Homeworld 2

by Aspyr

Product Features

• Sequel to the groundbreaking 3-D real-time space strategy game Homeworld
• Enhanced visuals, richer tactics and strategic gameplay
• Fight amongst nebulas, dust clouds, drifting space hulks, asteroids, and debris
• Build your fleet and engage in 3-D space combat
• Online and LAN multiplayer option for up to 6 players. Support only for Power PC Macintosh, 800 MHz G4 or better.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00026US3G
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: September 20, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,260 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #6 in Video Games > Mac Games > Role-Playing
  • #70 in Video Games > Mac Games > All Games

Product Description

Platform: Mac

From the Manufacturer

Homeworld 2 continues the epic struggle of the Hiigarans and their leader Karan S'jet. Many thought their hardships would end when they returned to Hiigara, yet fate has not been so kind to the Exiles. Now the Hiigarans face a new and bitter enemy, a renegade clan from the eastern fringes of the galaxy, who wield the power of the ancients. Homeworld 2 chronicles the valiant journey of the Mothership and its crew into the oldest regions of the galaxy to confront their new foe and discover the truth behind their exile.

Features:

• An innovative 3D engine generates cinematic-quality graphics, stunning special effects, and beautifully rendered ships. The sublime vistas and otherworldly splendor of Homeworld 2 are in the award-winning tradition of the original. In-game cinematics flow seamlessly in and out of gameplay as players command their armada around eerily beautiful phenomena of deep space, including giant asteroids, massive derelicts, gas clouds, and nebulae light years across.
• A streamlined interface lets players take total control of their ships and explore the universe. And all-new camera panning makes maneuvering fleets in the thick of battle easier than ever. Zoom in to see objects in intricate detail, zoom out to get a panoramic view, or rotate your view of deep space a full 360 degrees.
• In the dynamic 3D universe of Homeworld 2 the awe-inspiring phenomena of deep space - giant asteroids, huge derelicts, murky gas clouds, and vast nebulae - pulse with the energy that permeates the cosmos. These fully interactive phenomena - some strategically helpful and others fraught with danger - add another dimension to gameplay.
• Two all-new customizable battle fleets, each with unique capabilities and spacecraft, enhance Homeworld 2's strategic complexity and tactical flexibility. Players can now group ships in strike formations that move together into combat. New ships such as the flak corvette and the marine frigate offer innovative tactical choices, while capital ships have subsystems like engines and weaponry that can be crippled while leaving the ship ready for capture.
• New multiplayer modes and features allow up to six players to wage war via a LAN or over the Internet. Additional tools and modules enable the community to develop new missions and mods.

Product Description

Features include:

•Sequel to the groundbreaking 3-D real-time space strategy game Homeworld
•Enhanced visuals, richer tactics and strategic gameplay
•Fight amongst nebulas, dust clouds, drifting space hulks, asteroids, and debris
•Build your fleet and engage in 3-D space combat
•Online and LAN multiplayer option for up to 6 players

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review for the Alaska Apple Users Group, October 14, 2004

By 

Gerrit H. Dalman "Forged in Fire!" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Homeworld 2 (CD-ROM)

Homeworld 2 is sequel to PC Gamer's 1999 Game of the Year, which was never officially released on the Macintosh (...). Like it's predecessor, Homeworld 2 is a stunningly beautiful strategy game driven by an enthralling and moving story. The innovative 3D approach inspired a series of similar games for Windows, but this is, fittingly, the first to make it to the Mac.

Long after the events of the first game, the Hiigaran people find themselves once again in a prophetic war of galactic-scale. The plot is captivating and does a phenomenal job of tying the individual missions together. The story unfolds through smoothly integrated scripted action with in-game dialog and complementary cut scenes between missions. The latter do not detract from the atmosphere either - they are uniquely artistic with simply animated grayscale visuals.

There is no overstating it: this game is stunning. The nebular backgrounds are lit by nearby stars, fighters leave elegant trails as they maneuver, engines glow ominously, and stylish ship hulls are dramatically lit. Even the violence of weapons, fire, and explosions are stunning.

It even sounds as good as it looks. Homeworld had an award-winning soundtrack and the sequel has a great one too. Sound effects are high quality and active stereo makes you really feel a part of the action. Orders from fleet intelligence and fleet command are well acted and the responses from your ships are varied enough to prevent annoyance.

You command the fleet to victory from the mothership with few allies and a determined foe. The basic mechanics of the game are like most strategy games. You have to harvest resources in order to research new technologies and build more ships to help you achieve victory. The sci-fi environment and plot tie-ins even make that model seem more natural and less tedious than in most strategy titles.

Unlike other games in the genre, the action unfolds in true 3D space. You can - and must - maneuver vertically as well as laterally. This makes battles much more interesting. There is still "terrain" to be exploited in the form meteors that can provide cover and clouds that can be harmful or hide from the enemy. All of this makes the tactical play very unique.

As difficult as the number of units and 3D environment could be to control, Homeworld's approach made it pretty simple and the sequel is even more so. By automatically forming squadrons of fighters, for example, you don't have to worry about banding dozens of individual units. The interface makes selecting ships, assigning formations, and issuing move and attack orders easy. A tactical view makes seeing the big picture a snap and moving vertically is as simple as holding a single key.

There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you get started you're likely to be hooked for a while. Even after completing the single player missions (which should take some time) you can replay them to improve your fleet or try a different tactic.

Though multiplayer games are a lot of fun, they are restricted to other Mac users only, since the Windows version uses GameSpy. That also leaves the Mac version without a built-in game browser. Though supported by GameRanger (...), not a lot of people are playing online yet. You also have the option of playing multiplayer games against one or several computer controlled fleets just to test yourself. Realistically though, most of the replay value comes from repeating the campaign missions.

Homeworld 2 is an impressive game. Missions load very quickly and performance is great even near the low-end. Despite it's level of detail I was able to turn the graphics all the way up on a machine that drags Halo and Battlefield 1942 through the dirt without suffering a performance hit until literally hundreds of spacecraft were visible.

Homeworld 2 is a must have for any strategy gamers out there. I highly recommend it for anyone with an attention span longer than ten minutes and an interest in space, science fiction, or who just wants to see something beautiful on their screen. But as Lavar Burton says, "you don't have to take my word for it." (...)

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No Tiger Problems Here, August 6, 2005

By 

Isaac Marx (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Homeworld 2 (CD-ROM)

I don't have much to add as far as the content of this game, but I would like to say that I have been playing Homeworld 2 steadily over the last few days on 10.4 Tiger, and so far I have not encountered any problems whatsoever. So to all you potential buyers out there, don't let the previous reviewer scare you - Homeworld 2 runs just fine on Tiger. You now have no good reason not to buy this game.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful game, but not a $50 game, November 7, 2005

By 

D. Allen "liker of stuff" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Homeworld 2 (CD-ROM)

HW2 is all of the things everyone else says: It's visually stunning, without crushing your processor, the music and sound effects in general are amazing, and the actual gameplay is quite enjoyable. The pace is generally slow and stately, with bursts of frenetic combat. You definitely feel the hugeness and majesty of space while you're playing it, and that, combined with the fact that you never see a human face or figure, create a strange sort of detached, lonely intensity to the game.

The controls are demanding, no matter what anybody says. Maneuvering your fleet from one point to another in the 3D space is a real hair-puller-outer, never mind trying to use the waypoint systems, and the fact that you have to micromanage I find more frustrating than challenging. Things like having your workers automatically repair damaged units nearby and the like, which games like WC3 have managed to make a matter of course, don't seem possible with this game. The fighting units are not particularly diverse...they seem to go big, bigger, biggest, with the minelayer and the capture vessels being the only ships with unusual functions (and the minelayer seems to be a favorite target of the enemy AI, so you never really get to see it do its thing).

The missions in the Single Player mode are really compelling, but don't cry out for a replay once you're done, and the Melée mode doesn't stray much from the typical RTS formula of build up your forces and technology and then go fight. I don't play online so I can't testify as to the value of the game in that area. And I have yet to find the community of modmakers and custom-map makers that other RTS games like Warcraft, Total Annihilation and so on have inspired, which would definitely give some legs to this game.

In summary, the imagery and sound are superb. If the developers of this game had been a little more engaged in the gameplay dynamics and the replayability of the game it would be a 5-star AAA game all the way. But as it is, I can't recommend paying more than $20-$30 at the most for this game. I have seen this game for as little as $15 used, and at those prices it's definitely worth it.

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