THQ (PC)
Rated Everyone 10-plus
Chris Taylor of Gas Powered Games deplores the lack of actual strategic elements in most real-time-strategy games. Taylor's Supreme Commander is a truly superior RTS that finally takes care of this problem. The plot revolves around an interstellar war between three factions of 37th century humanity.
The game shines in the sheer size of its campaign maps. Most RTS maps aren't all that big, and you end up being left with only one or two viable paths to the enemy. This severely limits the overall strategies you can choose from, leaving some - such as launching diversionary raids, for example - virtually useless. Thanks to the size of Supreme Commander's maps, however, these formerly ineffective strategies finally become worth a try.
Supreme Commander is a complex game with a fairly steep learning curve. It may not be the best choice for the novice RTS commander, but for diehard fans of the genre it's a definite must-have.
