Our Score:
9/10

S et some fifteen years after the original, Cataclysm follows the story of a group of relatively peaceful Hiigaran miners known as the Kiith Somtaaw. As the story begins, using a beefed-up version of the black-and-white clutch-cargo animation from the original, the old Homeworld ship is now an orbiting museum piece. The Kiith Somtaaw mining vessel Kuun-Lan (you) is asked to assist in repelling an enemy raiding party. Throughout the course of the game, new “modules” are designed and built by your engineering department, gradually converting your mother ship into a powerful warship. The story itself is complex and the b&w; animation is used to great effect setting the atmosphere of its dark overtones. In short, an ancient artifact is discovered that contains a biological entity capable of subverting anything (man or machine) that comes near it. Kind of like The Thing, but in outer space.

One of the biggest improvements in the pacing of the game was eliminating the need for strike craft to refuel. In the original, you’d often hear a pilot complain that his ship was running low on fuel but have no idea which one it was. Almost all the ships are new designs too, and smaller strike craft can even link together in pairs to form more powerful ships with even more advanced weapons. The small “mimic” allows you to imitate either friendly or enemy craft (or even asteroids) and can also link up to imitate even larger craft (or asteroids). This is handy in multiplayer mode, where you can fool an opponent into thinking you have more firepower than you actually do, but is of little benefit past the early missions in the single-player game.

As with other 3D RTS games out now (DR2), Cataclysm limits the total number of units you can have at any one time. Each ship is assigned an SU (Supporting Unit) value, which contributes to your total SU limit. Once the limit has been reached, no more ships can be constructed. In later missions, you can manufacture up to two additional Carrier class ships and increase your limit, which you’ll need to do if you want to have enough firepower for the final assault. In many ways this system forces you to use strategy more than brute force, but some concession should have been made for commandeering enemy craft; it would have been nice if they didn’t count towards your total SU limit. Also, some missions require you to build a specific unit at the start of the level (leech or recon or mimic), which means if your SU limit has already been hit you’ll have to retire one or more of your existing craft. God (or in this case “Kharak”) help you if you’ve lost a support module in the last battle because you’ll have to rebuild that first just to support the units you already have.

Resource collecting is still the only way to fund your war effort, but you won’t have too much trouble bringing it in. Enemy strike craft tend not to target your workers, though you should have a few fighters around to ward off stray patrols. You won’t run out of money before the SU limit is hit, and once you find the super purple crystals you’ll probably end the game pretty far into the black.

Each mission is introduced with a b&w; animated and/or an in-game generated cutscene. In most cases, you’re given a simple goal at the start of a mission, such as build a recon ship and scout an area for raiders, with new orders being issued as the situation escalates. This greatly improves immersion and also more closely approximates the dynamic nature of war. The game automatically saves at the start and end of each mission, and also allows you to save at will. Although some developers feel you shouldn’t be allowed to save whenever you want (it makes the game shorter when you don’t have to play the whole level over), Barking Dog knows they have a solid game with enough content to not have to worry about it.

Many new ships and weapons make their appearance in Cataclysm, all with their own uniquely and colorfully rendered visual. From EMP bursts to multi-colored beam weapons to shield generators, Barking Dog has put great effort into avoiding the all-to-familiar expansion-pack death: repetition. Also improved are the background nebulas, complete with lightning strikes. The Sensors Manager has even been beefed up to the point where you could actually play most of the game in it. Selecting and directing ships is a breeze, but you can’t perform any special functions like asking a worker to repair a damaged ship. The visual and audio effect of switching from real space to Sensors Manager and back is as unique and impressive as it was in Homeworld, and it’s added functionality makes it even more so.

Selecting craft in real space can be tricky when they’re close together, especially if they’re near the Kuun-Lan. If you can see another ship below the Kuun-Lan and try to click on it, you’ll probably end up getting the mother ship instead. A quick motion of the mouse will fix that, but it’s a little annoying if your other ship is taking damage. Also, it’s a little difficult managing which ship (Carrier or Command Ship) is building what from the Build menu. If you click on a Carrier and open the Build menu, that carrier should be the one selected, but it isn’t. On more than one occasion I set the Kuun-Lan to auto-dock, then accidentally built a wave of strike craft at a Carrier that were released too soon and destroyed. I couldn’t help but feel partly responsible, but try telling that to the pilots’ widows.

Outstanding visuals, an ominous orchestral score, a well-scripted story with real plot twists, excellent voice acting and a host of brand new ships and weapons, Cataclysm is a sequel to Homeworld as much as Aliens was a sequel to Alien. It’s better, has more action, and plays longer. A must have for fans of the original, or anyone who likes a little more strategy in their RTS, Homeworld: Cataclysm delivers a great space battle on all fronts.

Neil Harris