Supreme Commander 2 Preview [PC]

Gamescom afforded me a number of opportunities, not least getting my hands on a variety of forthcoming titles. One such game was Supreme Commander 2. We've talked a bit about Supreme Commander 2 before and I confess I'm interested - the original game was a fantastic idea that never quite struck a chord with me. I've been hoping that the sequel would remedy my indefinable issues with the original.

I actually played Supreme Commander 2 twice, but the first time I unknowingly took over a demo pod from someone who was losing, badly. Despite vainly struggling on, trying to work out what the hell everything did (as the majority of the title was in German) while coming back from a losing position was not possible. I failed. Boo.

The second time around, though, I was better prepared. What I gathered from the German text was that the huge mechanical platform I was on was housing a major enemy installation that needed to be taken out. My Commander was dropped in, and I set to work assembling a beachhead.

I'm not a natural turtler with most RTS games, but my computerised opponent was sending in waves from every direction, so some point-defense laser turrets seemed a good initial idea. Funnily enough, they worked better than expected. Backing them up with a few artillery pieces held off the enemies long enough for me to knock out the nearest enemy base, which would've been a prouder moment had that base contained more than a Mass Extractor and a few turrets.

This apparently pissed off my foe, who began teleporting troops in on either side of my base. Essentially, the map was akin to an arrow pointing downwards. My base was at the extreme bottom tip, with groups of Mass Extractors and turrets a little way to my upper-left and upper-right. A thin bridge directly up from my base led to the main enemy encampment. My plan, obviously, was to secure my half of the map before crossing that bridge, not least because their side of said bridge was guarded by a Mini-Experimental, one of Supreme Commander 2's new unit classes which function like the first game's monstrous and extravagant Experimentals – gigantic, obscenely powerful units - but on a smaller and cheaper scale.

This was the perfect time to get acquainted with the game's tech tree, too. Constructing a certain building gave me access to this tree, which was divided into various sections based on the units or buildings that would benefit. The Air section, for instance, allowed me to spend points (which, if I understand correctly, can be bought or earned through combat and objectives) on unlocking new types of flying craft, or upgrading my existing ones with more firepower and better defences. This plays a distinctive role in keeping your early-game units relevant throughout. While one unit may be fairly strong on the ground but extremely weak to air attacks, if you spend the points to upgrade its firepower, it may just get an anti-air cannon.

I'd also noticed that my opponent had a lot of turrets, so I followed suit, barricading my end of the bridge with yet more point-defence lasers. By “noticed,” I mean that I'd sent a load of ground troops in there and they'd been annihilated – you know, the good kind of “noticed.” The next time, I backed them up with my artillery pieces. It took time, but by and large the map was falling to my influence, and before long I just had the bridge and the Mini-Experimental to take out.

Or so I thought. Certainly, a pitched battle took place. Certainly, the Mini-Experimental fell to a combined force of about thirty tanks and thirty artillery pieces, while aircraft distracted the rest of the units. Certainly, I started mopping up the rest of the base, which – due to small support buildings – was heavily shielded.