with a press of a bumper button. While Supreme Commander 2 forgoes the tiered tech promotions of its predecessor, the alteration is welcome and eliminates the requirement for cultivating your engineering squads. Instead, upgrades are handles through a convenient tech tree screen, which allows players to easily upgrade their ground, naval, air, and structural forces. Supreme Commander 2 presents a respectable amount of augmentation options to gamers, from boosting a unit’s regenerative health capabilities to giving the access to the formidable nuclear strike. Regrettably, the game doesn’t allow players to locate an idle engineer, requiring gamers to periodically scour the map for indolent builders.

Like technological upgrades, the game’s resource management has been streamlined to allow participants to concentrate on warfare. The game’s economy revolves around two restrained commodities- energy and mass. Although energy accumulating facilities can be built on any flat terrain, mass is collected at predetermined nodes scattered across the map. Often, this requires players to perilously push into enemy territories to satisfy the ravenous requirements of a burgeoning army. These slight changes allow gamers to concentrate on the complexities of battle, instead of dwelling in the doldrums of economic micro-managing.

Despite the simplifications, Supreme Commander 2 presents a wide variety of strategic options for both single players and the title’s online matches, which can accommodate up to four players. Gamers which favor preemptive blitzes can channel their energies into a rapidly fabricated assault force, while turtlers can construct a sturdy defense to repel any malevolent encroachers. Despite allowing a host of tactical techniques, Supreme Commander 2 rarely displays the expletive-inducing difficulty shown among its peers. At the median difficulty setting, the game offers just enough challenge to allow victories to feel triumphant.  Each of the game’s 18 campaigns are split between the game’s three factions- UEF, Cybran and Illuminate armies, giving gamers a modest taste of each militia. Skillfully, each group is balanced without resorting to paralleled abilities; while the Illuminate don’t have a naval fleet, some of their units have the ability to hover across the water.  The downside is that gameplay relies too much on the requisite rock-scissors-paper RTS cliché. For once, I’d like to see a large squadron of bombers to not be vulnerable to a lone fighter.

Initially, Supreme Commander 2 visuals may come across as a bit utilitarian, as units are built from an economical quantity of polygons. When multitudes of militias fill the screen, gamers will be thankful for the thriftiness- the title rarely shows the graphical slowdown that plagued its predecessor. More impressive is the game’s weaponry and explosions, as mortars arc across the sky and blasts send out pixels convincingly radiating from a fiery epicenter. Although the game’s dialog flounders in hokey sci-fi speak, it’s competently delivered by a cast which includes the industrious Nolan North.

Although hardcore fans may initially bemoan some of Supreme Commander 2‘s simplifications, each truncation serves to orient the game toward a RTS game’s most gratifying element- combat. As such, the sequel translates especially well onto consoles, allowing players to wage wars from the comforts of their couches. While the title may not have the brand recognition of Halo Wars, there’s little doubt that Gas Powered Games title trumps Master Chief’s tactical efforts in almost every conceivable manner.