It's a stunning achievement. No menus to sort through, just a game to play well there is one menu, but all the commands have simple hotkeys. Your task throughout is as straightforward as the story. Use your mothership to manufacture units, mine asteroid fields and dust clouds for vital resource materials, build up a steadily advancing fleet while researching new technologies and fulfilling the objectives of each particular mission.
And fight the enemy. A lot. This, above all else, is where Homework! With most titles that fall into this vaguely defined category, there's usually a 'golden route'. Take Birth Of The Federation, for instance.
As soon as you'd figured out the best way to develop each new colony and built a big enough fleet, the whole game became a process of repeating the same formula over and over until you won.
You tend to find that most strategy games, once you've figured out the optimum path to take, become little more than exercises in repetition. But Homeworld has somehow managed to free itself - and the genre - from this scenario.
The balance of unit types available, combined with the way they interact, the alarmingly impressive tactical mind of the computer AI and the openness of the whole game means there is never a golden route that ensures victory. You find yourself formulating military strategies as you take a break to go for a slash.
It feels like being in command of any giant space battle you've ever seen in a film or sci-fi television show. Homeworld is about letting you work out how to be victorious in battle, not about how to 'solve' a computer game.
And when a plan works, oh man, it feels good. Are there faults? A couple, although they're not so much faults as areas that could have worked better. The most notable is the inability to issue orders while the game is paused. There are times when things are so hectic that you need to pause it, take stock of the situation and be able to issue the odd command or two.
It's a personal thing but it would have been a nice option. The main disappointment is the research section.
Although it does an adequate job, there's nothing really innovative about it and it's little more than a way to ration out the introduction of each new unit type. This is a shame, because every other part of the game shows so much originality of thought and innovative design that this just seems kind of tacked on - only there because it's expected.
But this is all petty stuff. Homenorld does such a good job of sucking you in, making you feel at home and letting you enjoy the actual game that any criticisms are so minor as to not matter. What it does, it does superbly. The storyline is so well integrated into the game that you'll keep coming back, and for once the multiplayer 'deathmatch' mode is more than just a gratuitous option.
Once again, the freedom allowed to the player means every battle feels fresh and the enemy's AI constantly surprises you with new twists.
Homeworlcfs biggest asset is, as I said at the start, its ability to lose you completely in its universe and make you relish each memorable gaming moment. Isn't that what you really want from your games these days?
Sometimes, as a journalist, your instincts kick in when you see an early project. A hunch tells you when something Is going to be big. That was how I felt when I was first shown the game In September The odd thing Is that what I remember of the game back then doesn't look a hell of a lot different to what I'm playing now. Last December, I was sitting in Relic's Vancouver offices, enjoying an after-hours game of multiplayer Half-Life, and musing on how the game I'd spent the day being shown around still looked fabulous and still played superbly, but didn't actually appear to be any different.
I'm sure they must have been working on something in all that time. Probably the Al. Developers are always 'working on the Al'. I dropped the matter and went back to being killed by Relic's lead artist. Now we're In October or at least we will be by the time you read this and still nothing, on the face of things, seems to be any different.
Even more intrigulngly, the game has been held back several times - not just from its initial release date of March , but also about three times in the past two months. So what is going on? The official answer, which is probably truthful enough, is that it's been undergoing constant bug-testing and game balancing.
The same thing happened to Blizzard's StarCratt, after all. Certainly a game with such an open-ended, non-linear and highly strategic nature would require extensive testing before it goes 'gold' as we say in the games business.
Plus - take It from personal experience - Relic's Alex Garden is a real perfectionist. Admittedly, with a game set in the vast emptiness of space, you don't immediately think there'll be very much use for a mission editor. But there's a deceptive amount of variety available to you in the MissionMan program that comes with the full game.
This is mainly down to the game's open-ended strategy aspect. Unlike the level editors of Unreal, Half-Life and the rest, where you're essentially creating mazes with set obstacles to overcome, here you're concerned with the distribution of starting units, the amount, size and locations of resources and how different players will make use of them.
It's actually bordering on hardcore wargame territory, but since it looks so nice we'll let that pass. The only downside to MissionMan is that it looks so hideously complex to use and comes with such a spartan manual that you tend to approach it with extreme caution.
The musical side of Homeworldior once deserves as much attention as the graphics, but not necessarily for the right reasons. The story of lead designer Alex Garden's 'flash of inspiration' on hearing Samuel Barter's Adagio For Strings one morning has been well documented and it's a testament to his integrity that the stirring classical piece has remained in the game, not to be replaced by some thumping techno drum-hop trance beats for the 'now' generation.
Ironically, this dogged persistence might be the reason the music doesn't quite gel in the final game. It's not Mr Barber's fault. Adagio remains as stirring and hauntingly beautiful as ever, even more so when combined with the epic nature of the game's cinematic opening scenes.
What jars is actually the rest of the music. Because we open with such a classical piece of audio perfection, the rest of the custom-made music can't help but fall behind.
What's worse Is that the style changes. Instead of remaining with the classical flavour, we are instead assaulted with a sort of sub-Jean Michel Jarre repertoire, circa his 'industrial Arabic' period. In short, it gets old, quick. But an even more bizarre musical tale revolves around - wait for it - Seventies lightshow pioneers Yes. It seems the boys from Relic and the ageing beardos came together and Homeworltfs themes and style so inspired lead vocalist Jon Anderson that he wrote a song based on it.
To quote the man himself: "The game is very similar to thoughts that are common to human beings. We're all trying to find our way home. The song is to be included on their new album The Ladder -out now, pop-pickers. Personally, we've not rated Yes since the seminal and cruelly misunderstood Arriving UFO came out in You know, sometimes you miss the level-headed sensibilities of Rick Wakeman.
And I never thought I'd see myself typing those words. Commanding a space fleet isn't the easiest of tasks. Specially if it's in full 'oh it makes my brain hurt' 3D. Now all you have to do is read our area by area guide. And take a couple of paracetamol. The first thing to do is to start harvesting resources before you even think of sending out probes. Build your fleet up and prepare for battle, making sure to set the formations.
When the enemy arrives, it will start attacking your resource collectors, so get them out of the way. Attack the fighters with corvettes and use fighters to do battle with the frigates. Have your salvage corvettes ready to get hold of fallen enemy vessels, especially the lone frigates before the second wave begins. As soon as it arrives, hide the SVs in the dust clouds or they'll get blown to smithereens.
While you're there, grab the enemy's collectors. Take as many asteroids out as you can with the smaller attack ships frigates are more likely to crash into them. Put the repair ships behind the Mothership and set them to repair it as it sustains damage. You'll receive reports of the lack of resources in the area, but set your harvesters to collect anyway. How you use the camera is very important here, you need to be able to see the asteroids as they come rushing shrubbery, flower beds and insects here.
It is bloody space, you know. Get ready for the enemy's oncoming fleet which arrives as soon as you get your resource collecting in motion. Take the fuel pods so the small enemy fighters can't refuel. When they run out they'll be left stranded and you can wipe towards your ships. The best ships to build at this time are corvettes and strike craft, so don't go wasting on destroyers.
Despite its name, there is very little in the way of shrubbery, flower beds and insects here. When they run out they'll be left stranded and you can wipe them all out with corvettes. Use your own fighters on the larger vessels. Don't use the hyperdrive as soon as it becomes available, there's plenty of resource gathering to be done here. While your harvesters are out collecting, keep building up your fleet in preparation for the next scenario.
Send defenders, corvettes and interceptors to investigate the ghost ship. If you use capital ships they'll be sent against you, while attack bombers won't stand a chance against the missile destroyers. Concentrate on the main ghost ship and milk the surroundings for resources. Although, considering this is a sea, maybe you should fish for resources. Oh, forget it. Get your resources from two regions in the veins of the space dust that are safe, otherwise the radiation in this level will destroy your collectors.
Find your way to the enemy ships through the space dust veins and keep some capital ships up front to absorb damage from the mines. If you have a carrier, fill it with repair corvettes. You can undock them every time you need to fix damaged ships. Interceptors and scouts will be destroyed by the radiation, so leave them behind. For once, Fleet Command doesn't have its head up its own arse and gives you valuable information. Go along the path they give you to the station and you won't alert the enemy fleet.
Nothing will happen until you bring your ships within range of the station, when you'll have to stop an enemy carrier from leaving. Use a probe to induce the carrier's attempt at escape instead of your own ships, that way you'll avoid getting caught in the radiation. Move to the safe area and destroy the rest of the enemy fleet from there. Then mine the level for resources before moving on.
The Bentusi need your help, but that doesn't mean you need to sacrifice yourself. The enemy fleet is made up almost entirely of capital ships, so use strike craft and try to capture a couple with salvage corvettes. As usual, plunder the area for resources.
With complete camera rotation and zooming at the player's fingertips, the gorgeous screenshot options are endless. The game's 3D textures all look magnificent, and are rather colorful you can choose your ships' "base" color and secondary "stripe" color. Everything -- from the massive explosions to the ion trails coming from your tiny fighters -- looks fantastic.
There are even nebulous background textures, so that space isn't always the same boring mix of "black with white spots. The game doesn't stop by pleasing the visual sense; it pleases aurally as well. The music deserves special mention. This is one of those games that should sell its soundtrack as a separate product. The music ranges from above-average, space-opera scores to exotic melodies that sound like they could belong in a jungle movie, yet fit here surprisingly well.
The only possible complaint with the sound effects is that the explosions don't feel like they have enough "oomph. Everything else in the sound department seems right on track, and it all mixes in perfectly with the game. The game plays like a dream. Considering Homeworld takes place in complete 3D space, the idea that just the mouse and a few keyboard hot-keys can control the entire game is almost mind-boggling.
The whole interface is amazingly simple to use. Left-clicking will select and deselect units. Holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse rotates the camera. Right-clicking on a selected unit will bring up a menu of formations and tactics. Holding down both mouse buttons and moving the mouse will zoom in and out. Setting the camera focus is as easy as selecting a unit and pressing a hot-key or two.
The rest of the game is played through a simple point-and-click interface. Menus only pop-up when you need them, freeing up plenty of view space while keeping everything immediately accessible. The only other important aspect of the single-player game is the AI, which may not deserve any special commendation, but does provide its share of good challenges.
Multiplayer play in Homeworld is just like the rest of the game: immensely enjoyable. In fact, the replay value that comes out of the multiplayer modes almost makes up for the lack of multiple campaigns in the single-player game.
Multiplayer options are easily customizable. Homeworld Windows Register Login Help. MyAbandonware More than old games to download for free! Browse By Buy Game GOG. Captures and Snapshots Windows.
Write a comment Share your gamer memories, give useful links or comment anything you'd like. Send comment. Buy Homeworld Homeworld is available for a small price on the following websites, and is no longer abandonware. Buy on GOG. Game Extras and Resources Some of these file may not be included in the game stores. Galactic Trader Atari 8-bit Atrox Win Conquest: Frontier Wars Win Robo Rumble Win Follow Us! Top downloads.
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