The first half-hour playing Homeworld should be spent with the tutorial, regardless of your gaming affinity. Better than any I can think of, this tutorial will prove beneficial beyond measure at getting you up to speed with the game's mechanics, interfaces, and camera systems. And it doesn't hurt that it's down right fun as well. In the tutorial you'll learn how to effectively maneuverer squads of ships, fly in formations, set attack patterns, manage building queues, research new technologies, scavenge materials and deploy non-combat vehicles. Even with limitless camera vantage points and sensors to build and researching manager to operate, you'll find the Homeworld interface to be one of the best ever constructed.

Once beyond the tutorial players can choose from two single player campaigns or the limitless possibilities found in the title's multiplayer mode. Either way every owner of Homeworld will need to download this patch before attempting to configure or play. The biggest additions to the update include help for TNT and Intel i740 owners. For those still using Voodoo2 configurations you'll need to visit GLSetup and download version 1.0.0.107 of the program with the same name. Homeworld ships with version 1.06 but unfortunately that version does not help users with SLI configurations, 1.07 does. The Adrenaline Vault also recommends upgrading to DirectX 7.0 as we have found it offers slight performance improvements, especially for those running in Direct3D. Homeworld includes support for software based rendering, as well as hardware based using either the OpenGL or Direct3D APIs. Having played with both for some time, we've found that as long as you have up-to-date drivers and the 1.03 patch, Direct3D offers the smoothest, most beautiful and trouble-free experience.

Other games have attempted to make use of the limitless possibilities of space for their playground, but none have ever done it with this sort of grandeur. Even the Wing Commander and Freespace-style games have considerable ground to make up when it comes to this level of show stopping opulence. But as the saying goes every rose has its thorn, and even with its showstopping presentation, Homeworld is not without flaws. For starters the two single player campaigns are really only one. Whether you choose to be the Kushan or the Taiidan, the 16 single player missions will be exactly the same. And unfortunately the sameness creeps its way into the races themselves -- while they look decidedly different, their play styles are not. Many of the ships have exactly the same configurations and armorments, and there are only two unique ships for each race. The only other and related problem has to do with the game's brevity. The 16 missions would have been more than enough had there been that many per race, but as is, finding your Homeworld won't take experienced players more than 30 hours. The first three missions are completely painless and quite short, and while there is virtually nothing wrong with the remaining 13, there should have been more.

In short the game is very much like Diablo was when it first came out; it does for strategy games what Diablo did for RPGs, it resurrects them. Homeworld is a first iteration title, and with that there are a few rough edges. But these chinks in the armor/hull are miniscule when compared to its originality, innovation and fun. On the one hundred and eighth page of the manual in their special thanks section, Relic gives a nod to George Lucas for providing them with inspiration and thanks Peter Molyneaux for his advice. Well, no title I've ever played before has given me the sense of awe, wonder and amazement like Homeworld has. The Lucas inspired Star Wars like atmosphere encompasses the experience from beginning to end, and the Molyneaux-like originality and flare for the unique is strongly felt. Beyond the two minor flaws mentioned above, Homeworld is near-perfect. And when you take into account this being a first generation title, producer Alex Garden and company have done something utterly remarkable.

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