Homeworld launched the space-based RTS into 3D with a well-designed (if complex) command interface, an epic storyline, and mountains of atmosphere. Now, Homeworld: Cataclysm is set to play Aliens to the former's Battlestar Galactica.

Platform: PC
Developer: Barking Dog
Publisher: Sierra
Release Date: Late Summer 2000

The first thing Barking Dog wants to make absolutely clear is that this is neither an expansion pack nor a sequel for Homeworld. It exists in the Homeworld universe, but the 17 lengthy missions that comprise Homeworld: Cataclysm do not require the original game to play, and do not affect the overall continuity of the Homeworld storyline. That said, the two projects share most major elements, including (obviously) the same game universe, a plot and manual written by Marcus Skyler, and the masterful soundtrack music of Paul Ruskay (despite the sticker on the box, the band Yes only contributed one song to the original Homeworld). Players familiar with the elder Homeworld will be right at home with Cataclysm, and most will be pleasantly surprised at some new additions to the existing feature set.

Events in Cataclysm take place some fifteen years after the successful conclusion of Homeworld's basic story. The original Kiith that colonized Higara has split into several smaller Kiiths, many of which have taken to the stars to make their livelihood. The player controls a ship from the Kiith Somtaaw, a clan that makes its living mining asteroids. Of course, you get drawn into a string of events that leads to the introduction of the game's arch-enemy, a techno-organic race called the Beast. They are what should give Cataclysm an element missing from the original Homeworld - horror. And it is the Somtaaw's struggle against the Beast that forms the core Cataclysm's single player story.

The introduction of two new races gives Barking Dog the chance to focus on creative new ship designs, and they flatly ran away with it. Nearly every Somtaaw ship commands some unique battle ability: the Leech attaches itself to the enemy and steals resource energy, either harvesting it or simply venting it into space. The Sentinel is a slow moving gun with an engine strapped to it that can also group together to form a force field around important capital ships, and the Mimic can literally camouflage itself as an asteroid, or as the enemy itself.

Not that the Beast is under-armed. The Beast takes on resource collecting from a different angle, infecting and thus taking over its enemies' ships. In fact, you'll probably recognize many captured Kushan and Taidan craft in the Beast's armada, as well as some of your own and some completely new designs.

There are substantial changes under the hood as well. The A.I. is more aggressive now, and even ships set to defend will be more robust in their efforts. Additionally, units will accrue experience, and can be upgraded to learn new capabilities (for instance, resource collectors can be upgraded to perform repair and salvage missions). Enhancements to the interface include the welcome ability to set waypoints, an on-screen meter that tracks the progress of construction projects, and the capacity to designate battle targets right from the sensors manager.

Multiplayer games in Cataclysm will feature even more tweaks to the system. There will be wormhole-type hyperspace points, asteroid belts that now drift, and a volatile new energy source - the crystal, will be borrowed from the single player game. Also, since the Beast doesn't climb the tech tree so much as absorb it limb by limb, players using the Beast will be able to adopt different strategies for long-term growth.

Regardless of whether you consider Homeworld: Cataclysm a sequel, an expansion pack, or Sierra's category of chioce: simply a complimentary title in a shared universe, it looks to refine and expand upon the tactical intricacies of the first Homeworld, which should make it well worth gamers' attention when it comes out late this summer.

-Eric Bratcher