Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Gas Powered Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7; 2.6 GHz CPU; 256 MB DX9 compliant videocard with Pixel Shader 3.0; 1GB RAM (1.5GB for Vista/7); 5 GB hard drive space; broadband connection for multiplayer
Genre: RTS
Release date: March 2 for PC, March 16 for Xbox360

This weekend I had an opportunity (and an obligation) to look at the demo of Supreme Commander 2. As someone who generally enjoys the real time strategy genre, I am always interested in taking a look at new iterations of past franchises. Right now, for instance, I am enjoying my time with the Starcraft II beta, while waiting for Chaos Rising, an expansion to Dawn of War II, my 2009 game of the year. My relationship with the Total Annihilation/Supreme Commander series is somewhat complicated, however. Both games impressed me so far as innovation went, but I didn’t really enjoy playing them when they came out.

Fortunately, it appears that the most recent installment is going to fix that, as I found myself enjoying the hours I spent with the demo. It started off with a tutorial, which was helpful in covering all of the basics. The tutorial was particularly useful since there are some deviations from the standard RTS control scheme. Specifically, you may not change the viewing angle and camera direction by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse. Instead, you press the space-bar and move your cursor to the side of the screen for rotation and top and bottom for angle.

In addition to the tutorial, the demo also includes two full missions. The first involves a body of water with some islands and shores. You will not have much use for land units, but your aviation and fleet will have to work in tight cooperation if you are to succeed. The second map is based around a number of plateaus connected by bridges and paths. There are three factories that produce very powerful robots, which travel in a set path, and only one of them belongs to you. The goal is to take over the other two, and use them to defeat an enemy base. This time, you can build land units if you so desire, but it’s easy to get by with aviation alone. Both missions were fun to play and presented some challenges to me as a newcomer. At no point, however, was I frustrated or felt like the game was cheating.

Of note there are also some changes from the previous games in the series. This time around there is only one type of engineer unit. It is built at all factories and can ride on land or float on water, but cannot fly. These engineers refuse to cooperate, so only a single unit can be used for construction or healing. Also, there is a new research system, where research points accumulate during the course of the game, and can be used in four different “talent trees” to buy upgrades, improvements and new units. The four categories are land, air, naval, and commander. The accumulation speed of these points can be increased by building research centers.

Altogether my impression of the demo was rather favorable, and based on what I saw I will be looking forward to giving the full game a shot. While I was always more of a Warcraft/Starcraft type of gamer when it came to RTS, the Total Annihilation/Supreme Commander franchise appears to be steadily improving with each new release. There clearly is a whole lot of potential, and I am genuinely interested in seeing where this series takes us. For now, go download the demo and check it out for yourself.