Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FA, 10 Dec 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
This expansion fixes nearly all the problems that the original supreme commander had. The new units really complement the old ones and factional diversity has been greatly expanded (before it was pretty much just experimental units). Online games are now fast and dynamic with a wide range of strategic options available (unlike most rts, where its not so much general strategy, but more about microing the units you have effectively). The scale of the game allows for a number of really sneaky tactics. For example, if you're being overwhelmed by the enemy attack force, but you can hold out for a few more minutes you might find he left his own base undefended and be able to blow up a large number of his production facilities forcing him to deal with that first.
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18 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No other RTS to match it, 1 Dec 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I felt compelled to write a review after the last two missed the point enitrely, although they do have a point when they say that its requires a beefy computer. If anything though, its a good reason to get an upgrade, heres why:
Firstly, this game is processor dependant, rather than graphics, so yes a dual-core is a must. I find that even though the graphics have been updated FA runs better than SupCom did, as support for multi-threading has been improved. My rig, AMD X2 4600, 2GB, ATI 1950pro, runs it fine in medium settings for the most part, however upgrade to a quad core like my flat mate (even though he still uses his 2 year old ATI 1800xt) and you can run it in FULL settings with no slowdown. My biggest gripe with the original was the massive slowdown in multiplayer games before players reached their unit counts, GPG have optimised the networking code and now this is less of an issue.
So what do you get for all that processing power? The sheer scale of the battlefields and units is in my opinion enought to justify it. However there is so much more. Take for instance the massive build queues, or base build templates you can set up leaving you free to concentrate on strategy and tactics, the ai used to control formations of units avoiding micro management of untis leaving you free to concentrate on strategy and tactics, players can send units out on patrol, ferry units across water or protect that ferry which can be automated leaving you free to concentrate on strategy and tactics. All this is pretty CPU heavy, but it doesn't stop there. All the weapons fire is heavily dependant on the physics engine, meaning that laser fire won't go though and hit that unit hiding behind a building, it will rip down the building first, that missiles and other ballistics fly using well modelled ballistic curves so that if an army is just behind a hill and using the terrain to protect from direct weapons fire and artillery, you can still use missiles to get up and over to them. When you consider that several players can have several hundred units all requiring cpu time to counculate ballistics fire you begin to see that maybe for the features present the cpu requirement isnt so high.
Secondly, the gameplay is way in advance of anything else out there. Which RTS fan hasn't dreamed of commanding legions of tanks, jets, battleships across enormous battlefields? As for the huge experimental units, words just cannot explain how much fun it is to crush your ennemy with the mega sized overpowered beasts! Unit construction, and control I outlined above, but I didn't touch upon the sheer diversity of the factions. To the novice many of the units might appear to be same same, to the intermediate you learn that almost every unit/structure has unique strengths, weaknesses and a counter, to the advanced there is a unit/structure for every particular situation to break up that ennemy column, break the base defenses down and ensure victory. Meaning that you have to be clever to win, because both you and your opponents can do so in a huge variety of ways.
Then of course as any supreme commander player knows, is the zoom in/out facility that enables you to see the action and select any unit/units and relay orders very quickly across the entire battle field. This lack of this feature in other titles alone is enough to put me off playing anything else, at least until some better way of controlling a battlefield comes along.
Thirdly, did I mention that it is pretty? As I touched upon above, you don't need that £3oo graphics card to appreciate it in all its splendour, although admitidly you'll want that quad core to get the most out of it, which if you can afford is a worthwhile upgrade and cheaper than a top grahpics card anyway even if you need a motherboard and ram too.
Watching my flat mate play on his (has to be said fairly modest) rig makes
me sick with jealousy and planning my next upgrade.
Fourthly, GPGnet and the support for this game are just awesome. The admins are helpful (can be funny on occasion too), the forums insightful, and GPGnet (the front for launching online play) gets better with every patch. In its infancy I thought it was pretty poor, however features such as a world map to see where other gamers are playing from, the replay vault where you can get replays from top players (read tutorials), the content vault for custom mods and maps, the tournament callendar showing upcoming events and tournaments (some with prizes) just make the online experience nothing short of epic.
In conclusion, this game is huge, in every possible sense of the word, and although nothing is perfect, Supreme Commander FA is as close as it gets in multiplayer, and I would give it more than five stars if possible.
If RTS is your thing, and your rig is as good/better than mine get this game.
If You have supreme commander, and your rig is fine get this game.
If you want to play and are worried about your rig taking it, you know what to do...cos the bang is worth the buck!
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29 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
THE WOBBLY MARCH OF THE STRIDERS CONTINUES..., 25 Nov 2007
Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars
The original SupCom was another excellent example of a good game that got too over-hyped for its own good. When it eventually hit the stores, the impression it made did not live up to the expectations (feel free to browse my review on the original game as well).
Its main flows were unpractical graphics (great looking yet unplayable when zoomed-in - whereas, the zoomed-out warfare views were bland and generic), as well as strategically irrelevant ground characteristics. Luckily, SupCom-FORGED ALLIANCE is a standalone expansion that THQ obviously worked on improving.
As with the original, SupCom-FA demonstrates its strengths when a great number of units is deployed. After all, war is big and ruthless - and this is SUPREME COMMANDER - and not...Pretty Big Commander; on the other hand, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this universe.
This expansion sports improved graphics (on both units, shadows and terrain), but this also means higher system requirements that include the effective need for a Dual-core processor.
Just like the original game, SupCom-FA requires a lot of resources to calculate the physics and ballistics in a way that other RTS games would not even touch with a pole.
So, when the number of units increases make sure that your system *surpasses* even the RECOMMENDED requirements (provided below):
* 3.0 GHz Intel (or AMD equivalent)
* 1024 MB of RAM
* nVidia 7600 (256MB) (or equivalent)
* 6GB of HDD space.
Now, even meeting the above, you canNOT rule out stuttering and freezing. A Dual-core processor is, in my experience, essential - and this is a requirement NOT justified by the quality of on-screen graphics. Today, there are many games that do wonders with much lower requirements - and this is where SupCom-FA looses its 5th star.
The 4th star was withheld because of the ...cunning marketing locking of the game options - although this is a standalone expansion: hence the pricing at about £18.
Supposedly, one is buying all three factions of the original SupCom as well as the new Seraphim faction. However, this Seraphim faction is only available in Skirmishes and Multiplayer, and does NOT have a campaign! And, to add insult to injury, the other three factions are LOCKED and not available in a Multiplayer - unless one has the original SupCom!
So, since SupCom:FA is much more enjoyable as a multiplayer, these lockouts cancel out its standalone status - and make its pricing exorbitant.
All in all: a good effort but wait for the price to get market-corrected.
Alternatively: opt for the GOLD edition (it contains BOTH games for the same price!)
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