Homeworld 2

Sam laments a long-awaited disappointment.

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It's not often that a game comes along in which the aesthetics eclipse the gameplay. It had never happened before in the RTS genre before the original Homeworld came along back in 1999. Here was an absolutely beautiful game that took the opportunities offered by 3D cards and ran so hard with them its shoes melted off. For the first time gamers could sink into a lush, visually rich representation of 3D space. Accompanied by some very evocative original and licensed music the first Homeworld was a truly innovative game which delivered that third dimension into the waiting minds of strategy enthusiasts everywhere. Until its appearance any RTS set in space restricted the player to two dimensions, surely the most ridiculously false imposition since Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen dressed up as Robocop. Taking control of the Hiigaran Mothership on its quest for the Homeworld, players were able to plan and execute elaborate manoeuvres with surprising ease thanks to a powerful yet spartan interface. The gameplay was not only well balanced and rewarding but the aesthetic qualities of the title gave many the cause to view it as a piece of digital artwork. An expansion pack, Cataclysm, followed in short order and built upon the framework by adding new ships and functions. Fast forward a couple of years and Relic has finally delivered the long-awaited sequel.

Or have they?

The biggest change to the game is in the interface. Instead of the very pared-back and minimalist approach taken in the original the sequel has seen fit to adorn the bottom of the screen with a massive toolbar and the right of the screen with another massive toolbar. While this means that all research, construction and fleet information can be viewed without having to change screens like in Homeworld 1 it also means that the main screen takes on an appearance similar to a sloppy PowerPoint presentation. Colourful boxes and pointy lines swim energetically in a sea of meaningless icons. If hotkeys are beyond your grasp and hitting the space bar is too much for you then you will probably find this change welcome. I find it hard to think of any other reason for the drastic beefing-up of the interface other than to entice players who might have been confused or struggled with the admittedly somewhat meandering interface of yore. Saying this, the original sold rather well, so just how many new players take up the fight because of these changes remains to be seen. Personally, I can see a number of Homeworld old-timers shunning the sequel as the new interface utterly ruins the sublime, almost tranquil look that Homeworld managed to achieve. While the toolbars can be minimised their presence is often necessary to keep track of what is going on with your fleet so I found myself playing most of the game with them on. Combine this with the inexplicable removal of the 'Adagio for Strings' music, which added so much to the ghostly atmosphere that characterised Homeworld and we have a stylistic breakdown on our hands which is most disturbing.

Additionally, the distance which you have to be from your ships to hear the connected sound effects appears to have been reduced, leaving much of the game to be experienced sans the sounds of beam weapons and explosions. The ships themselves are very nice to look at close up, and Homeworld 2 is still a sight to behold when swarms of fighters and walls of frigates are firing off at each other as the ion trails of the faster ships curl in beautiful shades around the slower combatants. The backgrounds are also more detailed this time and vary a lot both in their colour schemes and the amount and design of debris and the other things that tend to float around in space games. Take the camera out of the battle a few levels and things get confusing. Your smaller ships look very similar. For example, the Gunships look exactly like the Pulsar Gunships, and as one gets creamed by fighters and the other turns fighters into paste, this can problematic.