Retail at a Glance
*from an hour of play
Disclaimer: Every single reviewer has already fawned all over this game, so I figure that I'll throw out some of the disadvantages, and save me from typing a 10-page report on what's so awesome.
System:
ASUS A8V Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2(2x 512MB) DDR400 @ CAS2-3-2-5-2T (2GB total, Corsair + OCZ)
BFG Tech GeForce 6800 Ultra OC
CL Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
2x WD74GB Raptor (RAID0)
Windows XP Pro1.
Audio: 'Command & Conquer: Generals' has 10 music pieces (11 with Zero Hour; discounting in-game cinematic bits, victory and loss)
per faction, each lasting ~3-7 minutes. You get a different feel depending on which army you play. Not so for 'Supreme Commander.' No, it just doesn't have enough music. For the scope of such a game, I'd have expected a ton of music to keep me through hour long maps. Instead, I feel like I'm listening to a broken record after 30 minutes.
2.
Graphics & World: In the age of deformable terrain, interactively-collapsible buildings, units with tons of weapons, armor and specialization upgrades, customizable colors and logos and cities that look somewhat active and alive, I've so far seen none of this in 'Supreme Commander.' Perhaps it'll be addressed in an expansion, and perhaps they'll get a PhysX license to deal with fleets sitting next to underwater nukes.
And as weak as the commander is, it would be nice if he had more upgrades (legs, head). Hmm...this engine would be a great base for BattleTech.
3.
Control & Interface: Unless I haven't found it, there's no way to tell units what sort of unit to prefer to target. It's done so automatically, but manual control would be more efficient. Telling units to automatically repair/refuel at a certain time, or for how long to continue a patrol path would also be appreciated. I mean come on, guys, your videos told us that you were giving us all the controls a RTS nerd would ever use.
The squad icons also fill up way too much space. I wish there was a way to shrink them down.
4.
Technical: Though it isn't an issue with the game itself, system requirements are way too steep if you wish to use a ton of units on large maps. Most of my strategy friends have trouble enough running Dawn of War without being asked to graduate to this chopfest. Therefore, I'm going to have a bit of a wait before I'll get to play this with my confederates. I'm able to run smaller maps just fine on medium-high detail, but I fear for the playability of (undoubtedly monstrous) maps later in the campaign. It isn't the visual detail so much (as huge maps will lag equally at absolute bottom detail) as it's my CPU attempting to keep up with all the pathing and AI.
5.
Customization: The game was not shipped with an editor (but then again, few ever are). I have yet to check online for one, so I can't exactly waggle a finger at GPG yet.
Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2007-02-22 06:19:39)