Supreme Ruler: Cold War is an old strategy game whose gameplay recalls the times when you had to face real difficulties and every videogame was a challenge. Same goes for the technical side, with its graphics and sound that seem to come back from the '90s. Only for fans.
I'd actually like to give this game a 9.5, but that's not possible, so I'll round up... There is a huge amount of greatness in this game - depth, a good user interface, lots of strategy, politics, replayability, tactical battles, strategic planning, and even global nuclear war!
Yes, there are some weaknesses - a big learning curve, dated graphics, so-so sound... on the other hand there is a huge map, battles with as many units as you can desire, a very detailed combat system that includes supply, indirect fire, terrain, line of sight, and much more. And the economic/resource model is great too... maybe not enough difference between communist and capitalist economies, but the fun is in cornering the market for finished goods, or invading an oil producing country to resolve that pesky shortage!
I've been playing it for a week now and can't wait to dive in and try something new the next time. There is a LOT here for your money.
A detailed and sophisticated strategy game - you won't master this in a day (or a week or a month...) but it should offer huge replayability, between the campaigns (play as US or USSR), the Sandbox (play as one of about 200 regions), or Scenarios (shorter games with specific objectives). It will take about an hour to get used to the interface and the controls/options, and there is a good manual and some good "walkthrough" guides. After that it is about trying to master the control you are given versus what you can get your ministers to do for you, etc etc.
Warfare can get a bit cluttered at times, but this is in part to the much improved game speed versus earlier titles in the series - when things get hot you should 'slow down' to the lower speed levels, so that you can properly manage your units. At the fast speed, let the AI take care of it and just watch the fun.
Just like most Paradox Interactive strategy games, Supreme Ruler: Cold War has become a very difficult game that is made for the best strategists out there. The lack of a tutorial doesn't help and the meagre graphics don't make the game any more accessible. However, if you're looking for a deep strategy game that can give you a big challenge, try it out.
A deep and profound strategic title wich fails to deliver, mainly due to a lame user interface, lack of tutorial, questionable AI, bad graphics and boring moments. The multiplayer fails to save it. It's definitely better to look elsewhere into the Paradox portfolio with better, more refined, titles as Hearts of Iron or Europa Universalis.
I guess this is a "love it or leave it" type of game. Personally i love it. I can say without a doubt that, next to Age of Empires 2 and Star Craft it is in my top 5 most addictive games ever played. I will agree that this game is not for everyone. Not even most RTS-ists will enjoy the brute force of this game, but for those who like it, it's pure beauty. Personally i didn't even play scenarios, i just play sandbox like crazy with everything on hard. Making my own alliances and choosing my future enemies way ahead of them even noticing me. As a small country in east Europe, with literally no production, negative income, no army, and huge thread from USSR(or allied forces like UK and France) i became #1 exporter of weapons in the world, arming both US and USSR. It took a month of 4h/day to get here. But the feeling you get is just indescribable, when you are arming a (previously) much feared enemy with weapons you have already replaced 10-15 years ago. When your weapons and social developments are so far beyond what everyone else has, and using your influence(via goods or financial aid, military aid or direct support as neutral country) to decide the fate of conflicts that you aren't directly part of. I guess it's that God complex kicking in. :D The game could use some more depth, but just as it is, it's awesome!
This is one of the better RTS games I've played, although with me being a strategy game nut I can't really overlook the swarm of bugs in this game.
Although it's got massive replay value, it's really a one trick pony.
From my 90+ hours of playing it, every game ends up nearly the same. Nothing new happens unless you directly cause it. The AI is buggy at times but generally stable enough to overlook. The economic aspect of the game is genuinely one of the more solid features in the game. If the developers added more random events and made the game not play out the same way every single time, I'm sure it'd be a much better game.
Although it's not a bad game, it's not a good game if the developers had corrected the issues that plague It would be a far better game. So overall, the AI does the same thing every time, it's got it's priorities in the wrong places. For example, if I invade china it'll still keep most of it's army idle by it's capital instead of pushing me out.
The game doesn't really have a good diplomatic system, but it isn't bad really. The AI makes terrible choices, like not accepting a peace agreement when you've occupied their whole nation pretty much and getting annexed instead.
The moral of this, it's not a really good game and I'd avoid it unless you're a large fan of grand scale strategy games.
This is the kind of game you want to give a 10 upon first firing it up just for the sheer scope, depth and ambition of it. Too bad that in the end most of the enjoyment comes from figuring out how everything works instead of actually playing it.
It just never adds up as a game for me. As a simulation it fails, as the subject matter in these seems too broad to really handle with any kind of realism, not to mention that the political aspect is very undernourished, and the AI never manages to convince you that you're up against any kind of intelligence. As a grand strategy game it doesn't work either, as the game seems more like a wargame with a grab bag of features the developers thought would be cool without really thinking how they all fit together. It fails as pure visceral entertainment as well, as any tense moments easily get drowned in the plodding pace of the game and sheer complexity, and the poor graphics and interface don't do it any favors here either.
All of these complaints apply to the other titles in the series as well, which is pretty disappointing as even the first game seemed to have a ton of unrealized potential. Too bad the devs have never really addressed the core gameplay and accessibility issues of the series, instead choosing to devote their time with small fixes as well mapping the geography and military of the world to an astounding degree. They bill this as an "Intelligent Strategy Game", but "obsessive" seems to fit the bill much better.
Despite all I've said though this isn't a terrible game, just more wasted potential, and there are better games out there. For a historical grand strategy game I'd rather play the Europa Universalis series, and both Dominions and Distant Worlds have a similarly grand degree of complexity yet remain more accessible, cohesive, and enjoyable. I imagine that anyone that really likes the combat aspect of this here would be better suited with a traditional wargame as well.
I think Battlegoat needs to go back to the drawing board with this, trim a lot of the fat and just focus on making a cohesive game for once. I appreciate the ambition, but if after five years and two sequels your concept still isn't hitting the mark there's a problem. Complexity alone just doesn't cut it.
Almost a year in and its still plagued by slow downs that make any extended campaign turn into a crawl. UI is worse than its predecessor in some ways and it generally feels like its waiting on an expansion to bring the full features you would expect. If you're the patient sort of lad then wait a fair while for an expansion and pick it up cheap.
SummaryIn Supreme Ruler 2020: Cold War, players will enter a portrayal of the world in the year 2020 based on recent real-world headlines. Battle economic challenges, unstable governments and worldwide tensions in this grand strategy experience.