Video Games Suck - Supreme Commander 1

Pretty good game. Frustrating at times, but at the end of the day it is a really solid RTS.

I've played about 60 hours of this game, so I figure it's about time for a review.

First and foremost, there is no shitty "Press Space Bar to Continue". And you can also skip all the intros. The menu is old school too, really easy to navigate and tweak.

The tutorials are meant to bring you up to speed with how to control the game, but they really don't do much as you have to watch a gay cut scene then try not to fall asleep. So you start the game with no idea what the fuck to do.

I finished the United Earth Federation (UEF) on easy b/c I didn't feel like being frustrated, and easy it was. Most of the levels were standard fare: get your base up and running, build a shit load of tanks, zerg rush. The non existent story didn't help. The only level that did stand out was the last level which was very intense.

I really started learning how to play in the skirmish mode. There are two resources in the game: mass and energy. The difference here is that a) mass can be converted into energy (and vice versa) and b) units/buildings cost both mass AND energy. It gets so out of control that micromanaging all of it falls under the umbrella of "economy"--no joke! Then there are tricks, for example putting an energy silo next to a power plant increases the power plants output, and so on for combinations of mass extractors, mass storage, factories...This is really complicated, but still good.

The AI in skirmish is smart, extremely smart. If you attack with tanks, he sets up a shit load of turrets. With planes, AA turrets. If you start building artillery, it will take it out as it perceives it as a threat. My only complaint is that the AI is so good, the game favors rushing the AI early to prevent him getting to tech 3, when he does, it's game over. Imagine three shields overlapping to protect several long range missiles...even if you get close enough with 50 tanks--which you wont-- you still can't shoot anything as there will prob be a shield in your line of sight. Still, I guess this is good.

What is NOT good is the fact that The Moon Project is still technically more advanced, after being released for 10 years. I really wanted to see some advanced options like the ability to generate behaviour scripts controlling the order of attack (ie. attack the fucking power plants before the AA turrets) and the ability to form a square/line.

The good: queued movement commands, strategic zoom
The bad: Not as innovative as it could have been
The ugly: Fucking shitty pathfinding licks my balls