From the review:
It's hard not to draw comparisons to earlier massive-scope strategy games, namely Supreme Commander. The parallels between the two run deep and cover everything from their approach to resource collection to their emphasis on massive battles. But, despite being a decade old, Supreme Commander still wears the crown. Rather than rest on the spectacle of massive battles alone, it crucially wove finer pieces into its formula to make those bouts interesting.
Ashes of the Singularity doesn't have these flourishes; what you see is what you get. There is one-note to this song, and, while beautiful in its own right, is ultimately shallow. It's a wonder to see in action, but tedious to play. Scale should be a canvas for battles, not a replacement for a deep set of tools. Instead of providing an intricate network of systems to work with, Ashes of the Singularity cuts itself down, leaving only the most basic elements of the genre intact. You have a handful of units, three resources, and a basic goal. At no point can you leverage anything beyond those basic pieces in a meaningful way. Without more resources, nuanced mechanics, or a charming aesthetic to help carry the experience, Ashes of the Singularity struggles to hold your attention.
This could be elaborated on a much better, but it hits the exact issue I (and many others who played and enjoyed Supreme Commander) have with this game: it just doesn't live up to Supreme Commander in its depth and being an actually interesting game. In fact, the game has design decisions that straight up remove depth for the sake of "look at our pretty graphics" (namely that you can't fully zoom out and there's no strategic icons), so the tech demo argument is pretty spot on in that regard too.
So with that, I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with this review and Brad Wardell should stop claiming every bad review a Stardock-published game gets is some anti-gamergate conspiracy out there to get him. Maybe, just maybe, Brad, not everything you publish is gold? It happens.