| Homeworld Cataclysm - (1/2) | Gestalt [04-Jun-2000] |
Homeworld was one of the most innovative real time strategy games of last year, a glorious 3D accelerated game set in the depths of space that put you in charge of the proverbial rag tag fleet in search of a long lost home in the stars.
The game was a critical and commercial hit, and it's no surprise then that it has already spawned a sequel, "Homeworld : Cataclysm". What is surprising is that the sequel is being crafted by Barking Dog Studios rather than the original game's developers, Relic.
We went EVA to take a look at a preview version of the new game to see if it can live up to the Homeworld name...
Fifteen years have passed since the events portrayed in the first game, and the once mighty Taiidan Empire has collapsed into civil war, with Republicans and Imperial Loyalists fighting for control as pirates and raiders carve out their own niches.
Taking advantage of the chaos are your own people, the Kushan. The mothership which carried them back to Hiigara from their long exile is now orbiting the planet, acting as a space dock and construction yard. But while the rich and powerful factions rebuild your homeworld, many smaller clans are now turning to the frontier to seek their fortunes.
You command a mining vessel for one such clan, the Somtaaw, and (as is the way of the world) you have soon stumbled across a mysterious alien probe that unlocks an "ancient evil", something which could threaten the survival of the entire galaxy...
Objectives often change during the course of a mission as you uncover more of the plot, and the game is full of twists and turns. The first few missions will see you defending other Kushan ships against Taiidan Imperialists and bandit raiders, searching for a crippled destroyer and repairing it, and even using fast moving fighters to clear a way through a mine field by "dragging" the mines away Galaxy Quest style.
Given that space is, by and large, very big and very empty, Barking Dog have done a good job of keeping the missions sufficiently interesting to keep your attention between battles.
Although it is based on the same engine as the original Homeworld, Cataclysm is a full stand-alone game with its own seperate storyline, rather than "just" a mission pack.
The single player game is made up of a linear series of seventeen missions, making Cataclysm slightly longer than the original Homeworld. As before, there is a strong storyline to push it all along, and missions are linked by a mixture of in-game and hand-drawn cutscenes which tell the story and give you an outline of the tasks you must accomplish in each mission.
