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Homeworld: Cataclysm
By Chad Hauser
Sometimes you worry when a standalone
expansion pack comes out for a game. It makes you wonder, "Isn't
it good enough to be a sequel?" Well, you can stop worrying
about this one. Homeworld Cataclysm brings to the table all
that made the original fun and then some.
Cataclysm in many ways does
resemble the expansion it is often advertised as being. Many
of the same ships make an appearance, all the races (except
one) are present with unchanged ship designs, the engine is
basically the same, and anyone who played the original will
have no problems jumping right in and having a good time. However,
in many other ways it is a true sequel. The ships of the Somtaaw
fleet (the side you play in the single player game) are different
from all the ships in the original, though in many cases, you
can see the design they evolved from. The new enemy, "The
Beast", only has a few brand new units, but has the terrifying
ability to seize control of your ships. It forces you to play
cagey, especially in the early stages of the game.
Most of the new content comes
from the changes that Barking Dog studios made to the game's
engine and how they chose to highlight other existing parts
that were simply underused in the original. The biggest change
is how the game manages fleet size. No longer is there a cap
on the number of a type of vessel you can build. Much more logically,
it uses a support rating (generated from the Command Ship and
any Carriers in the fleet), with different ships having different
costs. This also eliminates a problem that Homeworld had, as
you cannot salvage a vessel that would put you over your support
limit. This also forces you to think about fleet composition
and adjust it in the middle of a mission, retiring unneeded
ships to make rooms for the ones you'll need to finish. Research
also plays a larger role, with research broken up into different
areas. Much of said research is for enhancing existing ships,
requiring them to dock or stand down for a short time to upgrade.
The story line is darker and stronger than the original, with
a real sense of desperation. Along those lines, the mission
structure can be rather grueling, but in a good way. Sometimes
it forces you to abandon ships and, in a few cases, literally
turn tail and run. If you like games that advance the story
in play, you'll not be disappointed here.
Graphically, the ships are on
par with Homeworld in detail and animations, but where the graphics
really shine is in the backgrounds, especially in a nebula.
You just have to see it to believe it, space never looked so
good.
Multiplayer is fun, fast, and fairly stable, allowing play as
the Somtaaw or the Beast. The game ran fairly well on 56k connection,
even though I did get an occasional stop and a turtle message.
Play seem fairly balanced,
except for possibly the ease
of acquiring the Siege Cannon for the Somtaaw player, and its
power in multiplayer, but this is in many ways mitigated by
the fact that any Somtaaw player could get it just as fast as
you could. In addition to normal fleet on fleet combat, there
are a number of variations, all of which were in the original
Homeworld, such as no resource harvesting, Bounty Hunt, and
several others. However, it is hard to find players who wish
to play these variations, rendering them a novelty at best.
Still, they provide a nice change from standard.
Now, to be honest, the game
isn't all sunshine and roses. It's still about superior firepower
and massing of ships more then anything else, although they
did do a good job of keeping the smaller ships more useful.
However, most of the capital ships were still too maneuverable
in my opinion, and too able to kill small fighter craft. Pathing
for the most part is quite direct (as you'd expect in space)
but once in a while your ships would start bouncing off of each
other, especially in close with your command ship, leading to
a catastrophic problem with your command ship's main gun. Another
minor problem is that occasionally there could be a problem
building support modules (all command ship systems could be
individually damaged and destroyed), if one was destroyed while
you were building it, you had to catch the problem yourself,
and clear out the build queue. Last but not least, you might
have to replay a mission or two, as the mission objectives may
change suddenly mid-game. This is however mitigated by plentiful
resources, allowing you to make mistakes and come back most
of the time. In multiplayer the Siege Cannon is a tad too powerful,
and it takes forever to research the required tech for its counter.
Overall, Cataclysm is a wonderful
game with few shortcomings. It is fun, compelling, graphically
wonderful, and deeper strategically then the original, and it
personally makes my must have list. It doesn't, however, stray
far from its parent game, so if you disliked Homeworld, you
likely won't enjoy this one much more.
Retail Price: $39.99
What I'd Pay: $39.95,
Mushrooms: 8.5
 
Final Word: Siege Cannon Fire
Detected?! Run you bastards, run!!!!!
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