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Supreme Commander, the successor to the exceptional game Total Annihilation, is the child of video game designer Chris Taylor.  Following along the same path as Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander is a Real Time Strategy game (R.T.S.) featuring a futuristic world in which war is rampart, worlds are destroyed and giant robots blow up.  Can Supreme Commander live up to its predecessor or is this game an attempt to keep a dead series alive?

Released in early 2007 by Chris Taylor's company Gas Powered Games, Supreme Commander improves on Total Annihilation in almost every way.  Improved AI, graphics and technology allowed Supreme Commander to be an instant hit with gamers.

The story of Supreme Commander is only slightly similar to Total Annihilation and does not continue the story of the Arm and Core.  In the future, humanity has the ability to travel light-years in mere seconds due to quantum gate networks.  These advances in technology and the idea of exploring space helped humanity to achieve peace throughout Earth.  A worldwide government was established and subsequently called the Earth Empire.  During this time a scientist named Doctor Brackman was able to combine a human brain with an AI implant.  Humans who had this implant installed were called "symbionts".  Symbionts were used and controlled by the Earth empire by the use of a suppression program and considered to be less than human.  Dr. Brackman liberated the symbionts and fled into the deepest reaches of space creating the Cybran nation.  Their goal, to liberate the rest of their Cybran brothers and sisters, by any means necessary.

During the turmoil on Earth due to the symbiont revolt, settlers colonizing a planet encountered an alien race called the Seraphim.  This peaceful race, taught the settlers their philosophy called "The Way".  Unfortunately, paranoid xenophobic soldiers attacked the Seraphim, wiping them out to extinction.  The colonists who were taught The Way, created their own civilization based on these teachings.  Calling themselves the Aeon Illuminate, they soon decided to "purge" the galaxy of anyone who did not share in their beliefs.  In essence, they corrupted the original purpose of The Way and used it as an excuse for war.

After the collapse of the Earth Empire, those that still believed in the power and unity the Earth Empire once held, formed the United Earth Federation (U.E.F).  The U.E.F's ultimate goal is to resurrect the Earth Empire's reign by "united" the other factions, through death or slavery.  Should they succeed, the Earth will once again rule the galaxy with an iron fist, the Cybrans will be slaves once more and the Aeon will cease to exist.  This conflict between each faction has been dubbed, The Infinite War.

During the start of the main game, you are able to choose your faction commander and begin the game.  Before each mission, you are given a small briefing as to what your mission objectives are and some narrative as to what your actions have accomplished.  Each faction only has 6 mission each compared to T.A's initial 50 missions.  Each mission however, can take several hours to complete so the total game time is effectively the same as T.A's

Each main story centers around the construction of a weapon called Black Sun, (being constructed by the U.E.F) and each faction's desire to either protect or take control of Black Sun to win the Infinite War.  This weapon uses the quantum gate networks to directly fire on any planet, thus destroying it (think of it as a smaller more powerful Death Star).  At the end of each faction's main story, there is a small teaser for the (at the time new & unannounced) expansion pack, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance.
The real test of skill for Supreme Commander players comes in the online multiplayer mode.  Facing off against human opponents offers a varied challenge for veteran and novice players alike.  The maps range from very large to almost too small at times but add to an already great game play experience.  You are able to change the conditions for victory during an online match or a skirmish, so that the commander's death does not mean defeat.  During these matches you are able to ally yourself with other commanders should you choose, this will allow you to share resources and their radar to see more of the map. The online mode is effectively the same as T.A's with little changes and less maps.
The game play to Supreme Commander is almost identical to Total Annihilation but with major improvements.  You are able to queue up multiple build, attack or patrol orders to various units.  Resources must be gathered to maintain a steady offense or defense; these resources come in the familiar forms of metal and energy.  The collection of these resources is essential to everything (building a base and amassing an army of tanks, robots, ships and aircraft). As with T.A. you start every mission with your Commander Unit, whom this time is piloted by a human (you).  If you lose your commander, you will lose the mission or match, but you are able to see a huge nuclear explosion that wipes out anything near it.

The units are divided up into 3 sections, land, air and water.  Each factory type built can pump out units very quickly as well as upgrade itself to build even stronger units but at the cost of more resources.  Each unit type compliments the others nicely.  Tanks can be partnered up with anti air and artillery units to provide the option of creating advanced tactics and strategies.  Other non-moveable units can be created such as heavy artillery stations that can shoot across the map.  Nuclear and anti nuclear weapons can also be created should you have the resources, means to build them and finally the need to use them.

One of the major improvements with Supreme Commander is the ability to zoom in and out of the map, called "Strategic Zoom".  This allows you to see the entire map from space and also makes it possible to zoom in to ground level to see the detail of your units.  When zoomed out far enough each unit type is given a specific icon to help you determine which unit is which.  Also when zoomed out you are able to double click on a specific unit to select all units of the same type, this is extremely useful when you are counterattacking and need to select multiple units fast.  The only downside to this ability is in how useful it is, occasionally I find myself only in this mode to monitor what is happening.  This zoom feature is so good in fact, that I find other R.T.S. games that don't use it to be rather frustrating.  On a side note, seeing the commander blow up from space is really cool because you can see just how massive it is. 

The one major flaw with Supreme Commander is the variety of units.  Every faction has exactly the same number and type of units, with only slight stat differences and minor abilities.  The units do look different but you don't feel as though you are playing in a different fashion when either using the UEF, Cybran or Aeon.  In defense of Supreme Commander there was an expansion released that introduced a new faction, the former Seraphim along with 110 new units.  I have not had the opportunity to play this expansion unfortunately, but it boasts improved AI, game play mechanics, graphics and it will banish dirt to the land of wind and ghosts.

Supreme Commander also has the issue of a having fairly brutal system requirements.  When I bought the game in 2007 I was unable to play it at the time due to my older computer not being up to par.  It wasn't up until a couple of months after my purchase that I fixed my laptop (which was better than my PC) and was able to play Supreme Commander.


In the end Supreme Commander has excellent graphics, very good game play, and easy controls that don't take a lot of time to master.  Supreme Commander keeps Total Annihilation alive and well, I highly recommend this game to any fan of R.T.S. games or for those that have a love for Total Annihilation.  Check back soon for our review of Assassin's Creed 2. Also head over to The Road Warrior Reviews to see our film reviews and listen to our podcast on A Nightmare On Elm Street..
4/5