Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Return to the Homeworld Universe, September 11, 2000
If you enjoyed Homeworld this sequel is an absolute must! If you haven't played Homeworld and enjoy real-time 3D strategy games you might want to check it out.I've been playing games for a long time and have become somewhat jaded and difficult to impress. However the original Homeworld just blew me way! Stellar graphics, an immersive story, great music and a dream of an interface that smoothly integrated tactical and strategic control. Homeworld Cataclysm builds upon this base very well. Rather than just reusing the original "Mothership" and it's fleet of craft, the developers have created an entirely new fleet and set of technologies for you to explore. Years have passed in the Homeworld Universe and many new technologies have been acquired beyond the original cloaking and gravity well generators. EMP vessels, holographic projections, covert drones and much more add an even greater level of sophistication to the gameplay. Of course the 3D battles are staggering. Full visual effects, coordinated sound and a high frame rate brings space battles, I imagined as a kid, to life. It makes me wish I had a Video Out on my graphic card to tape to share the visuals. The user interface has been polished to near perfection. The control of a large and complex fleet is a pleasure, as opposed to the pain, compared to many simulation games. The few areas of the original Homeworld interface that were weak, such as selecting a distant location in three dimensions, have been greatly improved. The sound is still "realistic" and informative. The music is only "good" this time around. The haunting and highly emotive music of the original is missing. This game is far less buggy than most simulations I've played. But I did come across a small number that didn't crash the game, but an end of mission condition wasn't recognized. This can be solved by a game restart an then reloading your last saved game of restarting the particular mission. I've completed the single player game and am taking a brief break before I go on-line and play multiuser. With the game's new fleet technologies, great visuals and smooth interface I'll actually enjoy experiencing the new ways I'll get my butt kicked by kids half my age.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mother of God, September 9, 2000
Okay, I've already written a review of Homeworld, which any of you considering playing this game should look at first. First off, Homeworld gives the background of this story, and allows you to get familiar with gameplay, which some people may find difficult if they try to hop right into this game. This game starts with you as Kiith Somtaaw, a relatively minor kiith (sort of like a clan) after your people made landfall. Without a large power base on your new home, your people return to the stars to make their living, and where you eventually encounter a new menace that threatens the world you fought so hard to gain. For me, hopping into the story midway is a little unfair. I think you should struggle a bit through Homeworld, both so you get used to the game, and so you feel some kinship with the people your kiith is now called upon to defend.Having said that, and having spent the last couple days playing Cataclysm (i pre-ordered it back in May) I have to say that the leap forward from Homeworld to Cataclysm is about the same sort of leap as from WarCraft to Homeworld (that is to say, an enormous leap forward). Dear Lord! The gameplay is still just as good as the original, but commands have been clarified, and the interface has been enhanced. You can now issue commands from the Sensors Manager, allowing you to make move-and-attack decisions while viewing the entire playing sphere. The graphics are MUCH better, if that's possible, with gas clouds now flashing with lightning, and distant thunder rumbling through the nebulae. There are meteor storms through certain regions, maging the map of 3D space have a topography all of its own. Another improvement is the added element of The Beast. In the original, the two races you could choose had a difference of exactly 2 ships; all others were more or less equivalent for each race. Now, Beast ships are radically different, and will require learning distinctly from the Hiigaran ships. There are new weapons to learn, and new strategies that must be employed. With cloaking abilities, and ramming frigates, and the fact that EVERY Hiigaran ship now has a special ability of some kind, the strategies required to REALLY play just became more complex. To top it all off, you now have a limit on the size of your fleet. Each mothership can now only support a certain number of ships. If you built swarms of strike craft, you're going to have to retire them if you want to bring in the big guns. This also will add to the amount of actual THINKING required to play. The winner will now no longer be the one who builds the biggest fleet of Ion Beam Frigates. So. Play Homeworld; it's a great game that should have gotten much more sales than it did. Play Cataclysm, because it's such an innovative game, and SO much better than anything else out there. Sure, StarCraft is good, but it's nothing compared to Homeworld. Much less compared to Cataclysm. One final note: Cataclysm does not require Homeworld to play; it's a stand-alone sequel.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sequel that actually is better than the original, October 27, 2000
Since Homeworld is already one of the best (if not the best) real-time strategy games out there, it would have been easy to just cash-in on the success.Lucky for us, Homeworld did not fall in that category. While the original Homeworld gave out a feel of an epic battle between legendary enemies and the survival of a world, Cataclysm gives a more "personal" approach. Where Fleet Command in Homeworld was a woman lacking any form of emotion when she speaks (hooking yourself to a super-computer might just do that), the voice of command in this game actually has personality. He sometimes anger, sometimes panic, and sometimes is at awe at what is happening around his ship. You really feel closer to your troops. Also, most ship/fighter also comes with their own voices and expression (a worker ordered to harvest REALLY didn't sound very... motivated). You actually feel for them! What also helps is an equally engaging story. Although very standard in the Science-Fiction genre content-wise, it is very well delivered. As Hitchcock once said: "It is not the cake that is important, but how it is delivered". And although player already knows the story just by scanning the cover box, that third mission really delivered the chills! I really wish game developers put as much effort in establishing a good story... I must also point out the VERY improved interface. Where Homeworld stumbled with a lack of waypoints and user-unfriendly order issuing scheme (especially from the Sensor Manager), Cataclysm refined the game to near perfection. Unit wise, we get a more dynamic fleet. Where in the original game, only research vessels could link together to form... a bigger research vessel, in Cataclysm, linking up two Acolytes (heavy-fighters) creates a slower, more powerful corvette. One can acknowledge the tactical advantage of this (speed toward the enemy, linking-up, pummel the enemy, unlink...). Also, the Command Ship actually "evolves" when you gradually turn it from a mining ship into a battleship through the missions. There is also a ranking system (i.e. ships get better with experience), so there is (supposedly) less incentive of engaging in suicide missions. Personnally, I failed to noticed any difference in performance between a rookie and a wing leader. A superb effort from the Barking Dog Studios for bringing to the Homeworld universe a worthy sequel!
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