Supreme Commander 2

Unlike it seems most reviews on here, I came straight from playing TA for years to trying SC2, and found it amazing. The graphics are incredible and with multi-monitor support as someone else noted, the controls are easy to get used to, everything just makes sense and works. The research tree works completely differently to TA, but loved it after I got used to it. And the AI is actually a good challenge. The only reason I'm giving it at 3* is because for all this, there's no multiplayer in this version, which for a modern game like this is terrible, and versions elsewhere of the same game DO have multiplayer, and that makes it feel very much like buying the version here was a waste. So then especially given all the reviews saying SC1+FA is so much better, and has multiplayer, I bought that and tried it. I couldn't get on with it at all. By comparison it looks terrible, the camera panning is weird, the unit controls are weird, the research progression is completely whacky. So yes while I agree with everybody saying SC1 and SC2 are vastly different games, I wouldn't be so quick to just say SC1 was better and SC2 is worse. Its just down to whichever one you like the playstyle of more. For me I found SC1 was unplayable compared to SC2.

I played Supreme Commander first, and it was rough. I couldn't wrap my head around the scope of that game. Supreme Commander 2 (SC2) is much more accessible. Battles can get massive, given the 500 unit cap and inexhaustible resources, but it can also end in 15 minutes against normal AI in skirmish. Since there is no multiplayer in the GOG version, I recommend playing the campaigns first, especially if you are hunting achievements. Skirmishes play very differently from campaign. Campaign gives you a chance to turtle against the hard AI, which is always handicapped by the mission setup. You are introduced to units and technologies gradually. You are exposed to different situations that call for different tactics. It's a fairly diverse experience. Skirmishes are all about fast, no nonsense battles. You have to put what you learned in the campaign to good and efficient use. In this sense, SC2 is the antithesis of SC for a lot of players. I can win against normal AI on any map (1v1 or fair team) at ratio of >10:1, but that ratio decreases to <1:1 when I let AI go to end game. The AI keeps expanding and doesn't stop. What keeps skirmish fun is the map design. Most maps allow fast and furious battles but many larger ones also have asymmetric starting positions. If you choose random starting position, you might end up at a spot that favors land or air or naval armies for that match. You might also end up surrounded by enemy AI. The unknown is very exciting. That brings me to strategy. Because SC2's progression depends heavily on research into five (four for Aeon) distinct trees, this game emphasizes heavily on specialization. Straight to air (or straight to sea) is no joke in SC2. At the same time, there is enough depth in the tech tree and breadth in unit roster to keep each specialization viable and fun against other specializations. At end game it matters less. Mid game is where the fun is at. -1 star for no mp. If you get it on sale, 5 stars. If not, maybe 3.

This game is really bad if you compare it to Forged Alliance. Extremely simplified, optimized for the Xbox 360 console. Not even supporting multiplayer on GoG makes it even more absurd.

The original game pushed the limits of what was possible and stands to this day as an impressive technical achievement. With huge maps, and units ranging from fighter jets and buggies to 20-story tall colossus it was awn inspiring and somehow just worked. The campaign was engaging and felt alive and continuous like the larger Sudden Strike missions. The sequel is smaller in scale, the battles feel tiny, the tech tree is extremely shallow, the graphics feel worse... There's hardly anything praiseworthy about it, if you were interested in this game, just go buy the Supreme Commander: Forgotten Alliance instead and save yourself from this disappointment.

TRY THE DEMO and WATCH THE PLOT CUTSCENES. The game is neither bad nor good and runs fine out of the box in Win 10 unlike SC1. Pick this one only if you really need to play a Supreme Commander game. It is not fun enough to earn a recommendation. I recommend playing C & C Red Alert 1. As the main selling point is the big scale and how exciting that is supposed to be (instead of the job it feels like), the game concept is FUBAR. The big scale only succeeds in diluting the impact and satisfaction of individual actions because you have to do them by the thousands and you are not given a choice to not make them unless you want to lose. Also the actions are very repetitive, making it difficult to have any sense of wonder. The unstable units movement (Commander unit spinning in place instead of doing something) and crashing are back from vanilla SC to a smaller effect this time. The sounds work this time, though ALT+TAB'ing leads to crashes and the speed controls do not work, despite being the same as in the previous games (not in campaign or skirmish). Videos and voice overs generally work. The story scripting is much better. For some reason, the settings option to remove the pointeless intro videos is absent, demonstrating the sideways improvement style very typical to the series. Units are much unlike the first game. The heavy point defenses added in SC 1 FA have turned the game into a tower defense where most units are trash in comparison, reminding me of SpellForce 1's godlike tower spam. Most units have been toned down in power, e.g. battleships more vulnerable to ships and the hulking Megalith has been toned down both in size and power, to the point player takes down two of them in level 1. Also, the Commander unit no longer can walk in the sea bed while engineers can, which means you have to taxi it around with transports as if it was underage for entering a pub. All these changes are clearly for the multiplayer balancing and make no sense in the game universe