Supreme Commander

The year the cave dogs came.

In a time when the only real-time strategy games worth playing came from the developing houses of either Blizzard or Westwood, a company called Cavedog Entertainment spearheaded by a man named Chris Taylor released Total Annihilation. 1997 was a fantastic year. Two words would sum up the effect of the game on an unsuspecting public. Cult classic. Eight years later and a huge community that plays, modifies and releases new content for Total Annihilation still exists. There are many who would guarantee that it is hands down the best RTS game ever.

It is not surprising that people would sit up and lend all eyes, ears and other sensory organs when Chris Taylor announced development of his new game - Supreme Commander. Headed by him and developed by his company Gas Powered Games, the game is slated for a yet to be announced 2006 release.

Look Ma, a storyline.

Chris Taylor promises a rich and engrossing storyline, something that was merely an afterthought in the development of Total Annihilation. Even the most hardcore TA fans will agree that the story was condemnable at its best. Not one to make a mistake twice, Chris Taylor has fleshed out a deep story and world for Supreme Commander.
The game features three factions – the United Earth Federation, the Cybrans and the Aeons. The story goes back to the time when each faction was formed up to the time the player beings the game. The game is set in a futuristic war zone with the three factions in a tiff. The United Earth Federation consists of humans who try to control other worlds, the Cybrans are humans enhanced with cybernetic brains and the Aeons are a group that take from the now annihilated but enlightened aliens called the Seraphims. The story that follows when these three are put together is quite typical RTS fare with loads of politics and action.

Mammoth? Colossal? Huge? You’re not even close.

The graphics are nothing to write home about. In fact, it looks quite ‘flat’ and dated, especially when you compare it to the other upcoming RTS titles like Age of Empires 3 and Company of Heroes. The art is very detailed and slick and is, not surprisingly, reminiscent of Total Annihilation. The attention to detail on every single unit is staggering. Swiveling turrets, guns, wheels, robot parts etc. are all rendered superbly. The terrains range from tundra regions, forests, swamps, alien landscape etc. The maps themselves are massive and well detailed.

Imagine this. Take your typical RTS game. You build some basic units that look fairly small on screen. Fine, then you build some advanced units that are a lot bigger than the basic units. Then there are some even bigger special units you can procure. Now, in Supreme Commander, you can zoom out till your typical ‘bigger special unit’ is a mere dot on your screen. Yes, there are actually units so big that they do not fit on your screen. Battleships of gargantuan proportions, decked with an impressive arsenal of doom to unleash on the enemy’s unsuspecting dots. Finally, there is the Supreme Commander unit which you play. I cannot imagine how big this unit will be. Dual screen setup anyone?

It all boils down to gameplay.

Ok, you’re asking won’t such an insane scale actually ruin gameplay. Chris Taylor promises us otherwise. A lot of basic routine RTS work can be automated, leaving the Supreme Commander to other tasks like laying waste to the enemy. This is pure war, on an enormous scale. With colossal maps and the ability to get a God’s-eye-view of things, this game looks like it is going to be more about tactics than just base building/expanding or just spewing out units and rushing your opponent. The focus has been taken away from micro-management, but if there are players who prefer that, you can always zoom and control individual units in the heat of battle. Rather than depending on the usual contrived way of balancing every unit, Gas Powered Games preferred to be more realistic and simulate real physics and mechanics of a unit.

When you have a plethora of land, air and sea units simultaneously fighting on screen in such a huge environment, the player is bound to lose himself. The game will feature an intuitive interface and HUD. The gameplay has been tweaked so that the player can manage everything in the game easily. Mass and energy are the only two resources you have to gather in Supreme Commander.

Could this be the end of old style RTS games?

It takes two to tango.

Multiplayer is without a doubt in here, with regular features like skirmishes, free-for-alls and team games. This will definitely be the most intense part of Supreme Commander considering the sheer scale of the game. It’ll be spectacular to battle your friends (or foes) with such insanely huge armies and units. Wait till you see the nuke. It makes the Command & Conquer: Generals nuke look like revolver bullets. Another interesting feature is the inclusion of cooperative play, which is unusual for an RTS title. With many more months of development left till release, we can expect a lot more innovations and features.

Meshach Thomas