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Supreme Commander (SC) was an exceptional game, and highly engrossing for myself and others who grew up with Total Annihilation. SC had its flaws, though nothing I'd consider game-breaking.
Forged Alliance (FA) is the "kinda" expansion to SC. It does, indeed, stand alone as a game, however many of the options are locked out unless you own SC. This could easily be a bit of a disappointment to those picking it up and not knowing the half-truth.
With that out of the way, should you own SC and FA, you are in for a treat. FA fixes many of the issues experienced with SC. Many of these issues come down to balance. The new faction is a nice addition to LAN games, and the extra units helps the distinction between the existing factions. One thing you'll notice, though, it the new faction's units are less numerous than the old faction's bolstered ranks. Perhaps not being a story-mode available faction was the reason, but it's rather silly. It makes the new faction, already functionally generic, even less identifiable to tactics and strategy.
Regardless of one faction's unit count, the other features of the game are an exciting addition, though players of SC may find the new interface a tad bit odd at first. It quickly becomes apparent the new interface is vastly superior.
If you own SC, I can easily recommend picking up FA. If you don't own SC and are an RTS fan, I highly recommend picking up both.
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I've thus far played through the campaign with the UEF side. A list of changes I've noticed from the original supcom:-Cleaned up UI. It's much more streamlined. The construction tab seemed a little too simplified at first, but it grew on me.
-Some major unit balances. Nukes have a slightly smaller blast radius and take WAY longer to build (engineer assistance does very little to aid), other end-game options have been balanced to be more employable (ex: Mavor cannon much shorter build time, nuke-sub only takes 8 minutes, all experimentals build a touch faster, amongst other things), mass fabricators have a much lower output, etc. Overall, I like the new balancing more.
-The game handles 2000 units being on screen better than the original in terms of processing speed.
-New units. A brand new alien side and each original side gets a new experimental along with 9 or 10 new units. These new units are unique to each side (ex: UEF is the only side to get a new Tech3 point defense while the other sides get other unique advantages) so it adds to the new balancing.
-Some new multiplayer maps. These maps are nicely polished and as playable as the originals.
-And of course, a new campaign. The campaign is only a mere six missions long (for each side), but these few missions last quite a while due to their difficulty and extensive objectives. On average, each mission took me about 2-2.5 hours to complete on the normal difficulty. The campaign may not be a work of genius in terms of story, but it definetely is sufficient to set a do-or-die tone on humanity's bleak outlook should you fail your objectives. (Then again, it doesn't require too much of a grand story to build up a massive army and bring the pain to the opposition.)
These are top-notch changes and additions, and all quite welcome. However, I don't think they are sufficient to qualify a forty-dollar price tag for this expansion. (Just a few dollars more and you've got a brand new game.) Hence, I am rating this game only four stars. As an expansion, it is one of the best, but priced as a brand new game it doesn't quite deliver the value.
If you find this game for less and you already own the original supcom, consider it a must-buy hands down.
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As of 2/23/12 The CD Key you get for purchasing the DL version or this game gives you SC1 AND SC:FA when activated on Steam. The key you get for buying SC1 on Amazon does not activate on steam at all.EDIT: APPARENTLY THEY REMOVED THIS DOUBLE-BUY STARTING IN APRIL 2012
However, in my personal opinion, SC2 is a better game. I got SC1 hoping the hardware requirements would be lower for large skirmishes, but they really aren't. SC2 is often on sale on Steam for under $4 as well.
Honest reviews on Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance - PC
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 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):
· 3GHz Intel (or AMD equivalent)
· 1024MB of RAM
· nVidia 7600 (256MB) (or ATI 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 sold as a "standalone expansion": hence the pricing at about $40.
Supposedly, one is buying all three factions of the original SupCom as well as the new Seraphim faction. At $40 that would have been a good deal; after all, the original SupCom is barely a year old game.
However, this Seraphim faction is only available in Skirmishes and Multiplayer, and does NOT have a campaign of its own! And, to add insult to injury, the other three original 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 effectively 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.
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As of 2/26/2012 buy this one as download version and use the key to activate on steam. You will get a Supreme Commander 1 and Forged Alliance, which means you can get 2 games. Yes is 2 games
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