Most of the time, when I launch a game, I do so going into it with either one of two mindsets: play by the rules, or play against the rules. What determines this before hand is pretty much entirely random, but if a game is good I tend to simply follow the rules and have a good time. Most of the time, however, I try and fuck with the game I’m playing, because I like knowing how much effort the developers put into their game. If a game is good then bugs and exploits, tend to be small or out of the way, and the designers pretty much guessed everything I would do, and respond in some sort of cheeky self aware way. If a game is bad glitches and exploits are usually easily found, and how this effects my enjoyment of the game varies from product to product. Obviously this isn’t a definitive way of determining the quality of a game. Sometimes the best thing about a game is how it can be exploited (like in the original Tribes), and sometimes the game’s thought and attention were placed elsewhere, and after those are discovered, the game’s true value can be more accurately determined.
Supreme Ruler: Cold War was a game ruined for me by an exploit. An exploit not in code, but in game design. An exploit that let the Soviet Union conquer Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, and France without the United States even batting an eye.
Supreme Ruler: Cold War is a historical sim game, similar to Crusader Kings II in some respects, and very different in others. You can play as any country with a capital, this excludes colonies like the Beglian Congo, or English Myanmar, but does include countries like North Vietnam, and Liberia. When I played I was the Soviet Union, whose economy was weak due to the recent second World War, and so I made a point of trying to make friends. I mean I tried, but no one wanted to be Stalin’s friend apparently. I managed to get China, North Korea (who dominated the Korean Peninsula), and North Vietnam (who I helped in the war against France’s Indochina colonies), but not really anyone else. There is a subtlety to making money in Supreme Ruler, I determined, but helping Vietnam had eventually gotten me into a war with France and they kept blowing up my trade ships. Long story short, at four in the morning I was fed up with France, and launched an assault that destroyed every country in between East Germany and them. I expected that, after West Germany was taken, America would be quick on the DEFCOM and launch missiles at me. Nope. My Soviet tread cloggers stopped the European war machine with their bodies and eventually the Red Army took France’s last make shift capital to the tune of Command & Conquer‘s Hell March. It was glorious seeing a red Europe, but something was wrong. Among the fire, blood, and bodies lay my interest in Supreme Ruler; mangled, torn and burned by my realization that no one gave a fuck if the cold war turned hot. I then quickly turned around and took over Japan to realize my dream of being a Mongol.
It was a fun game, no doubt, and there’s more to do. I still have a dream of conquering Africa as Liberia, but that will have to wait until I learn how to do economics better, and get over the fact the game can be played so easily. It’s not a bad game, but its rules aren’t enforced in a logical way, which detracts from the whole experience. It’s a lot like a sleight of hand trick, wherein the performance is most interesting if you fall for the trick. This sleight of hand act is nothing but diversion tactics. The economics and diplomacy are all but impossible with NATO allied countries, and nonaligned countries are too weak to do anything but be exploited. The military has RTS elements built in, including a variety of units all of which are unique and counter one another, and it doesn’t matter because all you have to do is create a front, and flank the enemy with your swarms. Worst of all, however, the AI never does anything. Events are scripted in, like Eritrea’s break away from Ethiopia, and the Korean war, but other than that the AI sits around and watches things happen, even if an ally is attacked. These are all fundamental flaws that led to both the death of France and my interest in Supreme Ruler. Perhaps playing as a weaker nation would be different, but I’m still disappointed at the feigned depth to want to try any time soon.
I don’t think it’s a bad game, you may enjoy it, but I do think it’s a shallow one, and if you play it I think you’ll notice that too. How you react to that realization is up to you.
Douglas Rysdyk 