Then we got to thinking: Could this be a good thing? Unlike, say, Starcraft, Homeworld had no Warcraft warm-up pitch. And any first draft can always benefit from editing by a respectable third party, right? Would newcomer Barking Dog butcher or bolster this franchise?

Homeworld: Cataclysm, we're happy to report, is Terminator 2, not CaddyShack 2. Barking Dog chose refinement over re-invention and asked, "What can be improved?"

More importantly, all that gave Homeworld its distinctiveness has been expanded on, not replaced. The game's intense space opera storyline continues, told with the same black-and-white animation mixed with in-game cinematics as the original. The sometimes haunting and sometimes heroic soundtrack is new, yet unmistakably inspired by the original.

It's the game's vivid beauty that's going to first catch your eye, though. The starships are fully rendered in three dimensions along with the environment (save for the distant but striking space horizons). While veterans will notice a few models borrowed from Homeworld, most of the ships are brand new. Even better, they are much more dynamic. Components move in ways that make sense with the ship's actions. The polygon count on ships appears to be higher, and the newly designed vessels are visually sleeker than their predecessors.

The improved effects are even more notable. Ship to ship fire, depending on the munitions, is pretty enough to hypnotize and make you forget your fleet is being gored. While the original featured only colored light-beams (ion cannons), fragmented bullets and low-resolution missile fire, you can now plainly see a weapon fire, follow the bright ball of the explosive charge from the barrel to the target, and watch it violently detonate against the enemy ship's hull.

Make a few bad decisions and you'll witness the best special effect of all: the destruction of command ships. Even before that, critical components on the vessel will go ... well, critical and detonate. But when your primary starcraft has taken all the punishment it can bear, get ready to squint. The bright blast preceding shattering of components and the final (though technically unrealistic) saucer-shaped shockwave blast would make a super nova blush.

But it's tough to sit back and enjoy your enemy's annihilation (or prevent your own) when you are trying to figure out where you parked an armada of frigates. The original sensor manager (the universe-wide view of all activity around your fleet) was simple to use and understand in Homeworld. But the developers still wrestled with a simple engineering question: How do you display three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional screen and allow for depth perception?

Interface improvements don't stop there. Upon selecting ships, you get a display of the ships systems and status. Moving the cursor over a ship also displays the ship type. Ordering attacks and other actions from the sensor manager is easier, too, and you can also use waypoints to set ship courses to ambush your enemy from behind without hand-holding.

Other simple but useful enhancements let you make, break and strengthen alliances through the traditional right-click menu. Other useful data, such as the progress of research and ship construction, may be displayed in progress bars along the left side of the screen.

Notice the frequent use of "can use" and "may be" in describing the interface features. That's because Barking Dog took the liberty of letting you fully configure what you want displayed on the screen. You can clutter the entire border of your monitor with tangential data, or remove all of it and rely on solely on paper, pencil, and a stopwatch, Scrabble-style.

The single player missions in Homeworld put you in command of a people alone in the galaxy. Their planet destroyed, the battled their way across the galaxy against an evil space empire to secure the planet of their natural origin. Cataclysm continues the story 15 years after the settlement of their home planet.

Through a freak accident, a horrific race of creatures from another dimension is released, wreaking havoc on all life in the universe. As a commander in a political-economic organization, you turn a simple mining vessel into a mother ship as you attempt to stop this new threat, the life absorbing "beast," that is emerging amidst a universe already weakened by constant struggle.

While missions initially seem generic, you quickly get drawn into plot by playing an active part in determining success or failure. Certain missions also envelope you emotionally, with emotions that aren't always good. One mission pits you in the impossible position of trying to save a fleet of civilian colony ships from being digested by the "beast." Designed so there is no way you can possibly save all the ships, you are forced to hear the screams of the colonists as they are assimilated into the beast's bio-structure, your ships unable to protect them all.

The voice acting is top-notch. Compared to the phony accents and stale delivery in most games, the actors in Cataclysm speak like real people, expressing uncertainty, anxiety, frustration and fear with forceful passion. Don't be surprised when you start talking to your monitor; it's that good.

Single-player forces you to think hard about what strategy to use. Expect to replay several missions if you try to play the old fashion mass and smash way. And multi-player strategy has evolved a hyperspace jump beyond Homeworld. Unlike the original, there is no "balanced" ship in the game - each has extreme abilities and extreme weaknesses. The result is ample opportunity for inventiveness.

The Somtaaw are a technology-driven. They are also unique in their ability to conduct separate research projects simultaneously. One of their most effective weapons is their "mimic" suicide ship. The mimics can project a holographic image that makes them appear as an enemy ship or a harmless asteroid. Provided your opponent doesn't have a specific sensor in the area, he won't notice them until the mimics have slammed full-tilt into your harvesting operation.

Contrast the Somtaaw to the Beast. Their armada consists of a mix of ships they have stolen from other races. They can only conduct one research project at a time, yet they can boost their armada's strength by raiding their opponents.

Unfortunately, a greater difference between races also means more significant balance issues. And until Barking Dog releases a patch, multi-player is tilted heavily in favor of the Beast. Their ability to steal ships, along with their more diverse arsenal and early offensive units can overcome nearly any Somtaaw strategy.

With the exception of this minor balance issue, Barking Dog did Relic proud. By enhancing what made the original great, and adding a few tricks of their own, Cataclysm is a worthy successor.