Game of the Year: Homeworld

The last two years of the millennium (sorry, 2001-freaks) were looking to become dangerously stagnant ones for real-time strategy. What was, just a few years ago, a vibrantly energetic and exciting new genre, was showing disturbing signs of settling into a comfortable (read: boring) maturity. Sure, StarCraft and Age of Empires II both impressed, but they did so within the rigid confines of the RTS rulebook - and even the mighty Westwood, who pioneered the genre, stumbled badly by utterly failing to innovate with the long-awaited Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. It seemed, for a while, as though real-time strategy had nothing significantly new to offer.

But there's a theory stating that evolution occurs not in gradual stages but in giant leaps, and Homeworld is the proof. Relic Entertainment's ambitious, audacious space epic had been wowing audiences at trade shows for years with its incredible scenes of fleet-scale stellar combat in 3D space, but many observers were skeptical that such a dynamic presentation could be married to a workable game design. Any doubts were dismissed when the finished product finally arrived: Not only did the marriage work, it totally changed our understanding of how real-time strategy games could be presented and played.

Telling the story of a nomadic race of spacefarers travelling across the cosmos to rediscover their mythic planet of origin, Homeworld challenges the player to construct, supply, and command a fleet of fighters, battlecraft, and support vessels centered around a pivotal mothership as it ploughs through the vastness of space in a series of story-based, interdependent missions. Most of the real-time staples are evident - collect and manage resources, research and build ships and technology, defend the base, control units in battle - but they're represented in such a way as to utterly redefine the RTS experience. Ships move and fight in true 3D space, but that third dimension is handled so competently as to make tactical awareness a breeze. A minimal, often invisible interface makes command simple while helping players forget that this is just a game - immersion is absolute.

And aesthetically, Homeworld simply stuns. The camera zooms and sweeps across the action with such cinematic impact that you'd almost believe Relic had hired a director of photography. And the wonderful soundtrack, ranging from serene choral orchestrations to powerful ambient themes, made the deep-space setting seem all the more lonely and real.

On top of all this, Homeworld remains a challenging, addictive strategy game. Resources are carried over from mission to mission, requiring the player to think about long-term strategy, not just surviving the next battle. And while the single-player game is short, the excellent multiplayer mode more than makes up for this. Homeworld is as worthy a Game of the Year winner as there has ever been - now we can only hope that other developers will follow Relic's lead and continue to surprise us with creative re-interpretations and re-inventions of familiar themes.

Our two runners-up are both winners in their individual categories. System Shock II posed an interesting dilemma by being insanely addictive while almost too scary to continue playing, and Half-Life: Opposing Force makes history by becoming the first expansion pack to be considered for Game of the Year. Yes, it really is that good. Congratulations, all - you deserved it.

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