There are certain genres of video games that can only be executed well when using a keyboard and mouse. Games such as World of Warcraft and Command & Conquer simply require too many keys to perform the enormous range of actions available within the gameplay. Consoles falter in this aspect because of the limited selection of buttons available to map in-game commands to. Although developers continue to try and mirror these genres of games onto consoles, not a single developer has yet to place a significant dent in the wall preventing these types of games to make a smooth transition from P.C. to console.

Luckily for all of the real-time strategy fans out there, developers are still attempting to mould the genre accordingly and provide a positive experience, despite the lackluster offerings on consoles thus far. Hellbent Games decided to attempt a complete transformation of last year’s PC hit “Supreme Commander” and reiterate the enormous scale of this game on Xbox 360. Hellbent Games did a large number of things correctly when transferring such an immense game, but a few slightly significant bugs also hold the overall experience back from blazing at full potential.

Supreme Commander is essentially the soul-child to “Total Annihilation,” a well-received RTS game released more than 10 years ago by Cavedog Entertainment. The basic idea is identical to any other real-time strategy game, which revolves around building an army, managing resources, and overtaking your enemy. Supreme Commander places extra emphasis on army management, as well as the ability to create an extremely large army to use for your bidding.

Instead of obtaining money through harvesting gold (or any other means created by developers in the past), Supreme Commander’s maps contain locations where mass can be extracted. This mass can then be used to build more troops and structures. But as you continue to inflate the numbers of your army, you must be able to provide energy to run your buildings. This requires the player to build power generators, as well as tap into natural sources of energy located less sparingly on the map than the mass deposits. And as expected, the larger your economy, the more you will need of everything.

This is where the game begins to challenge the player. You are forced to expand all areas of your army, not just the ones you like best. If you begin to build too many structures, the mass meter provided in the top right-hand side of the HUD will display a negative amount and you will be able to watch your mass deplete as your military swells. If you build too many buildings for your generators to power, then your energy will begin to do the same. Instead of overflowing the map with your favorite soldier class, you must manage accordingly or suffer the consequences.

The campaign attempts to work a storyline into the feverish gameplay with three warring factions that have been enemies for thousands of years. The player must decide to play as the United Earth Federation (UEF), Cybran Nation, or the Aeon Illuminate. Each faction provides a unique storyline experience with different armies to command. The player must think quickly when launched into a battlefield and determine which structures and soldiers should become priority.

Typically the player will begin a mission with the ACU, which is the central point of any army. If the ACU falls, then so does your army. The ACU has a limited building ability, and can begin establishing the basic structures needed to start mass production. The building responsibility switches once you are able to fashion an engineer from a factory. The engineer’s building capabilities are much wider than the ACU, which allows the player to further expand the army. Players can build a vast range of units that are classified by land, sea, and air. After a specific number of requirements are reached, the player can even develop experimental units that literally dominate an entire battlefield.

Supreme Commander’s learning curve is extremely evident (and steep) during the campaign. After a relatively simple tutorial, the player is tossed into the middle of The Infinite War where they must become accustomed to the new button layout, as well as quickly fashion an army for defense against the enemy. Luckily the first mission is chopped into pieces by restricting the player to a smaller portion of the map during the first objective, and slowly opening up more of the map as each new objective is given. Don’t let this ease of establishment fool you though. The following missions become significantly harder to complete, with elements that revolve around strict defense and escorting stranded allies. The second mission alone took me nearly five attempts to complete, with each attempt lasting at least an hour.

The button layout seems extremely alien at first, but quickly becomes second nature, like adapting to a first-person shooter. The left analog stick moves the cursor across the map in any direction, and the speed of movement is controlled by how zoomed in you are. Zoom control is a wonderful feature mapped to the right analog stick which allows the player to view engineers at work at very close range, or monitor the entire map’s activity. The “A” button selects units, structures, or enemies and acts as the basic tool for execution. The D-pad is used just as much as any other button, which allows the player to access the command menus. Once you begin to use the buttons regularly during battle, you will quickly find that the controls work surprisingly well for a console RTS.

The sleek graphic delivery of Supreme Commander on PC was dumbed down for the 360 version. Everything, from a visual standpoint, seems slightly less refined than the PC installment. Units lack detail when zoomed in close, and expectedly, the maps look best when viewed from afar. At times, the battles ensuing on screen are more enjoyable to watch from a distance. This is only the case when things on screen begin to get frantic and the game actually starts to lag when zoomed in. The cursor will stall when scrolling, and freezes at times after issuing commands. As you can imagine, the time lost during laggy frame-rate moments can be integral to your army’s survival. Unfortunately even the massive explosions that occur after and ACU is defeated have also been dubbed down significantly.

Audio effects are as expected from a real-time strategy game. In between campaign missions, you are briefed on what the next mission will involve by a couple of your superior officers. The lip-sync of NPC characters is nothing to write home about, but the voice acting is performed well. Throughout missions, the NPC characters will momentarily pop up in the right-hand side of the screen and let you know what is about to happen. Explosions are a prominent sound effect that is heard often, depending on the cursor’s location on the map. A small bug would occur only when I zoomed out from battle and showed a majority of the map. The audio would consist of every action of every machine located with my view range, and this mashing together of sounds would make the overall volume increase significantly. I found myself turning the volume up only when a character was speaking to me.

Players will also be able to take their strategic concepts online and battle with up to four friends in a number of game types, or dive into the campaign mode in co-op. This seems like a favorable way to play through campaign, as the AI can be very difficult to deal with at times. Supreme Commander will also allow voice chat and provide leader boards to climb up and boast about.

Despite the few bugs that I ran into during my sessions with Supreme Commander, the game was satisfying overall. I found myself playing for hours on end just to work my way through a single mission, which speaks volumes about SC’s replay value. Luckily the game allows players to save at any time during gameplay, like the PC version. When I wasn’t playing, I definitely felt a nonstop urge to dive back in and continue my quest for success. If you love real time strategy games and have been longing for a worthy addition to the 360 genre, give Supreme Commander a try. A long, drawn out, strenuous, rewarding try.  

Gameplay: 8.0
If the minor frame-rate bugs were nonexistent, the gameplay of Supreme Commander would be nearly flawless. The strategy mixed with the player’s desire to destroy the enemy mesh together well here.  

Graphics: 6.5
After seeing Supreme Commander’s gorgeous earthy backdrops and intense explosions on PC, the 360 version is mildly disappointing.

Sound: 6.5
The weird compiled effect that occurs when the camera is zoomed out completely can become very annoying during late night sessions, but the NPC voice-over work is entertaining and informative to the story.

Difficulty: Hard
Surprisingly, the difficulty of Supreme Commander did not revolve around comprehending the control scheme, but remained with the focus on stiff, intuitive AI combat that originated in the PC version.  

Concept: 8.5
Supreme Commander focuses more on the actual combat of units instead of weighing so heavily on resource management. The resources required are also different from the typical RTS. The massive size of combat can be very impressive at times.

Multiplayer: 8.0
RTS games are extremely competitive in nature, and the ability to jump online at any time to face your friends for bragging rights is a strong feature of Supreme Commander.  

Overall: 8.0
Although Supreme Commander still contains minor flaws, the overall experience is very reminiscent of the PC version. If you love the real time strategy genre, you will probably enjoy Supreme Commander.