Will Cataclysm spark the same feelings of pure joy you felt when you 

played original Homeworld?  Review By: Paul Cotroneo

There comes a time in a man’s life, that you become so emotional, you just have to let loose on the nearest tissue. In most cases, this happens when you ask a girl to marry you… or something of that nature… but for me, it is when I started to install Homeworld: Cataclysm. I slowly started to remember the uncontrolled joy of the hours spent playing the original Homeworld last year… and sadly, the feelings were to hard to control. Fortunately, it’s been three weeks and I'm finally able to control myself enough to give you an accurate review on this momentous game.

A New Vision

Homeworld, originally developed by the powerhouse Relic Studios, absolutely plowed new ground in the field of real time strategy and gaming as a whole. This time around, Relic has chosen to let another company, Barking Dog Studios, take the lead in the development of the next Homeworld product. The decision to go outside Relic was essential in achieving a new feel to the Homeworld series while still keeping with the proud fundamentals the original creators so well established.

The Cataclysm campaign story is an excellent example of establishing new ideas but maintaining past traditions. Barking Dog maintained the various techniques such as hand drawn cinematic features, in game engine movies and various other techniques Relic initiated. But, they didn’t stop there, Barking Dog added there own dark and enigmatic feeling into the storyline to really pull the player into the game.

Initially, the story starts by reviewing some of the recent events, which have taken place roughly fifteen Higarian years after your initial voyage to the planet. The player is propelled into a world filled with intrigue and political unrest. The various Kiiths are not the ‘pleasant all working together for the common good’ factions you left them as. Rather, they have become very imperialistic and segregated, and you unfortunately take the role as fleet commander of one of the weakest and smallest kiiths in the space fighting business. Never the less, with some skillful fighting and lots of luck, you will see your fleet and Kiith’s power grow leaps and bounds in a very short time.

The introduction of the Beast, the ever consuming ‘bad guy’ adversary, was very clever as it allowed the developers to create an enemy which even pulls some of the most evil factions together with your own forces to fight the common threat. Who would have thought the old Taiidani would agree with you and fight side by side.

The constant threat of the beast throughout the game goes along way to giving a player a sense of living always on the edge of their respective seats.

Next Page: 2 of 3

Company: Barking Dog Studios

Genre: Real-Time Strategy

Release: Q2 2000