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Homeworld is the next evolution of real-time strategy gaming,
delivering a fresh experience in a totally 3-D universe. It gives
players freedom to create new styles of play while delivering
cinema-quality graphics, special effects, vividly rendered ships,
and an innovative interface.
Review
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Relic's Homeworld is the sort of game that can inspire unbridled
hyperbole in game reviewers. With its stunning 3D engine,
uniquely challenging gameplay in both single- and multiplayer
modes, great audio, and terrific story, Homeworld is both an
excellent game and one that may well reshape the entire real-time
strategy genre.
It begins with an epic discovery: An ancient starship, buried
deep beneath the sands of your home planet Kharak, contains
evidence indicating that your people descended from aliens who
colonized the planet many centuries ago. Spurred on by this
discovery, your people construct a massive mothership with
hyperspace capabilities and undertake an expedition to find their
true homeworld. However, you complete your first hyperspace jump
only to run smack into a swarm of hostile aliens, which proceed
to reduce Kharak to a burning wasteland. Now, with only the
mothership to call home, you must lead the fleet onward to your
fabled homeworld, exacting vengeance for Kharak along the way.
Most of the plot unfolds by way of elaborate cutscenes created
using the game's 3D engine. The game also makes use of some slick
hand-drawn animation to convey other elements of the story. These
black-and-white scenes have a simple but gritty look to them, and
they work exceptionally well with the flashy 3D cinematics.
Homeworld's gameplay is in fact fairly similar to any
tried-and-true real-time strategy game. You have a fleet under
your command and must guide it through a series of 16 missions by
building more vessels, researching new technologies, and
harvesting resources from asteroids and dust clouds.
However, in spite of the basic formula, Homeworld manages to
feel like a very different breed of game. Your ships and
resources carry over from mission to mission. This can result in
very different playing habits designed to preserve your precious
fleet. After all, it's the only one you have. For example, you'll
come to rely on vessels like the support frigate to repair your
damaged ships so they are ready for the next mission. Similarly,
you might find yourself sticking around after completing your
mission goals to harvest every last ounce of space dust
available. Thankfully, Homeworld lets you do this sort of thing,
because you control when you exit each mission regardless of when
and how the mission goals are accomplished.
But the most obvious difference between this and other real-time
strategy games is the true 3D nature of the gameworld. You're in
deep space, after all, so there is no restriction on the
direction in which your units may travel. As a result, you'll
have to learn to think and move using three axes at all times.
This can be extremely confusing if you jump right in, which is
why you ought to go through Homeworld's excellent tutorial
regardless of your experience with real-time strategy games. One
thing the tutorial doesn't teach you is the best way to keep
track of your units once a battle begins. Though you have
numerous options for organizing your ships - including a variety
of formations and three different attack styles - it can be quite
easy to scatter them across the galactic if you're not
careful. The main culprit here is the convoluted 3D movement
command. In order to move your ships along the Z-axis, you must
first click on an X-Y destination, then hold the shift key and
move the mouse to indicate the distance up or down that you wish
your ships to travel. Be warned that this system can be
incredibly difficult to master, especially if you don't take the
time to line things up perfectly.
Fortunately, you won't mind retrying some of Homeworld's
missions a few times until you get them right, because you never
get the sense that the computer is cheating you. These missions
are challenging, especially towards the end of the campaign, but
they are fair. Even so, you may be put off by the complete lack
of a difficulty setting.
You'll also enjoy playing Homeworld repeatedly because it has
some of the most impressive graphics ever. This 3D engine is
stunning, with an acute attention to detail that is staggering.
Every ship, from the tiny scout fighter to the lumbering heavy
cruiser, is amazingly detailed, right down to markings on the
hull and individually animated turrets. One of the coolest
features in the game is the ability to zoom right in on a single
ship and follow it through a battle - every turn, maneuver, and
fired is brought to life, and you get a front-row seat for
all of it.
The ship design itself is also pretty impressive. And though the
two sides in the conflict have nearly identical arsenals (there
are only two unique ship classes per side), each has a completely
different stylistic approach that is consistent throughout the
fleet. Weapons effects are suitably spectacular, and explosions
are also very cool, especially when the doomed vessel is
penetrated by a beam weapon as it blows up - an effect that
recalls those great ship explosions from the old Star Blazers
cartoons.
The audio in Homeworld is just as impressive as the graphics
engine. The new-age musical score may not appeal to everyone, but
it does a great job of setting the whole "space is really, really
big" mood. The unit acknowledgments and sound effects are equally
good, though it can be difficult to determine which of your units
is asking for more fuel when the call comes in during a heated
battle.
Homeworld's multiplayer support is excellent. The game lets up
to eight players compete over the Internet via WON.net. LAN play
is also provided, with both IPX and IP networks supported. In
multiplayer matches, you can fully customize the game settings,
including the presence, skill level, and hostile tendencies of
any AI nents. A skirmish mode is also included if you only
wish to play against computer nents. Resource availability
can be modified, and harvesting can even be deactivated
completely. The alternative is a periodic infusion of resources
for all players. Regrettably, some players have experienced
random drops and ces during online play, and the game tends
to really slow down or shut down completely if you throw too many
ships into the mix.
Homeworld does have a few other issues that deserve mention.
There is no way to tell how much damage an enemy ship has
sustained. Even though your own ships have clearly visible
bars, the status of enemy ships remains unknown until just before
they explode, at which point they begin to smoke and burn. And
while you can play the game as either of the two warring parties,
the single-player campaign is exactly the same for each side. It
seems like Relic really dropped the ball here, since even a
perfectly parallel campaign would have been a welcome diversion -
and a way to extend the life of the meager single-player game. In
fact, an sing story with an equally positive spin on the
conflict would have been downright cool.
Even so, any complaints about the basic design or mechanics of
Homeworld are minor at best. This is one of the best games you'll
see this year: The phenomenal 3D engine, the great story, and the
stellar gameplay all combine seamlessly in what will surely
become a longtime favorite for many gamers.
[Editor's note: The review originally stated that it is
impossible for you to identify enemy ships, which is incorrect.
GameSpot regrets the error.] --Michael E. Ryan
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review
