Customer Reviews

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Supreme Commander (SC) was an exceptional game, and highly engrossing for myself and others who grew up with Total Annihilation. SC had its flaws, though nothing I'd consider game-breaking.

Forged Alliance (FA) is the "kinda" expansion to SC. It does, indeed, stand alone as a game, however many of the options are locked out unless you own SC. This could easily be a bit of a disappointment to those picking it up and not knowing the half-truth.

With that out of the way, should you own SC and FA, you are in for a treat. FA fixes many of the issues experienced with SC. Many of these issues come down to balance. The new faction is a nice addition to LAN games, and the extra units helps the distinction between the existing factions. One thing you'll notice, though, it the new faction's units are less numerous than the old faction's bolstered ranks. Perhaps not being a story-mode available faction was the reason, but it's rather silly. It makes the new faction, already functionally generic, even less identifiable to tactics and strategy.

Regardless of one faction's unit count, the other features of the game are an exciting addition, though players of SC may find the new interface a tad bit odd at first. It quickly becomes apparent the new interface is vastly superior.

If you own SC, I can easily recommend picking up FA. If you don't own SC and are an RTS fan, I highly recommend picking up both.

I've thus far played through the campaign with the UEF side. A list of changes I've noticed from the original supcom:

-Cleaned up UI. It's much more streamlined. The construction tab seemed a little too simplified at first, but it grew on me.

-Some major unit balances. Nukes have a slightly smaller blast radius and take WAY longer to build (engineer assistance does very little to aid), other end-game options have been balanced to be more employable (ex: Mavor cannon much shorter build time, nuke-sub only takes 8 minutes, all experimentals build a touch faster, amongst other things), mass fabricators have a much lower output, etc. Overall, I like the new balancing more.

-The game handles 2000 units being on screen better than the original in terms of processing speed.

-New units. A brand new alien side and each original side gets a new experimental along with 9 or 10 new units. These new units are unique to each side (ex: UEF is the only side to get a new Tech3 point defense while the other sides get other unique advantages) so it adds to the new balancing.

-Some new multiplayer maps. These maps are nicely polished and as playable as the originals.

-And of course, a new campaign. The campaign is only a mere six missions long (for each side), but these few missions last quite a while due to their difficulty and extensive objectives. On average, each mission took me about 2-2.5 hours to complete on the normal difficulty. The campaign may not be a work of genius in terms of story, but it definetely is sufficient to set a do-or-die tone on humanity's bleak outlook should you fail your objectives. (Then again, it doesn't require too much of a grand story to build up a massive army and bring the pain to the opposition.)


These are top-notch changes and additions, and all quite welcome. However, I don't think they are sufficient to qualify a forty-dollar price tag for this expansion. (Just a few dollars more and you've got a brand new game.) Hence, I am rating this game only four stars. As an expansion, it is one of the best, but priced as a brand new game it doesn't quite deliver the value.

If you find this game for less and you already own the original supcom, consider it a must-buy hands down.

The original SupCom was another excellent example of a good game that got too over-hyped for its own good. When it eventually hit the stores, the impression it made did not live up to the expectations (feel free to browse my review on the original game as well).

Its main flows were unpractical graphics (great looking yet unplayable when zoomed-in - whereas, the zoomed-out warfare views were bland and generic), as well as strategically irrelevant ground characteristics. Luckily, SupCom-FORGED ALLIANCE is a standalone expansion that THQ obviously worked on improving.

As with the original, SupCom-FA demonstrates its strengths when a great number of units is deployed. After all, war is big and ruthless - and this is SUPREME COMMANDER - and not...PRETTY BIG Commander; on the other hand, there is no free lunch in this universe.

This expansion sports improved graphics (on both units, shadows and terrain) - but this also means higher system requirements that include the effective need for a Dual-core processor.
Just like the original game, SupCom-FA requires a lot of resources to calculate the physics and ballistics in a way that other RTS games would not even touch with a pole.
So, when the number of units increases make sure that your system *surpasses* even the RECOMMENDED requirements (provided below):
· 3GHz Intel (or AMD equivalent)
· 1024MB of RAM
· nVidia 7600 (256MB) (or ATI equivalent)
· 6GB of HDD space
Now, even meeting the above, you canNOT rule out stuttering and freezing. A Dual-core processor is, in my experience, essential - and this is a requirement NOT justified by the quality of on-screen graphics. Today, there are many games that do wonders with much lower requirements - and this is where SupCom-FA looses its 5th star.

The 4th star was withheld because of the ...cunning marketing locking of the game options - although this is sold as a "standalone expansion": hence the pricing at about $40.
Supposedly, one is buying all three factions of the original SupCom as well as the new Seraphim faction. At $40 that would have been a good deal; after all, the original SupCom is barely a year old game.
However, this Seraphim faction is only available in Skirmishes and Multiplayer, and does NOT have a campaign of its own! And, to add insult to injury, the other three original factions are LOCKED and not available in a Multiplayer - unless one has the original SupCom!
So, since SupCom:FA is much more enjoyable as a multiplayer, these lockouts effectively cancel out its standalone status - and make its pricing exorbitant.

All in all: a good effort but wait for the price to get market-corrected.

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is technically an expansion pack for the core game. In practice, however, it's a bit more than that- much like C&C Generals: Zero Hour was. This is largely because the meat of Supreme Commander has always been its skirmish/multiplay modes. Simply put, Forged Alliance makes SC a much better game- it adds a great deal of improvement to the AI, especially in terms of pathfinding, and makes a lot of useful improvements to units and the interface. As gravy, it also adds a campaign that's actually fun to play.

It is immediately evident that the AI has been improved. Enemy units are more aggressive, enemy commanders actually rebuild things you blow up, and pathfinding in particular is massively improved. I've still seen units get stuck once in a while, but it's a far cry from the original game- where sometimes ships or tanks literally couldn't even get out of their factory and you're forced to reclaim the structure to clear logjams. Generally speaking, if you order ground or naval units to go somewhere they actually get there now. They'll even take the fastest path and arrive in formation if applicable, so it doesn't take them a half hour to reach the destination. I can't stress how much of a relief this is after having played old SC skirmish.

In the original game, defenses were ridiculously overpowered. If you had half a brain cell and knew what to build, you could erect a nearly invincible base; this made it very easy to arrive at a stalemate in melee games. To a great degree this has been resolved in Forged Alliance, especially when it comes to experimental units. Experimentals are SCARY now, whereas previously they were essentially a waste of resources. Even solo they can crack pretty much any defense, save for one supported by other experimentals. Even then, they'll likely do pretty serious damage before going down, which means it's actually a good thing to go on the offensive now. This greatly improves the pacing of the game, as you're actually inclined to seize the initiative instead of turtling. A lot of units and structures have also been added, some of which are pretty darn powerful. They also add more distinction between the races, giving them unique combat advantages with special high tech units (e.g. Aeon get a T3 torpedo bomber, missile ship, and sniper bot).

The added units are nice, but there's something even better: a fourth faction, the Seraphim. Their units are quite interesting, especially in appearance, and they're definitely worth checking out. To do so you'll have to play skirmish/multiplayer mode, as there's no Seraphim missions in the campaign. In the single player missions (which are about as long as one of the original campaigns) they serve as the enemy. The plot is actually rather interesting, the levels are more challenging than the originals, and you start at the highest tech level. It's engaging enough that you might actually want to play it again as a different faction (you choose at the start) and there's fewer stupid instant-fail conditions that cause you to waste time and discourage replay. Those who have played the original game will likely find that the individual campaign levels run a bit faster than before, but this is largely due to the changes in units rather than any difference in map size or number of objectives. Additionally, you'll sometimes have AI allies that are actually worth keeping up- a far cry from the rarely seen and often useless assistance you got before.

One of the most irritating things about vanilla SC was the fact that you couldn't see jack squat. Most units didn't have a radar or sonar and had very short vision range, so you couldn't even see where enemies are. Things like air and land scouts could see farther, but were so weak and vulnerable that usually the moment you spot something they'd blow your scout away. The only real way to crack a heavily defended base was to go build a radar array in range of them, set up some artillery, and shoot into the fog of war until all the icons disappear. It was a pretty common situation to actually never see your enemy's base. Forged Alliance greatly improves this: units in general can see much farther, most units have radar or sonar- and all have had their ranged increased. There are also methods other than spy planes to scout enemy positions. Now when you nuke your opponent's base, you can actually watch the fireworks!

The bottom line is that Forged Alliance is much more than an expansion; it in fact remakes the game and does a very good job at it. I honestly have no complaints with Supreme Commander now, and really wish GPG had done this good a job with the game in the first place. Better late than never, though, and if you had even a remote affection for the original then this is a must-have.

This is a fantastic update on the original. A revised and improved UI, plenty of new and interesting units, and an interesting new race to play as make this a must have if you enjoyed Supreme Commander. Anyone who doesn't care for resource management, or found the original overwhelming in terms of size and scope should stay away from this one, as it shares the same core concepts. For everyone else, this is a must have.

Hype wasn't the only thing that made me purchase this game, but it was a big factor. After reading most reviews on the Supreme Comander expansion I thought it contained more "new" material than it really did. I like the new units, race and maps.

If you played supreme commander you know what your getting to a degree. Building the super units is a little quicker now and nukes seem to be weaker. I dont know if I like the weaker nukes but oh well. AI is brighter and so is path finding.

The rest of the game is more fast paced with the campaign giving you no time how to learn the game, you jump right in to some huge battles.

The seraphin are a cool addition but I still am a huge fan of the Aeon.

If you want a RTS with some big massive battles look no furhter.

Oh yeah and its lot more shiny.

My only gripe is this should of been an expansion not a stand alone game.

If you like the original game, Supreme Commander, then you will realy enjoy Forged Alliance. The interface has subtle but good improvements. The new units add nice options. T4 is slightly easier to build, and T3 is stronger for defending against those experimental units. I have been playing Forged Alliance almost daily for 2 months now, and I am very happy with my purchase.

Oh, but you will still need a beast of a computer to play the largest maps with the most units.

I don't play this game but got it for my husband. He seems to be enjoying it (based on the fact he sits in front of the compter playing for a little too long sometimes he he).

The only complaint I have ever heard from him is a compter hardware related issue; he believes we nee a faster/better video graphics card as the graphics occasionally stutter. Our compter is a least 3yrs old so this may well be. He has made no comments about the game itself!

He loves these kind of games and had been playing Command and Conquer series.

This really should have been an expansion. $40 is a lot for a strategy game with one faction. Conversely, one could say that the game has a lot of strategy for $40, but that's really if you already have the core game. The added units are fantastic, the UI is really slick and the Seraphim are fun, but even for the hard core fans, I'd suggest waiting until the price drops.