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Sierra Announces Homeworld: Cataclysm
Jump for joy and do a little dance, Homeworld is back for more and we've got details and screens.
February 14, 2000
Sierra, Relic, and Barking Dog revealed the next chapter of Homeworld today at the Milia trade show in Cannes, France. This next chapter in the Homeworld series is being called Homeworld: Cataclysm and is scheduled to be released this summer. If you don't know what Homeworld is, or why it is so damn good, you should check out our review Homeworld and then go out and buy it. For the rest of you, all you need to know is that this new title will take you through 17 new single player missions and let you take control of dozens of slick new ships.
Created by Barking Dog Studios, this installment of the series is set to stand on its own with new gameplay features, a darker storyline, and more original missions. "We believe Barking Dog Studios has the talent and experience to make a significant contribution to the Homeworld franchise," said Mark Hood, senior vice president of Sierra Studios. "Taking the original concept even further, they're presenting gamers with different types of challenges and offering yet another fresh 3D experience."
Cataclysm will add entirely new fleets of ships including ships that can mimic objects roughly their size (such as asteroids), multi-beam ion frigates, and ships that can combine to form a larger one. The mothership will also be able to be upgraded in order to add construction bays and research depots directly on to it. The game will also have improved multiplayer that allows up to eight players via WON.net, and an enhanced ladder ranking system.
The story is set 15 years after the events from the original Homeworld took place. You control a sect that has been pushed to the side after winning back Hiigara. This sect has latched onto a prophecy dating to the beginning of exile of Kharak where an ancient technology was found that almost brought about the salvation of their people. The game begins as you find a probe that may hold the secret to this prophecy. But, oops, the probe actually carries the remnants of an ancient evil known as The Beast. Whoopsie! This beastie blends technology and organic material to control other races. So you being the idiot that you are release this evil into the galaxy and part of the mothership breaks off and follows it. More whoopsies! Now you have to find a way to control and defeat The Beast and fend off all of the other pirate races trying to take control of the technology themselves. One of these races is, of course, the one you defeated in the original Homeworld, and they are understandably pissed off and want to use The Beast to take back Hiigara.
Summer seems like a really long time to wait for this new installment in the Homeworld series, but the fact that it is coming out at all is really good news. If this chapter improves on the high standards of the original, Homeworld: Cataclysm will be a sure-fire winner that you'd have to be crazy not to go out and buy if you loved the original ... which you most certainly did.
To find out more about Homeworld: Cataclysm, visit the official website.
-- IGN Staff
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