My friends raved about Homeworld, and it took a bundle of awards. Yet, it did not sell too well. So, when I had the chance at playing an early Beta CD of Cataclysm I jumped at it. After playing the beta for a while, I am convinced this game has what it takes to win more awards.

Cataclysm begins 15 years after the end of Homeworld. The Kushan have returned to their home on Hiigara, and the Taiidan are losing their outlying planets, and several of the former Taiidan allies are reforming into pirate groups. At the same time, the Kushan Kiiths are becoming more factional as well, with several new small space-bound Kiiths popping up around the galaxy. This is where you jump in. You take the role of the captain of a mining and exploration space ship for the Kiith Somataaw.

Your main ship in this 3D space-simulation/RTS is a mining vessel. Yep, a massive, ugly mining vessel. It seems to be endlessly upgradable, with launch bays, research, even weaponry. You can also make a wide variety of craft.

The workers (who originally were called harvesters because they get RU's) are now called workers, and are a multipurpose craft. They can be harvesters, repair vessels, and capture ships. In Homeworld, you had to build each ship for each function. Harvesters for resources, repair corvettes or support frigates, and salvage corvettes for capturing enemy ships. As you advance, you can also upgrade your existing ships as you discover new technology.

You navigate in one of two methods: the space you see around you, and a sensor map. Since, this is outer space, you move in true 3D. You have an "up" and a "down" as well as the usual 360 degrees around you. Ships and objects can be in front AS WELL as above or below your current position. This true depth gave me quite a bit of trouble. I could not figure out how to get my ships to move down or up. Eventually, I used my workers to try and harvest. The workers moved the harvesters "down or up," and then, from their viewpoint moved into other ships. Since, the only form of help available to me from this Beta was the key bindings, I have no idea if there is a better way to accomplish this move.

Cataclysm allows you to have a wide variety of view points. You can view your ships from a 3rd person angle, "chase" view or even a cockpit view. This makes for some fun views, as well as being the only way I could figure out for moving my fleet. It is in the changing of views that you can see a lot of the nice little graphical touches. When in your "sensor" map, you can see the planets and nebulas that are around you. When viewing from the cockpit, the stars stream by smoothly, giving you the sensation of speed. Even the contrails from your shipes are fluid, and colour coded to your colours. You may also see little "blips" in space as if ships where coming in and out of hyperspace, or stars were twinkling. It is nice to see a dynamic and not static background.

Barking Dog Studios has also tweaked the AI of enemy ships immensely. They will react according to certain situations. If you attack enemy ships that are being defensive, they won't just sit there, they will defend themselves and attack back. The AI knows when to retreat if the computer is outnumbered. This gives a more "realistic" feel to the game, and gives your side a decent AI as well. After you tell your ships to be effasive, neutral or aggressive, they will react accordingly. You can also have your ships follow preset formations or a custom formation.

The sounds in this game are amazing. The musical score is well done, and adds to the atmosphere for your missions. The sound effects are amazingly real. The closer to an object you get, the louder and/or clearer a sound becomes. Some sounds are only audible at a close distance. Mind you, however, some of the voice responses start to become monotonous after a few hours.

There is also a realistic fog-of-war feature for both sides, repair ships for your larger capital ships, and a much more streamlined interface. The interface is navigated via mouse and keyboard. You can re-map almost every key in the game allowing for a control setup to your own taste.

I was unable to test the multiplayer with someone else, but it gives you a chance to play a wide variety of ships. I would guess these games could become amazing. According to the FAQ, "Cataclysm allows you to play as one of two new fleets, the Kiith-Somtaaw and the multi-race fleet of the Beast that is comprised of captured and altered Taiidan, Kushan, Turanic Raider, and Somtaaw ships."

Since I had not played the original, I had a few preconceptions of Homeworld: Cataclysm. Now, that I have played Homeworld: Cataclysm, I want it! The graphics are smooth and flowing, the sound is well balanced, and the game is challenging.

Features:

• New ships, technology, and gameplay features
• Refined interface
• 17 new single player missions
• Homeworld's extraordinary 3D engine
• Unique blend of existing genres
• Rich story
• Infinite camera angles
• Stunningly-rendered ships
• Intelligent sound
• Customizable fleet colors
• Multiplayer mode with room for eight via LAN or WON.net

Requirements:

• WINDOWS® 95/98/NT 4.0 (w/ service pack 4.0) CD ROM
• Pentium II® 233, 32 MB RAM (PII 350+ 64MB RAM recommended)
• 100 MB HD Space (+50MB Permanent Swap File) (400 MB Full install)
• 4x CD ROM Drive
• 4MB PCI Video Card (16-bit color, DirectX® compatible)
• 12MB+3D accelerated for full 3D
• 16-bit DirectX® compatible Soundcard
• Win-compatible mouse (mousewheel recommended)

Tested on: [Tass said that he really has 640 MB RAM & may go to 760!]

• PIII - 500
• 640 MB Ram
• 40X CD Rom
• 12MB Vodoo II card and 8MB ATI 98@play
• AUX MMX300 sound card
• Microsoft wheel mouse
• Windows 98 SE
• 8GB SCSI Hard Driv

All screenshots nabbed with the most excellent: