Graphics: 8/10
I guess for graphics, there is not much of stunning changes since Supreme Commander 1. Other than much better explosion and better laser and shielding visualization. I think there is not much to mention. But to compare with Supreme Commander 1, the graphics engine gets improvement and optimization. So now it can run on lower spec machine which has lower end graphic cards. Nonetheless the graphics in battlefield is quite stunning already compare to other strategy title. But there are still rooms for improvement.
General Gameplay: 7/10
Compare to Supreme commander and total annihilation, the only difference now is there is no tier 1 to tier 3 buildings and unit. It has a research technology tree. Which I find it quite annoying. Perhaps Supreme commander is trying to attract more casual player rather than hardcore player like us. Compare to blizzard title, C&C (except general) and westwood title (other than dune) there are really not much strategy game has a tech tree. I mean even slower pace settle will not have such a tech tree which I find it not suitable for heating and high pace battle for Supreme commander. For supreme commander, the focus should be always on battle field. Large scale, with lot's of explosion, multiple squadron of bombers in the air. when you unlock mass converter you will become God like, you just have to build up energy generator to get you mass. And those mass converter are nothing good. Every 1000 energy is 200 Mass, you can get like 100+ energy per second compare to mass that might only have 10 to 15 + per second on certain map. And each generator is so cheap to build compare to mass converter. In skirmish I always use mass converter to get good resource.
Each faction has 6 missions total of 18 mission. But most of the time, each mission will take 30 minutes to finish. So the game will only last you 9 hours to maximum 18 hours. Which about 1 to 2 days you can finish everything plus some skirmish with dumb AI even on hard difficulty.
Unit: 6/10
I find that Supreme commander 1 is much more fun than this title. Now it has lesser units, it has lesser variety of units between faction too. You have couple of experimental which is really effective I would say. The unit between faction more or less are the same, especially towers have land, anti air and torpedo launcher. It doesn't have the fun of tier 1 to 3. Even for air units, the research tree for air unit is always fighter, bomber which is available in the early game, then comes to gunship, transport ship and later some of the experimental units like soul ripper for cybran. The reason without the tier 1 to tier 3 units are simple, in battle you don't have anymore cannon fodder. I remember in supreme commander, you can have a squadron of 8 to 10 tier 1 fighter or gunship as cannon fodder to protect 1 or 2 tier 3 tactical/strategic bomber. For supreme commander 2, unit combination is quite less. Supreme commander 2 is becoming less tactical when you are jus tgoing to mass tank, or missile launcher. Players don't have sniper bots, for damage, tanker unit with shield. Most of the land units for each faction is really almost the same.
Artificial Intelligence: 5/10
The AI for HARD is really easy compare to supreme commander or even total annihilation. Or any other strategy game out there. When the first time I was playing 3v3 with all hard AI. I find it the AI is really slow in building. There are not in turtle mode. The only factory they have is land factory and bunch of tanks. Other than that they have no anti air at all. Even when I have like 10 fighter/bomber (cybran gemini), I go for some exploration, I find that opponent has only a single anti air turret. Straight away I blow up the anti air turret and wreck havoc to the enemy base. After that I just target the commander and send him to destruction. The 3 vs 3 is just too easy. And enemy can't even send tanks or any units near my base. Is not like Supreme commander 1, you will see squadron of tanks and air unit with combination of bombers and fighters come swarming your base. So later I try something harder on 1 Vs 3 computers. The AI still sucks. I cannot imagine that when I finished research everything and is still camping they AI is only 1/3 of total research. And by the time I already have long range artillery bombarding their base. The only AI which prove to be more competence is illuminate that build some nuke to nuke my base. But is just too bad, I have already 6 soul rippers and 4 proto brain that easily take out its whole base. As I remember, in supreme commander 1, level 3 tower will take out your experimental unit like flies too.
Music and sound effect:7/10
What I can say is I still prefer total annihilation music. It really brings you into the intense battle which is raging between all the players. Even after like 10 years, I still remember the music when we start the battle. Sigh just about few days after I play supreme commander 2, I can't even remember how the music like. Just the sound effect is great on big speakers and it will be really stunning to have it as battlefield.
Storyline:6/10
This time supreme commander 2 focus on individual character rather than large scale faction wars. But I guess the script writer is not really good on character development. I have not seen such a bad story development even in Red alert 3. The wars and the character development doesn't fit well because supreme commander is suppose to focus on large scale warfare not like warcraft style with hero RPG elements. Or you will have C&C style scenario mission like protect some building, capture something, or destroy some units. In the whole supreme commander 2 is pretty easy you just destroy all your enemy. And all those optional objectives are really useless and give you nothing. Strategy game with character story telling so far the best is warcraft 3 with its expansion, because it has heroes and is very well suited to blend in their story. For C&C title, because the war is always talking about Nod, Cane and Tiberian, that's why people play the game even thought its game play sucks but players still wanna know the story. Just like everyone is expecting C&C4 to get the conclusion of the whole tiberian series. Because supreme commander has never talk about in depth any characters or their story, and mostly we only see them talking on battlefield with anger, or Dr. Brackman talking like philosopher even he said he is scientist and etc. Nothing much about their background. Now they wanna focus on character story telling. Is really a great disappointment. I rather they focus on battle field scenary and terrain that talk about the battle at different planet, which will give more insight how humanity has developed through the thousand years. Just like the last stage of Supreme commander 2 which battle on shiva prime, is a good scenario. And more map with different elements, like in volcano, different atmospheric effect or different landscape with different battle strategy should be conducted. Map elements are so important, which in supreme commander 2, most of the battle are just too straight forward and I find it compare to total annihilation has no challenge at all. The naval battle just too simple.
Overall: 6.6
I don't like the score, because I like chris taylor games, I like supreme commander series (included TA). But this title is really a great disappointment for me. Even the previous strategy game I had (C&C kane wrath) is more fun that this. I mean the story and also the world domination mode. Perhaps the expansion for this game title will be much better. I am not sure there is any expansion for it. To put everything in the nutshell, this game is just a fairly average strategy game, whether you play it or not, you don't lose anything. But you really got to lose something if you don't try out TA and SC1.
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