14 DAY TRIAL // 
1997 brought the first 3D features into the world of RTS games. Whose idea was this? Chris Taylor's of course - one of the 50 most influential characters in the gaming industry. Along with his team mates at Cavedog Entertainment he designed the much praised (and awarded) strategy Total Annihilation. Nine years later the game still enjoys a thriving community and despite the fact that the official multiplayer servers were disbanded or no longer host TA, players still meet up on some servers and clans and ladders are yet active. Of course it took a whole 3D makeover and two expansion packs to keep the pace (at least theoretically) with nowadays technology. After producing the Dungeon Siege series, Gas Powered Games - Taylor founded it in 1998 and employed several ex-Cavedog colleagues - decided to go back to the RTS realm. It was announced to be the spiritual successor of TA and Taylor previously stated that he aspires for Supreme Commander to be the most customizable RTS ever made.
Story & History Following their dreams of space colonization, starting from 2009 humans take small steps into a new era of technological achievements. With major understandings in Quantum Physics around the year 2018 begins the Quantum Age. From transporting a mere cesium atom in 2025 to eventually depositing a human team on Neptune's moon Triton in 2061 the perfecting of Quantum Tunnel technology keeps human scientists busy all the time. By 2284 the Prime Worlds had already been claimed (these were the first 16 colonies). 32 years later comes the First Great Expansion as the Prime Worlds start their own colonization.
By the 29th century Earth gained control of as many as 1,280 systems using the so called quantum tunneling. But these worlds were scattered all through the galaxy and the Colonial Command forces proved to be incapable of keeping the situation under control. History marks the year 2819 as the beginning of the Infinite War. As the Earth Empire crumbled in ashes a new government vows to bring hope to the abandoned worlds - the United Earth Federation. The Aeon Illuminate order aspires to bring "The Way" to the galaxy or total destruction making use of the advanced philosophy and technology of an extinct extraterrestrial race. As if this wasn't enough, the computer enhanced Symbionts that make the Cybran Nation join the war relating on their proficient intellectual abilities. They fight for emancipation and a society of their own where they are no longer slaves for the UEF (that fears their ease of interfacing with technology).
Will the regular human ingenuity prevail once more? Will the ancient advice of an extinct civilization help the quasi-religious order? Or will half-robots get in control of the galaxy? The story is up to you to unravel. It's the year 3844 and it's time for you to prove that you're a Supreme Commander: put an end to the 1000 years long war. The stake is high - the faith of the entire galaxy is in your capable hands.
Concept Making use of the planet's two resources - energy and mass - the commander unit will have to make sure any other inhabitants of the planet are strongly discouraged. There are several ways to do this: Annihilation, Assassination or Supremacy. Assassination only involves killing the opposing commander unit, while Annihilation is of course about eradicating any trace of an enemy. Supremacy is based on the overall score your new colony gains. If you'd rather grow in peace with no objective whatsoever just check the Sandbox mode (also wonderful for learning).
What is your playground? Huge battlefields, diverse planets with up to 1000 population cap should please your eyes. The zoom levels range from close up to a space view of the entire map. Choose from one of the three major sides - United Earth Federation, Aeon Illuminate and Cybran Nation. Although they all have pretty similar buildings and units, the design is different from one faction to another. Even the way they build up the structures changes.
Most of the buildings have three levels of upgrades each providing a greater variety of units and more complexity. Even engineering units (the constructors) prove to be as efficient as the level of the factory that produces them. Distinct land, air and naval factories take care of the construction of specific units (any of them can produce engineers). Nothing is for free, so everything that is being built consumes a certain amount of resources for the entire period of time that it takes for it to be constructed.
Gameplay Any strategy fan feels very much at home playing Supreme Commander. Same control actions are available as always - easy mouse selecting locations, left click to select, right click to designate the destination. Which is more a queue is also provided. Buildings as well as engineers can be given a series of tasks.
Build up unit factories and defense structures. Get your army ready and start destroying your foes. The factions are very well balanced (almost same unit abilities) so the game is more about quick strategies as you can't really hope that other players won't gather the same (if not a greater) amount of forces. If you're not playing Assassination (except if it's ok with you to get a draw) the game can quickly end if you send your commander to destroy the enemy base. It's the closest thing I could get to a rush and it was fun, I have to admit.
Video All animations are great to look at, even if it's just a pack of engineers constructing a building or a new unit is manufactured by the nearby factory. Each faction has a specific way of constructing. The UEF in example builds a 3D wireframe schematics and then fills it up from bottom to top. The Aeon seems to erect their buildings from sand in a continuous swirl (that is created by a beam of particles coming from the constructors), while the Cybran engineers send small laser equipped planes that sculpt the building from all necessary angles.
I have to say that the zoom level is absolutely amazing, especially the transition between close views and sky high views of small squares symbolizing the buildings and units. Another eye thrilling aspect is the firing visual effects. Everything explodes beautifully and leaves big (smaller sometimes) craters in the ground. The best explosions take place as the commanding unit (or a second commanding unit) dies. This is sort of a nuclear explosion, causing a great amount of nearby casualties and it's visible even on the sky high map view.
Sound Not really that much to say about the sound. There is only the sound of first-class units moving around, opening facilities that allow finished units to be greeted by the new world and of course lots of laser shooting and explosions. Don't worry, you'll be busy concentrating on the next action to take anyway.
Multiplayer Well, this was the only mode available for play in the beta version and I must say I was really impressed. Although just a bunch of maps were accessible, these ranged in size from 1v1 to up to 8 players map (4 teams maximum). Team play and also FFA (free for all) modes can be chosen. Maps have different terrain types and some can also sustain water (meaning naval battles). It was a wonderful gaming experience. I wonder whether the single player campaign will be just as fun. Hope it does although the multiplayer alone can stand as a good game.
Conclusion Supreme Commander looks wonderful: it has a great team to develop it, balanced factions, an upgradeable commander unit (proving to be your best weapon yet) and tons of eye catching visual effects. I guess it's bound to be a must have of the RTS fans everywhere. I really hope that GPG can come up with a story as much appealing as the introductory history lesson turned up to be. Details are always of the essence since the game seems to have strong bases. To sum up, it made a great first impression, I'll keep my fingers crossed for the final version not to disappoint.
