Not too long ago, Gearbox Software released a whole new episode to the Half-Life world. Opposing Forces, for Half-Life, was geared as a whole new episode and a lot of people weren't expecting a whole lot from it. Lo and behold, it blew the world away, to say the least. It was Half-Life and so much more. In fact, it was enough to be sold as a stand-alone game, and it is well worth the price of admission.

Barking Dog Studios continues this trend as well. Homeworld: Cataclysm is more than just an add-on episode for the Game Of The Year, Homeworld. It's a whole new game, thus it's a stand-alone. Relic Entertainment's Homeworld has set new grounds for the 3D Real-Time Strategy world, and new standards as well. Cataclysm takes this further, with an extensive feature set - new graphics, sounds, music, strategies, gameplay, and a new universe for you to explore.

In Cataclysm, it's roughly 15 years after the first Homeworld event took place. You begin Cataclysm commanding a sect, or Kiith. You play as the Somtaaw, who are a nomadic and poor clan (or Kiith). In the beginning, you answer a distress call and you're forced into a struggle that is epic in proportions. Eventually you discover a probe that promises to unlock an ancient evil. This evil is overshadowed by the arrival of a new enemy, called "The Beast", who are intent on destroying anything in it's path. There are also Turanic Raiders for you to fend off, and of course the usual Taiidan loyalists, who want to reclaim Hiigara, the Homeworld you sought in the original game.

You have a plethora of new ships, weapons, tactics, and a new refined interface to help you in your commandeering. This includes the ability to set waypoints and sensor screen attack commands, and much more. Read on to find out more.

Audience

Homeworld fans will definitely love this new episode, which will give you so much more and a new environment to explore. If you're a 3D RTS gamer, and you don't have Homeworld, then I highly recommend you grab Homeworld and Cataclysm the first moment you get. Since Homeworld is so popular, I can imagine the audience for this game will be very wide as well.

Gameplay

Since this is an episode within the Homeworld's universe, you can expect the gameplay to be on par with Homeworld's excellence. This means it's strategies, interface, control, and more. What Barking Dog Studios has done though, is make it even deeper and more intuitive. You'll find even more tactics, formations, ships to control and learn their strengths and weaknesses, new weaponry to deal with, and of course a whole new race to fight. You also have the option to time-compress the gameplay, thus allowing you to speed up the gameplay. No need waiting for the ships to scoot across the map agonizingly slow, now all you have to do is compress the time, and "fast-forward" to your destination. You can speed it 1/2x the normal game speed, all the way up to 8x.

You'll find everything you had in Homeworld as well, including the same keyboard shortcuts. You have the build screen, the strategic display screen, research screen, and more. The overlay map has been enhanced and adds more advanced features at your fingertip. The ability to build more ships, set up a research subject, command your ships, and defend it, are all smooth as well. Instead of fixing what wasn't broken, Cataclysm adds upon it's great formula to give you even more of what we all crave. Deeper and even more fun gameplay.

Visuals

Using the revolutionary and smooth 3D engine that Homeworld is based on, Cataclysm will feature every trick in the book. You can either play in Direct3D, OpenGL, or if you don't have a 3D accelerator card, Software. Cataclysm will feature new effects also. These include large shockwave explosions, holographic projection effects, polygonal accurate collisions, shielding effects, new repairing effects, new salvaging effects, external ship construction, lens flares, and dynamic Gouraud shading. Translate this? A more realistic experience, more eye-candy to gasp in awe at, and a greater appreciation for the Homeworld universe.

You will also have new ships at your command, new textures, a whole new set of weapon fire, and new backgrounds. The scope of the game has to be seen to be believed. If you have played Homeworld, you will know that as the sun shines in your eyes, you can see a huge planet looming right above you, and a full battle raging all around you. It's all familiar, but at the same time, new.

Battles are intense, and when you have 50 and more ships all going at it, it can be as epic as Star Wars. Lasers zip through space and hits the enemies, explosions rip through the hulls of giant carrier ships. Large ships sport nearly perfect textures, with a myriad of colors marking it's whole body. You can even see the guns on the smaller ships as you tag along behind it, watching it approach it's enemy at full speed. The famous trial left behind by your ships is still there too.

Cataclysm will employ a 3D Fog-Of-War. While it's not really a fog per se - enemies will only blink into view when your unit can realistically see them. This adds a new element of strategy and of course danger. You and your enemies can use this to their advantage.

If you've been keeping up with the hardware scene, you'll notice that Homeworld is the subject of FSAA (Full Scene Anti-Aliasing) many times, and that's because you can truly appreciate FSAA with this game. Turning it on, I was astounded at it's crispness and fluid look. Jaggies were instantly eliminated, and even at 800x600 the game was super smooth and just plain stunning. Don't worry though, even without FSAA, the game still shines.

Your Mothership has been enhanced as well, sporting a new and clean look. It's even more pleasing to the eye. When you rip an ION Cannon across the hull of a carrier ship, you'll see an angry red glow left behind. Tracer fire lights up the scene in every imaginable way. You'll also notice the animation is a lot smoother, and segmented parts are joined even better. The whole graphical engine got a nice little overhaul, and it shows every step of the way.

Aurals

The sounds in Cataclysm are quite breathtaking in scope. Large ships will rumble with deep bass, laser fire will have that nice zing to it. Explosions will rock your speakers. The speech of your Kiith leader, and others are crisp and very understandable. I especially like some of the more calmer generic tones, as they show a professional quality to them. You have the option to use either surround sound, stereo, and headphones. Even using headphones in surround sound resulted in some excellent audio quality. Each unit has it's own unique voice to identify itself as well.

Music is top-notch, and will have you in the mood to battle in no time. Some of the techno beats were very excellent, and made me search in Windows Explorer to see if I can copy the file into my mp3 folder so I can listen to it while I worked. Alas I wasn't lucky, but that doesn't mean I can't fire up the game to listen to the music. While "Yes" didn't produce any songs for this game, the music still stands out very well.

Solo

The single-player experience, as you may know, is stellar. You have the option to start off with Training, in case you're not familiar with the game. Training will step you through every basic element of the game, and then some. It teaches you combat maneuvers, formations, how to build ships, research, and much more. Recommended for both beginners and experts alike.

After that, you start off on the outskirts of the Solar System with your mining ship. You answer a distress call, where there's a battle raging not too far from you, and you decide to help out. From here on you're knee-deep in a struggle that'll span throughout the whole galaxy. You'll be contending with Turanic raiders, Taiidan loyalists, and a new enemy called The Beast. The Beast, an organic organism, consumes anything they come in contact with. This of course, includes you. Fortunately for you, you have the ability to join ships together to create any variant of ships you wish.

You also have the ability to combine research modules that you attach to your Mothership. This allows you an even broader range of choices and a more complex strategy. You can upgrade weapons and shields as well. All this customization can resemble a complex RPG, but Barking Dog Studios makes it simple for you (not watered down, mind you.) At the end of each mission, you'll have the option to view the end-game's statistics.

Multiplayer

In addition to the usual Homeworld multiplayer capabilities, which includes TCP/IP and LAN support, Cataclysm will have new features. You'll be allowed to play as Kiith-Somtaaw and the multi-race fleet of the Beast that is comprised of captured and altered Taiidan, Kushan, Turanic Raider, and Somtaaw ships. Sneaky players will love this option, as this will allow you to create a really diversified game that'll leave every player on his toes.

Fun Factor

What can you expect from a game that expands on a Game Of The Year award? More fun, more gameplay, more visuals, more ships, more weapons, and more! We're a greedy bunch, and Barking Dog Studios' Cataclysm will appease even the most demanding of us. I'd say the fun factor of this game will warrant you to stay up until 4 in the morning, trying to get past the one mission to see what lays beyond it. I know I have.

Bottom Line In conclusion, I'm going to have to say this is a wonderful year for 3D real-time strategy gamers. Cataclysm will provide that fresh new feel to Homeworld, and even the most jaded Homeworld fan will be in awe of this sequel. It adds so much to the Homeworld universe, that it'd be foolish of you to even question if it'll be worth plunking down the cash to get it. If you're a fan of Homeworld, you must get it. If you've never played Homeworld, get Cataclysm and you'll soon see why Homeworld is so great. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to whip a few more Beasts around. More Screenshots Related Articles: GA-Strategy Interview: Cataclysm