This game is a classic example of how an excellent product can be marred because there isn't much explanation and an introduction to the mechanics. When I played the demo, I thought, which was reinforced, by the tutorial, that this game is just like all the other RTS games, where you build, group and coordinate an attack to decimate your enemy. So, naturally it didn't make sense when an injured unit would come near an engineer and it wouldn't heal. But then I happened on a video primer on IGN, where I was introduced to the wonderful mechanics of Assistance. This simple, yet wonderful, mechanics makes this game a strategist delight! It's perhaps the only game (out of those that come to my mind anyways) that makes you plan your actions in this game, and that includes the building part too. Once you get hold of this mechanic this is a pretty wonderful game, and suddenly the high scores of Gamespot starts to make sense. I haven't played Total Annihilation, but if it was half as good as this one, then it sure does earn it's place in the RTS Hall of Fame.
The mechanic is simple, you order other units to assist by right-clicking on the one you wish to assist(the plus cursor). Once that's done, depending on the unit that is being assisted, and which is assisting the work changes. For example, if it a combat unit is assisting an engineer, then it will follow it and protect it from enemies, while an engineer assisting a combat unit might increase it's efficiency or rate of fire and heal it when required. Then engineers can assist each others, which results in a tremendous boost to the working rate of the primary engineers. It also keeps units manageable, as controlling the main assisted engineer makes the other assisting engineer follow it around. And there's no limit to the number of unit that can assist. So, as long as you have enough mass and energy to go around, you can make 100s of units assist one engineer, which suddenly makes the building time of 40 mins seem reasonable. And this assistance also extends to buildings, where production buildings will share load, and defensive buildings will gain bonus.
This brings me to the next point of economy in Supreme Commander. It's not the run-of-the mill economy, that is to say, the more unit you have on one resource the quickly you can gather it. You have to build a sustainable economy that remains in the green profit margin and doesn't become more consumption than production, at which point the building will go on, albeit at a slower rate. It's not as if you aren't producing, it's that whatever is being produced, is being used up, and not getting stored. Plus, many of the buildings and even units take up energy, mostly the shielded ones, to operate, whose shield will fail if there isn't a sufficient energy reserve. So, you have to pay attention to the economy too, otherwise your entire army, no matter how powerful can easily fall apart.
Which also reminds me about the army. Unlike other games, where you can spam a single type of unit and hit your opponent until he is overrun, this game puts more stress on the type of unit you bring into play while going against your opponent. Think your hulking giant can make mince meat of anything in it's path, with it's land based Oblivion Cannon? Well, think again, as the hulking giant will be quickly transformed into assimilate-able scrap metal when the opponent brings in it's air-force. So, not only you have to keep a good mix, but also have to keep an eye on the opponent's weakspot, from whence you can stab him and stab him good! It's because of this strongly set mechanic that sets it apart.
All of this strategy talk, can't be done if you don't mention the Tactical view. Out of all the RTS games that I've played till now, there was only Empire Earth that had given me the ability to carry out precision strike and plan my attacks with my Units. CnC has a basic form of it. But this game has that mechanic tightly integrated into the game. Not only can you set a waypoint, but also you can merge 2 waypoints as well as carry out coordinated attacks, wherein your bombers can fly in and bomb high value targets while your tanks move in as soon as your bombers are done, like the real-world battlefield, only you don't have to be a quick shot for this to be precise. Coming back to tactical view, it is a strategist's gold-mine, to put it in simple words! Not only can you do everything from here, but also plan and execute complex tactics, like marking out high value target or identifying the weak points of your enemies as well as your own base. Plus you can see how far your defenses cover and which area needs reinforcing more.
As for the graphics department, the game has quite good graphics and effects, which, if your machine can handle, is pretty nice. Some of the behemoth units crashing down, like the Aeon Assault bot, falling on her knees and then crashing or the shot down planes spinning out of control and then crashing and making a long crash line on the ground, really makes you feel you're in the heat of the battle, not to mention the smaller units that simple gets blown to smithereens when a heavy unit's done with them! Add to that the animations of the units that feel like real mechanical units, with the giant robots stomping onward or the tanks starting off slow and then accelerating in a straight line, or the subs surfacing with one side pushed up first, or even the less maneuverable bombers taking a huge diameter to turn around, makes this game one of the most immersive games on the market. And all these effects are made to come to life, with the excellent sound effects. The creaking of the ships, the floating of the saucers, the sounds of the lasers and missiles going off, or even the muffled artillery shelling that's going on at a distances and the subsequent screen-shaking makes you feel like a commander that's duking it all out on the battlefield, and keeps you glued on for that one more attack, that can easily result into 2+ hours battle which very nicely complements the humongous maps this game has.
As for the campaigns, they are one of the most well designed campaigns. They start off small but gradually eases you onto the humongous maps so that you don't feel lost. The scripted events are great, and the difficulty challenging enough to keep your grey matters humming all through out the campaign till you see the operation complete dialog box, because the defensive line that you thought was impenetrable, will eventually fall. Special commendations for the last missions of the campaign which really makes you feel like the last hope of your respective race, of the main game, and all of the campaigns of the Expansion, which really makes you feel you like backed into a corner.
Apart from all these good sides, there are a few quirks. For one, the game is a Major resource hog, specially the CPU. Unless you have a top of the line CPU, this game will bring it down. Good thing the game does natively support multi-core CPU. Apart from that there's the bug part. The game's buggy as hell. The game starts off fine, with everything smooth and clean, but 2 hours into the game, and the videos start to lag. Completely shut it down and start it off again and it's back to normal! Also, this doesn't qualify as a bug but still a flaw nonetheless, every building you build in this game adds to the unit count! That means even if you put up immovable walls, it will be counted as your unit! What the hell is that supposed to mean! And to add to it, there isn't an unit counter! Although the later part is solved in the expansion, which got a complete facelift.
But still barring all the problems, I would still recommend it to players who like their strategy part in RTS, and not just mindless unit spamming. It's a wonderful game, with a wonderful plot and backdrop as well as wonderful and awesome units (some of the Experimentals are just too awesome!). Kudos to Chris Taylor (whose Dungeon Siege brought me into RPGs ) for such a wonderful and true RTS game. Just that the tutorials needs a lot of work, and leaves a lot to be desired.
Overall: 9.7
Gameplay: 9.8
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 9.9
Here's some screenshots from my playtime:
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