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by: Adam "Tukman" Tucker Date Posted: 10-17-2000 Score: 
out of 5 stars.
Pros: Intricate and enjoyable gameplay, well mapped controls, good graphics, and battles that look like scenes from a space movie…yes! Cons: Odd cutscenes, gameplay is a little hard to get used to. System: PC |
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I have never claimed to be a devout RTS player. In fact, even though I do play several with my friends for LAN parties and whatnot, the thought of controlling so many little toys at the same time always makes me nervous as hell. But, being the ever adventurous soul I am, I grabbed Sierra's Homeworld: Cataclysm from my editor and jumped right in. Fortunately for me I was plesantly surprised at what I found. Homeworld: Cataclysm, from Sierra and Barking Dog Studios, is a full fledged space combat RTS with a twist; a fully 3D view with infinite camera angles. Sitting right in the middle of a massive space dogfight is enough to bring any gamer to his/her/its knees, but being able to be in control of that dogfight is just incredible. Though I haven't played the original Homeworld, I know that it was really one of the first games to perfect this kind of in-the-middle-of-it-all action. Homeworld: Cataclysm is a continuation of that game, though the lack of a full revamping makes it not quite a sequel but a massive stand-alone add-on pack (if that makes any sense). H:C has only one single-player campaign, but it stretches over a long 17 missions. The game picks up several years after the original, where your race, the Kushan, won back your planet, Haiigara from the Taiidan empire that controlled it. Your clan, the Somtaaw, has developed an advance deep space mining vessel with which they hope to expand into the stars with. With this ship under your control, you can build ships, more ship sections, research technology, and generally hold your own in the roughest areas of space. Or at least that's what its supposed to be like, cause after a mission or two your ship discovers a new enemy aside from the routine Taiidan raiders. A bio-mechanical plague known as The Beast takes over part of your ship, which is promptly ejected, and begins to spread from there. The Beast takes over any ship it can spray with its nano-virus coated ion beam, using the organic material from whoever was controlling it to form an entity which becomes part of its collective conscious. Trust me, when you hear it's disembodied voice coming over your own ship's channels you'll realize the Borg are nothing to be afraid of...but The Beast is, baby. Graphics-wise, H: C maintains, from what I've read, the high standard set with the original Homeworld. I didn't see any clipping, and there was zero lag even in the highest density of spaceships. There are tons of little details everywhere, from the ion trails left by maneuvering swarms of fighters to brilliant fireballs after a capital ship takes one too many hits. If anything the ships look a little blocky, but I only say that because I feel like less of a critic if I can't find something to criticize. But that aside, when you see the muzzle flashes from your Acolyte fighters as they attack en masse, or a burst of an ion cannon slicing a ship in half, you'll be convinced you're in the next Star Wars movie. Only minus the really boring parts. 
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