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Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance Review (continued)
More User Submitted Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance Reviews
Date: 2008-01-22
Added Balance
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.
Date: 2008-01-07
Not quite expansion, not quite stand-alone, yet still fun
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.
Date: 2008-01-02
Awesome game
This is a great game. However be prepared for it to suck days out of your lifetime :)
Date: 2007-12-18
OK, but it could have been better
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.
Date: 2007-12-12
Fantastic Game
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.
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance Reviews Page: 3 of 4 Prev<< 1 2 3 4 Next>>
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