Battle of the RTS titans: Supreme Commander versus Command & Conquer 3

This year, RTS fans have two major games coming their way. The first is the successor to the original Command & Conquer universe – Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars by Electronic Arts. And the second is the spiritual successor to the underdog sandbox RTS Total Annihilation, rechristened by THQ as Supreme Commander.

The difference between the two games is huge. Their fan base is even more humongous. And their opinions? Well, lately, there’s been a flurry of RTS fan huffs and puffs, and not surprisingly, they revolve around these two particular games. There should be a third contender, but right now it’s just rumored. The ish? Which game takes the cake and which one kicks the bucket?

Being a fan of both games, I don’t see why people have to choose between the two. Both games are RTS titans by right because of their rich history in the game industry and their RTS feature ensemble. Still believe you have to choose? Then dive into a multi-part, detailed look into the two games, from a fan’s point of view.

Click on Full Article to view the first part of the comparison between the two stellar RTS icons.

This year, RTS fans have two major games coming their way. The first is the successor to the original Command & Conquer universe – Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars by Electronic Arts. And the second is the spiritual successor to the underdog sandbox RTS Total Annihilation, rechristened by THQ as Supreme Commander.

The difference between the two games is huge. Their fan base is even more humongous. And their opinions? Well, lately, there’s been a flurry of RTS fan huffs and puffs, and not surprisingly, they revolve around these two particular games. There should be a third contender, but right now it’s just rumored. The ish? Which game takes the cake and which one kicks the bucket?

Being a fan of both games, I don’t see why people have to choose between the two. Both games are RTS titans by right because of their rich history in the game industry and their RTS feature ensemble. Still believe you have to choose? Then dive into a multi-part, detailed look into the two games, from a fan’s point of view.

Today, we take a look at both games and their history.

Part 1 – Classic RTS or innovative RTS?

If there’s something an RTS fan should be asking, it would sound something like that. C&C3 was promised to become a revival of the old C&C (yes, the very first). Combining the old classic story and the whole revved up, spruced-up engine, Electronic Arts Los Angeles hoped to sink C&C back into its roots, after getting lost somewhere in the lackluster Command & Conquer 2: Tiberian Sun.

The series all went sideways the first time the people over at Westwood Studios shipped out Command & Conquer: Red Alert. The game brought the C&C universe in parallel with ours, historically, involving a twist introduced by the concept of time travel and altering the past. It was a huge success, mainly for its creative story twist and its ability to run smoothly on Windows 95 and Windows 98. It came with successful expansions, too – namely, Red Alert: Aftermath and Red Alert: Counterstrike.

When succeeded by C&C2: Tiberian Sun and Tiberian Sun: Firestorm, the whole series just plunked straight down to the Netherworlds. The bland story, the marginally nice graphics, and the introduction of sneaky underground engineer raids brought about a mixed reaction about the game. But overall, the game was really, really, really bad. To some fans, it was totally “Ewww!” But to gamers like myself, it was just a disappointment.

When Westwood shipped out Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, the series totally unrelated to the original C&C universe saved the C&C name by a long shot. The game’s story, even though similar to the first Red Alert, was a refreshing look at how fun the game could be, and it even sported a bald-headed antagonist, Yuri. The game was hella fun for RTS gamers, even though it sported slightly improved graphics than Tiberian Sun.

Then after a weird Yuri’s Revenge sporting aliens (Hmmm, well whadda ya know? That’s probably where the idea for the Scrinn came from) and a completely out of this world storyline, EA decided that they could do something totally different (gee whiz, really?) and created Command & Conquer Generals to model after the real world war that Bush was waging in the East.

The game was addictive, but slow. I mean, dagnabbit! It was really chugging. Fast machines couldn’t push the game’s usual envelope unless they were bleeding edge, and the idea detracted some of the more casual gamers from playing. Thanks to computer gaming cafes, the game still became popular, and so did its expansion, Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour.

What did Generals sacrifice for the demonstration of supposed real-world technology in an RTS? Character. It lacked anything comparable to the sexy and equally lethal one-woman-army Tanya Adams or the evil comedian Nod leader Kane. While each side had its own side of the story, neither one was really catchy, unless you were a die-hard patriot.

C&C3 itself sports new styles of gameplay, depending on the player’s playing style, of course. Taking off from the engine of Command & Conquer: Generals, the new graphics engine now sports a more destructible environment with immense unit detail (like Company of Heroes), although it still seems limited in unit variations, just like Generals.

To PC fans in America, the game may arrive on May 28 (they did say it was coming out alongside SC on February 20, but that doesn’t seem likely). Europe may be getting their versions by December 31, 2007. Now that’s quite a huge gap, but whatever the reason may be, it currently bears no weight for the game nor against it.

SC on the other hand, was made to improve on Chris Taylor‘s last known classic RTS, CaveDog Entertainment’s Total Annihilation. The game, featuring absolutely no actors other than disembodied voice actors (or at least, that’s how it felt), lacked a good story. No. Wait, scratch that. It lacked a story. There was one in-game, but it was pretty flat, despite the twist in the middle of the campaign.

Then how did it get so popular? The game just encouraged your strategic creativity. There were also so many ways to win, because rushes weren’t the only sure path to victory. It was here the names of “bombard boy”, “handsome base”, “hardpoint whore”, and “skipper” were born. They describe the types of commanders they were, not including the really crafty ones. They usually got the names-that-would-be-censored-here.

After the flop the TA series had (brought about by the hairball known as Total Annihilation: Kingdoms), people clamored for Total Annihilation 2. Then CaveDog never recovered from the “play dead” trick and the hopes for a new installment to the series died with them.

Soon enough, the desire for the game was so great that a few hardcore fans soon got together to recreate TA from scratch. Reborn as TASpring, the open-source, system-hogging game powered by the Spring RTS engine gave a short relief to fans of the game, regardless of the many glitches it still sports today. Multiplayer was the only way to experience the old game properly.

Then when RTS-slash-comedian Chris Taylor jumped in to the fray, announcing that he was at work on a “rumored” TA 2 title, fans were quick to hound Gas Powered Games for more details. Like the comedian he was, he just brushed off his shoulder and jokingly bade his time. Developments into the title soon gave way to immense criticisms, both positive and negative.

On February 20, the years of waiting should end and American TA fans will be able to relive the glory days in a whole improved, grand-scale package. European fans have already grabbed the game and have experienced it first-hand.

Got something to add? Do it here. But hey, keep it clean guys. This ain’t no battleground. You can air out all your frustrations in SC‘s demo or C&C3‘s demo when it comes out. Stay tuned, for there’s a part two in the works.