A RTS that is second to StarCraft Brood War only.
User Rating: 9 | Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance PC
If someone ask me about the greatest game of this year, then I will tell him the name is "Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance". You may think that I'm only kidding because there is too much great game that have been released this year. But the fact is that this game is so good, it impressed me in the very first moment. It's so huge, the map can stretch for miles and even the smallest unit in game like the tier 1 bot has the size of almost half of your house, let alone the experimental unit which could be the size of a whole district. The second impression is that you'll see the units in game keep dying like flies. I once witnessed a land factory being dropped from full health to zero just because it keeps being hit by the falling aircrafts. You can see the unit of the two player march into battle like ants and may be it remind you of the Epic Star War film when the Trade Federation unpack their droids into battle in Episode 1. Even if you zoom out at the full size to see the entire battlefield you would probably see the sparks of explosion all over the map. And the last impression come from the experimental unit and the ACU. Never before have I seen a single unit that can stands against an entire army and prevails. I have a ridiculous feeling that these unit are just like the battlecruiser in Homeworld 2, it exists and you must have it to prevent being flooded by a single extremely powerful unit of the other player. And before you can take it down, it may be as well as having destroyed a half of your most fortified base or may be your best units along with your ACU or even one of your experimental unit. One good thing in Sup-Com FA is that it is even better than the original in the aspect of the aircraft carrier. Now they aren't server in a single purpose of transporting aircraft, repair and refuel them but also creating them. Now come to the most evolutionary in the gameplay, the ACU. They are the most important unit in game. For most of the game before the appear of Sup-Com, you never have a true hero (except for a few games like WarCraft 3 and War Hammer for examples) or if they do, they are so fragile, almost useless and functions exactly the same as other unit. But things are different here when your ACU play an extremely essential role in your stragetic. It's the most powerful unit in game, may be second to the experimental unit only, but you can customize it into a killing machine to be feared. For an example you can upgrade the Cybran's ACU with the microwave laser that can kill every unit in a split second or upgrade the UEF's ACU with nuclear missile that is quite cheap and extremely devastating against bases that aren't equipped with tactical missile defense. And did I mention the new Seraphim's ACU which once fully upgrade with all the healing pack it has will make it almost invincible to anything except for nuke and experimental fire.
The only thing that I don't like in this game. The first is that it demands such a tremendous powerful PC to run. I got a pretty powerful computer and never have any problem playing C&C 3 Tiberium War at highest configurations , but this game still bring it down to down to it's knees (I borrow this phrase from Gamespot's review on the original game. Hope that no one would charge me for that!).
Supreme Commander Forged Alliance may not beat Star Craft to be the greatest game of all time but because of it's evolutionary gameplay in my list, it places the third, only behind Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty and StarCraft Brood War.
