Homeworld 2

Logan Booker is now of the belief that space, while cool, is all the same.

No matter the medium, when one spaceship blows up another spaceship using laser beams and/or sub-sonic temporal torpedoes, a sheltered child wearing a propeller hat and holding a model Star Destroyer smiles. We saw it in Star Wars and endured it in Flash Gordon, but Homeworld was our chance to relish it. It only takes one monster title to change a genre, and for RTS, that title was Homeworld.

While its sequel hasn’t been drowning in hype, there is a large community with equally big expectations for Relic Entertainment’s next installment. For the core gamer, the interest lies in the need for a fresh realtime strategy. Apart from Rise of Nations, the line-up of games over the past months has been less than fresh. For the fans, it’s for more exploding spaceships.

The same style of narrative used in the original Homeworld is continued in the sequel, with a grandfatherly voice at the beginning of the game telling the history of the ‘hyperspace cores’; rare, ancient devices that can be placed within ships to allow for travel across vast distances. To start, there’s only one core, however, as the tale progresses, we find out that two more are discovered and that the Vagyr, a hostile race, wants them for itself.

This is where the player steps in. You’re put in command of the Pride of Hiigara, a newly built mothership. Vagyr forces soon launch an attack against the finished vessel; right after it has its hyperspace core fitted. While you’re lead by the hand in the first couple of missions, your influence will expand as your build and research options pan out. The mothership acts as a construction yard and science facility, where you can create your fleet and develop new ship designs. It’s not that straightforward though.

One of the first challenges you’ll face in Homeworld 2 is the new interface. It’s unrecognisable from the original game; the most noticeable change is that it no longer entirely obscures your view. It’s semi-transparent and off to one side, so it can be open constantly while you twist and tilt your view using the mouse and issue orders to your fleet. Construction and research are separate sections, and ship types are split into tabs.

Also changed from Homeworld is fleet population; instead of a universal cap, each ship type has its own limit. The graphics have also been ramped up, and it’s hard not to appreciate the fine detail provided by the textures and lighting, or the impressive sprites used for weapon fire.

As to actually playing Homeworld 2, you’ll need to understand its main dynamics: the capital ship module system and the variety of crafts and their roles. For example, to start researching, you’ll need to build a research module. You don’t need to stick this on your mothership though; if you have another production-capable ship, you can use it instead. This gives the player the flexibility with their base capabilities and the customisation of combat vessels. There’s more than just modules though; ships can be enhanced with additional sensors and production modules to improve their abilities to search and manufacture.

The two sides in the game have little in common in regards to what ships they can produce. While many crafts have similar roles, these roles are filled in varying ways, and although you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to ships, you will find you’ll only build a select few to counter your enemies. The Hiigarian ion frigate, for instance, is the only frigate you’ll need to fight capital ships. With an escort of fighters or flak frigates, your enemy will need destroyers (one of the most expensive capital ships) to fend you off. This isn’t necessarily bad, but once you’ve stopped building ships willy-nilly, you’ll find certain construction tabs gathering dust.

Combat itself is immensely satisfying to watch first time around, but it gets old quickly as nothing much has changed compared to the original. Fights are oddly sedate and ‘distant’, and the sound effects for weapons and their reports are flat. Games are also slow, as there aren’t any cheap combat ships; the least costly being standard fighters, and a squadron of these are 500 resource units (RU). Considering a destroyer costs 2000 RU, it’s pricy to wage war, even on a micro-scale.

It’s easy to see that plenty of effort has gone into Homeworld 2; unfortunately, this translates to just a polished Homeworld and not a new game. If exploding ships is your bag, or you’re looking from something fresh in RTS, you can’t go wrong. Just don’t expect to be gob-smacked.