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Homeworld Cataclysm
Genre: 3D-Strategy
As commander of a small mining ship you receive a distress call asking for immediate assistance. You send out six acolytes hoping they will be of help in time. In an X-formation you send them in. Weapon fire is heard all around, as ships whiz in and out, trying to get good shots at the enemies. Soon, your reinforcements have been built so you order them to the battlefield, hoping that they will get there in time….
Homeworld Cataclysm is an exciting and very intricate 3D-strategy game. Many components will keep this game fun and exciting as you play single-player missions, or duke it out in multi-player.
Created by Barking Dog Studios
Interface:
I really liked the interface of this game because it was well laid out and very configurable. I was able to change the all the controls in the game, from camera angle to command keys. (*Note: you will be incredibly messed up if you take the tutorial and have switched the keys around…) I especially liked the options to change controls while playing a game; I have run into many games where you are forced to exit your current game in order to change controls. However, changing graphic resolutions had to be done from the setup screen and not from in-game - mind you, how often do you change resolutions anyways? Overall, this game has one of the best interfaces around.
Graphics:
Homeworld Cataclysm's graphics engulfed me from the moment I saw the action in the intro cinematic. First, the models for the spacecrafts were very well done with attention to detail and texturing. Not only were the models of high quality, but also were the visual effects. The effects for the mining resource beam and spacecraft exploding were quite striking. I also enjoyed the effect of tails appearing from the back of your ships when they were moving - this sometimes helped me depict that my slow ships were actually moving. The environments were fairly bland though. However, considering it is the emptiness of space I guess it is to be expected. I would have liked more planetary masses such as planets, stars or more asteroids; most environments seemed to be nebula based. The graphics in Homeworld Cataclysm use many of the features 3D technology has to offer, thus creating a most enjoyable experience.
Gameplay:
When I first opened this game I remembered the original Homeworld, and how difficult I found it to learn the controls. I strongly recommend going through the tutorial because it is very helpful. Anyway, the actual in-game experience was very much to my liking. You are given an objective and once you complete that objective many others follow in order to create a single mission. Some objectives include destroying key ships, protecting important vessels, or even rescuing secret spies. You can attain these objectives by gathering "money" type units from asteroids or crystals. This "money" can be used for things building ships or for hyperspace travel. Once you have units there are many views you can take and order your ships to. An overhead view allows for easy direction, but a side view allows for you to choose the vertical height you want the ships to travel. A small note is that there are an infinite number of views that can be seen by zooming in and out, focusing on a single ship or armada, or panning, depending on what view the situation calls for. There are way to many intricacies in this game to list them all so I will only list a couple:
- When having more than one ship selected you can make them go in a preset formation. Ex. An X formation, a line, or a wall.
- 3 different types of patrol waypoints
- You can select your workers (they gather "money") and have ships guard them (the protectors follow the workers around)
- Research things such as: high-tech weaponry, armor or even faster drives
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