Rating

A

Specific Ratings

GameplayA+
GraphicsA+
Learning CurveA
Replay ValueA
SoundA

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Excellent graphics
  • Excellent tutorial mission
  • Strat Guide and music CD with GOTY Edition
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Wide selection of ships to build
  • Easy-to-use manager screens
  • Challenging combat situations
  • Two different fleets to choose from
  • Entertaining story
Cons
  • Asteroid belt mission

Homeworld -- Game of the Year Edition (PC)

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Summary

Homeworld will challenge your fleet management skills and send you on a journey to find the origins of your ancestors.

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Description

Homeworld -- a 3-D space based strategy game that also has a very intriguing story behind it.

You are part of a colony that has made the desert planet of Kharak your home for many generations. There are several clans that make up this population, and the true origins of your people have always been a mystery. Many years ago an expedition was sent into space to try to find more evidence of our origins, and a planet that came to be known as Khar-Toba was found, and upon that planet was another remarkable find. Our scientists found a guide stone, and etched upon that stone was a galactic map, and a single word, "Hiigara". This word means the same in all the clan’s languages, it means "home". It was decided by the clan elders that construction must begin at once on the mother ship, which will take a fleet towards this unknown galaxy marked on the guide stone -- perhaps they find our Homeworld. This is the introduction story, and for the most part, the background story for the entire game.

The main thing you must do before you start the game is decide which type of fleet you will be playing as. Your options will be the “Kushan” or the “Taiidan”. For the most part, each fleet will have the same kind of ships, but there will be a few types of ships that are only available to one fleet or the other. For example, the Drone Frigate will only be available thru the Kushan fleet.

Once you do this, then the game begins, and eventually the fleet that you did not choose as your own, will attack you and destroy your base on Kharak. After that, then the main objectives become two-fold -- find your home planet and take revenge upon the other fleet that attacked Kharak.

The fleet will consist of your main ship, the “Mother ship”, and many support vessels. The support ships will fall into the following categories: Fighter Class, Corvette Class, Frigate Class, Super Capital Class, and Non-Combat Class.

Here are some examples of each:

Fighters: Scout and Defender
Corvettes: Heavy and Repair
Frigates: Assault and Support
Super Capitals: Carrier and Destroyer
Non-Combats: Probe and Cloak Generator

The many regions of space that you will be exploring during this game will be abundant with resources, and collecting these resources is how you will build up your fleet. In the game, they are known as Resource Units (RU's), and it takes a certain amount to build any ship, and they are built within your Mother ship. There is a Non-Combat type of ship called the Resource Collector, and its sole purpose is to go out and collect resources, which most often come in the form of asteroids, but can also come by way of ion clouds or retired ships. You will be given one Resource Collector when the game begins, but can build as many more as you want during the game.

Another important ship that will be given to you at the beginning of the game, and should be protected very well, is the Research Ship. It also falls under the Non-Combat Class, and its main purpose is to study technologies that will be needed to build advance classes of ships. There is a very detailed list of the many different kinds of technologies at the back of the manual. There is also one other way that you will be getting new technologies during the game, and that is through a trading race known as the Bentusi that you will be encountering during certain missions. They will be happy to trade you technologies they have available for a certain amount of RU's.

As you can imagine, for the most part, this is a game in which you will be involved with maintaining your fleet and exploring your surroundings. There will be some combat, and at times it can be fairly hectic, because most of the time you are trying to keep control of many formations of fighters and support vessels. Whatever you do, make sure the Mother ship is not destroyed, because if she goes down, then the game is over.

Graphics were excellent in this game. The entire game is in a 3-D space environment, and you have the ability to pan and zoom in all directions, including up and down, so it makes you feel as though you are really out in space. The ships come in many shapes and sizes, and are very detailed.

Gameplay is excellent in this game. Everything is mouse driven. It was easy to issue commands to the ships. Just right-click on them, and it brings up a drop-down menu that has a list of commands. There are several secondary screens such as the Building Manager, the Research Manager, and Sensors Manager, which can be brought up with just a mouse-click. Combat was very challenging, and was automatically initiated any time hostile ships would approach your fleet. You had the ability to issue formation (Claw, Sphere, etc.) commands and also tactics (Evasive, Aggressive, etc.) to your combat ships. The first time I played this game, I mainly built my fleet by just using my RU's and building new ships -- and this proved to make combat much more difficult, because I could never maintain a very big fleet. The next few times I played, I started to make more use of the salvage technique. There is a Corvette Class of ship called the Salvage Corvette, and it can salvage damaged enemy ships. The number of Salvage Corvettes needed for a job depends on how big of a ship you are attempting to capture, most require at least two salvage ships, but the bigger ships like a Heavy Cruiser will require five salvage ships. Once you capture it and return it safely to the Mother ship, then it will be added to your fleet, and you will have control over it. I was able to build up a HUGE fleet this way, and of course this meant that most attacks made upon my fleet were easily stopped.

Sound is good in this game. There really was not too much sound effects going on in this game. There was a member of the colony that was hooked up to the central computer on the Mother ship, and she basically issued orders, and gave you instructions on what to do next. At the bottom right-hand side of the game screen was a dialog box that listed all the objectives for each mission, and which ones were completed and not completed. There was engine sounds for each ship, and of course sound effects for the firing of their weapons. The Bentusi traders had a unique sounding voice to them. Other than that, there was not much else going on in the sound category.

There was some background music, and I am not sure if it added much to the game. The soundtrack was very good, and that is mainly due to the fact that the classic rock band, "Yes", did most of the songs for it.

Learning curve is very good in this game. There is an excellent tutorial mission available off of the main menu, that very effectively teaches you everything you need to know in order to play the game. It goes over all the combat options, from formations to tactics, and goes into detail about all the manager screens. It also goes into detail about how to move your ships, and how to collect resources and salvage ships. There is a very nice and big manual that came with the game, which goes into further detail about all of this, and the first thirty-nine pages is nothing but a history of the clans and events leading up to the discovery of the guide stone.

Replay value is very good in this game. I would say that one of the incentives to play this game again is the fact that you can play as a different fleet, either the Kushan or Taiidan. The missions would be basically the same, but it would still be a different experience because you would have different ships available. There is also a multiplayer option to this game.

I liked this game, and there was not much about it that really disappointed me. The only thing that comes to my mind that could have been considered a con was the mission that involved you having to save your fleet from a dangerous asteroid belt. That one got on my nerves a few times, and it took several tries before I could get past it.

This is the Game Of The Year Edition, and for the most part, it is identical to the original release.
There have been some modifications to the Multiplayer game along with new art work on the box and jewel case cover. The Complete retail GOTY version comes with the Official Prima Strategy Guide and a music CD.

I would say that this is a must have game. This is a great strategy game that will challenge your fleet management skills, and have you looking all over the galaxy for your Homeworld. Pick this one up because you will like it!

Your Fellow Gamer,
Bobby

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