#SUPREME COMMANDER 2 REVIEWS MANUAL#
#SUPREME COMMANDER 2 REVIEWS UPGRADE#

Two resources are used within Supreme Commander 2. Each of the sides has very different units, but all sides feel balanced. Some of them have abilities like constructing other units or transporting units. Experimentals are units that are specific to each faction and have incredible firepower. The Illuminate don’t have any sea units, but their land units hover over the water. All three units have land and air units, but only two of the factions have sea units. Three factions are included in Supreme Commander 2. The background music delivers a good mix of intensity for what is going on during the game, while not overpowering the game. For the most part the voice acting is done well, although they can occasionally be a bit calmer than the situation might suggest. Some other voice acting is included during cut scenes and dialog sequences. Supreme Commander 2 features a computer voice to help you when new upgrades are available as well as give instruction with new concepts. This view helps you get a feel for the big picture and to cover large areas quickly, but it’s not something you want to use for selecting individual units. When zooming out the units start to change to icons. Supreme Commander 2 allows you to zoom out of the battlefield much further than most RTS games. The units are varied enough that each faction has a distinct look, but not so varied that you aren’t going to be able to differentiate the different kinds of air ships or vehicles. This view isn’t practical for much of the game. When you get in too close, you can see where some of the edges of the polygons meet. When you aren’t fully zoomed in the units look good, with smooth animations and detailed textures. Graphically Supreme Commander 2 looks fine.

#SUPREME COMMANDER 2 REVIEWS MANUAL#

If you are new to the control scheme, it helps to actually have the controls from the manual in front of you. The radial dial for selecting units works fine, but sometimes highlighting the unit in a diagonal spot is a bit tricky. The use of the right button helps this, but it is easy to forget about that feature in the heat of battle. The movement and zooming in and out handles fairly easily, but selecting the correct units can be bothersome. It does feel a bit odd using the control scheme if you haven’t played a console RTS before.

#SUPREME COMMANDER 2 REVIEWS UPGRADE#

The left button accesses the research tree to upgrade your units. Certain units create defense turrets and repair damaged buildings and units. Certain buildings build aircraft, while another manufactures water vessels, and another handles land-based units. The Y button brings up the build radial for that particular unit. The right button selects all of the units on the screen, but holding down the right button and using the D-pad separates the units selected into air, land, and sea groupings. Selecting individual units is done by tapping A, but if you hold down the A button multiple units can be selected and grouped together. The left analog stick moves the cursor around the map, while the right analog stick zooms in and out of the map, as well as swivels the camera. Movement is handled with the analog sticks. You might think that developers would just give up trying to make a RTS on the consoles, but the team behind Supreme Commander 2 has risen to the challenge and done a decent job with what they are given. Having two analog-sticks, a D-pad, and eight buttons isn’t nearly as convenient as using a mouse and keyboard.

The biggest concern for playing a real-time strategy game on the console is the controls. It hasn’t taken nearly as long for a sequel to come out, and anyone who has played either of these titles should feel familiar with this title. While it was easy to see similarities between the two titles, Supreme Commander added many features that were considered groundbreaking. Supreme Commander came out in 2008 and was considered the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation. You might have thought that a sequel to Total Annihilation would have come shortly after, but it was a while before Chris Taylor would release another real-time strategy game. It wasn’t long before hundreds of new units became available for Total Annihilation, and Total Annihilation made it’s mark in gaming history. However, the real-time strategy genre had never seen anything like this before. First-person shooters were gently giving end users the ability to create their own custom levels in titles like Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, and Unreal. Part of the popularity came from the ability to customize units in Total Annihilation. Dark Reign became an obscure title that most people have forgotten about, while Total Annihilation became wildly popular. In the late 1990’s two real-time strategy games came out around the same time, Total Annihilation and Dark Reign.

Supreme commander 2 reviews