As I wrote of the original Homeworld, it is the first video game that calls into question the line between art and entertainment. In light of that, Homeworld: Cataclysm (HW:C) is the second such game. Seriously, the sequel simply improves upon the incredible spectacle that was the original game, fixing problems, adding needed features, and providing an arguably more compelling story than the original. I was quite taken with the original; I'm even more taken with the sequel for reasons I'll give below.
HW:C does as good or better a job than the original at conveying the lonely majesty of space. When I first played the original game, I found myself staring slack-jawed at the view. Though I had a much better idea of what to expect when beginning HW:C, the overall effect was roughly the same. Space is the most enormous, beautiful, inspiring, intimidating, and terrifying thing of all as far as I'm concerned, and HW:C conveys it all.
The modeling in HW:C is even better than the modeling in the original, and that was very good. It seems to be the case that the developers increased both model and texture quality, so that the occasional case of the "jaggies" when zooming very closely onto a particular ship never happens in HW:C. The cut-scenes are similarly wonderful, the special effects are even more stunning than the original, and the overall "feel" to the ships is improved insofar as they seem more realistic. That is, the enormous mother-ship of the first game, though it had its own style, wasn't clearly purposeful; it was just big and pretty. In contrast, the mining vessel in HW:C looks much better suited to its task, particularly as modules are built onto the existing structure.
I have no complaints with the visuals in the game. It's all amazingly well done. The beast effects, in particular, are something that must be seen to be believed. And what's more, it all runs butter-smooth on a moderately capable system. Game graphics just don't get any better than HW:C at the moment.
Though Barber's "Adagio for Strings" fails to make an appearance in HW:C, the music is almost on par with the original. To be sure, it's all formed from the same sort of New Age mold, but it's as appropriate as it is pleasant to the ear. The music heightens the drama of each situation and highlights the feeling of isolation in the vast emptiness that exists between worlds. The sound effects are even better, and are improved from the original. The guns, beam weapons, explosions, and everything else seem to have been improved upon subtly without losing their original feel . Perhaps the developer processed the original samples just a bit? I don't know. I just know that they sound even better to my ear than in Homeworld.
Another area of improvement is the voice acting. I thought the mission briefings and so forth were well done in the original, but the actors truly outdid themselves this time around. The Bentusi seem still more alien than before. The Beast is a horrifying thing. The spokesman for the mining vessel around which the story unfolds is wonderful. His anguish comes through so clearly it's very gripping. I have no complaints with the audio in the game. Like the visuals, it's all amazingly well done. HW:C represents the state of the art in its presentation, and I cannot think of a single thing about which to complain. True, the game is very similar to its predecessor, but why fix what isn't broken?
The interface in the original Homeworld was a work of genius insofar as it made true 3D navigation, viewing, etc. simpler than in some merely 2D real-time strategy (RTS) games. HW:C outdoes the original on several counts. By simplifying the use of the sensor view, and by adding other badly-needed features like waypointing, HW:C solves all of the problems I mentioned for its predecessor. In short, the interface in HW:C is as good as it gets in gaming today. Everything works well, is aesthetically attractive, and is both simple and fun to use.
The game mechanics are similarly flawless. HW:C addresses the only major complaint I had with Homeworld, namely, that some sort of time-compression feature was needed badly in light of the resource carryover from mission to mission, and HW:C goes further to boot. The simple feature involving the building of different modules on the main ship to change its abilities is so straightforward that the limitations in a particular mission actually make sense. Ditching the need for strike craft to refuel is also a badly-needed tweak; I hated having to manage my fighters' fuel status in the original, and HW:C relieves me of that burden.
HW:C is also the first game of which I'm aware to feature such detailed facilities for configuring waypoints. Not only can one set waypoints for craft to follow; one can also set whether those craft are to traverse them once, traverse them from end to end, or traverse them in a circle. This makes it possible to define complex reconnaissance and patrol routes that almost completely automate one's defenses. The net result is that keeping track of the enemy and protecting one's main vessel are much simplified. This is a small but significant leap forward in the RTS genre, and it ought not be missed.
Another wonderful improvement over the original, in terms of its game mechanics, is the consolidation of the functions for which it was previously necessary to build several different kinds of craft into one, generic "worker" unit. Rather than building salvage corvettes, repair corvettes, and harvesters, the generic worker can fulfill all three of these functions. This sure does streamline one's fleet in light of the limited number of units that may be controlled.
Still another improvement worth mentioning is the help and assistance that HW:C makes available through the heads-up display (HUD). In too many other games, it just isn't clear which doohickey I have to destroy/guard/whatever to move the mission along. Not only does HW:C make this unavoidable, thanks to the objective list in the lower left corner, it goes one step further and provides help if needed! I couldn't believe this when I first needed it, but I couldn't figure out how to accomplish the task at hand. I right clicked on the objective and got a message box that gave me just the right amount of help. No more fiddling about for hours trying to figure out why necessary story-advancing-event-X won't trigger! That's a refreshing advancement.
The story, like everything else, is well done. I thought the story of the original game (i.e., the drive to reclaim their home world) was epic, but the story in HW:C is better still. The "bad guy" in HW:C isn't so much a "bad guy" as it is a horrifying thing. It reminds me of the Borg of Star Trek fame, yet the Beast is something still more awful in its scope. I mean, not even the Borg can assimilate virtually anything as quickly as the Beast can. By the time one makes it to the end of HW:C, the destruction of the Naggarok seems like a moral imperative. That HW:C can inspire this level of motivation in the player is a testament to the power of its story.
The content of the game is as impressive as everything else. The player must face a total of seventeen missions, each of which has a number of different objectives and its own very unique "flavor". Some of the missions are utterly pulse-pounding in their intensity, particularly the protect-the-convoys-from-Beast-torpedoes mission. That one had me on the edge of my seat for some time, deploying my strike craft crazily in groups of two and three to cover all possible angles. That's a classic case of forcing the player to spread his resources pretty thin. Letting the Beast gain even a toehold can spell defeat, I'm afraid, and that leaves little margin for error.
As with the original game, there is also an impressive variety of useful and interesting ships and weapon systems to research, build and use. I particularly liked the addition of the siege cannon to this game, as it always felt kind of silly to me in the original that the mother ship was essentially helpless. That was a vessel designed to cross an enormous distance, facing unknown dangers all the while. Wouldn't you expect at least one big gun? Though one doesn't gain access to the siege cannon until late in the game, and though one gets to use it only a handful of times, it's still quite a treat. That lone addition lets an otherwise wimpy mining ship pack quite a wallop! Besides, the the siege cannon takes me back to the wave motion gun of Star Blazers from my childhood. Ok, let's forget I said that and move on.
Also deserving of special mention are the facts that HW:C is even more stable and features better AI than its predecessor. Whereas the original did crash upon occasion, HW:C is one of those rare games that never crashed on me, no matter how long I played it. That's a level of quality you don't often see in the software industry. The AI improvements, while relatively subtle, allowed my strike craft to guard more intelligently, patrol more intelligently, and so forth. The differences between an aggressive and wholly defensive posture seem to have been tweaked, as I didn't have to rescue any of my fighters from time to time as I did in Homeworld.
The multi-player aspect to HW:C is even better than the single-player campaign. As with the original, HW:C supports a number of different game modes, a great deal of flexibility in play, and seems to have somewhat-improved network code. It's a blast to play on-line with others. My only complaint against it is that it remains too hard to find opponents. The game seems to have sold relatively well, as with its predecessor, and I think it a great value. I don't know why I can't find more good games on-line. It's really quite a sad thing in light of the game's brilliance.
In many ways, HW:C is the best RTS game made to date. For sheer innovation, I still think Earth 2150 holds an edge in some respects, but HW:C is in a class of its own in so many other ways. The only thing that keeps it from being the best RTS game to date, a title which I think Starcraft (SC) still holds, is its replay value. I don't know why more people haven't flocked to HW:C, but whereas I can play SC 24/7 against a plethora of human opponents, there just aren't that many good games of HW:C going at any one time. Still, I can unqualifiedly recommend HW:C to any gamer except those who utterly despise the RTS genre. Games just don't get much better than HW:C... yet.
06/02/2001