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Author: scharfschutze

Type: PC Game

Released: 1999

Designer: Relic

Publisher: Sierra Entertainment

Genre: Real-time strategy

What would you do if you were told that Earth was not the home world of the human race? If the solar system you had called home for generations was not the cradle of your species? And what if fighting your way through an alien empire that had lasted for thousands of years was the only way to truly go home?

In 1999, Relic's Homeworld blew onto the scene, carrying with it all these questions, a fully 3-D engine, and absolutely incredible visuals. Prior to Homeworld's introduction, the RTS world was entering a bit of a slump. StarCraft had come out and redefined how an RTS was supposed to function; everybody else seemed intent on playing follow-the-leader and copying Blizzard's success. Then Homeworld appeared. Like Ground Control (which came out a year later, but was reviewed here first), it should have redefined the real-time strategy genre and, in some ways, achieved this. However, there still to my mind has not been another game to try and take on Homeworld's winning formula - aside from Homeworld's successors, Cataclysm and Homeworld 2.

For starters, Homeworld takes place in space. Now we're not talking about low orbit or space stations, like in StarCraft and a few others; we are talking about true deep-space combat, with no real terrain (aside from the occasional cloud of debris). While your first thought may be "without terrain, where's the strategy?", you neglect the fact that it's SPACE - a totally 3-D space where an attack can literally come from anywhere. Planning against such attacks - and executing them yourself - take up more than enough time to make one completely forget about such "menial" tasks as terrain. The decision to make the game completely space-based necessitated a new game engine with a completely unfixed camera, fully player-controllable to allow the player maximum ability to command his or her units.

The units in Homeworld break down into four basic types - Strike Craft, Corvettes, Frigates, and Capital Ships. Strike Craft are the bread-and-butter of any Homeworld fleet, comprising both fighters and attack craft. Corvettes are slightly bigger, slower and, to be honest, I never use them - although they can occasionally shine as anti-fighter escorts for your resource convoys. Frigates are your standard ship-to-ship weapons, and carry weapons and armour heavy enough to last through most encounters. Capital Ships are the big bruisers - Destroyers, Heavy Cruisers, and Carriers - carrying enough weapons to decimate entire fighter squadrons. Non-combat ships, like Research Ships (more later) and resource gatherers, fall into their own category - interestingly called Non-Combat Ships.

Each class has a set of characteristics that define it, both in behaviour and capability. Strike craft are fast and manoeuvrable, but can't take (or, for the most part, dish out) much punishment; additionally, they have a fuel limit - once they've travelled too far, they're drifting in space. You have to order them to dock at a friendly Carrier, Resource Controller, or your Mothership (more later), as well as a couple of specialized Frigates and Corvettes. Corvettes, like fighters, have a fuel limit (much larger than fighters), but can take more punishment. Frigates have no fuel limit and can use Hyperspacing to travel around the battlezone (although this method takes resources to use), but are very, very slow. Capital ships are even slower, but can take and dish out enormous punishment before they go the way of the dodo. Non-Combat Ships aren't armed, but they do perform vital functions that keep your war effort running. The major non-combat ships are your resource vehicles - a Collector that gathers resources like asteroids and gas pockets, and a Controller that acts as a collection point - and your Research Ships. You can have up to six of these vessels, all linked together to form a mobile tech research station. These Research ships are controlled individually - that is, you can have all six researching different techs, all researching the same tech, or any combination in between. Unlike most games, research does not cost money (beyond the initial investment of resources in the ship) - but it does take time.

The core of your fleet is your Mothership. This is a mobile (in most single-player missions, immobile) production facility and command ship; needless to say, if it explodes, you fail - unless (in multiplayer) you have constructed at least one carrier to transfer command to. This option is only available in multiplayer; in the single player campaign, if the Mothership is destroyed, you fail.

Homeworld's only real flaw is that the two playable races - the Taiidan and the Kushan - aren't really all that distinct from one another. There is only one campaign, chronicling the return of humanity to Earth, all the while beset by an alien empire bent on destroying us. If you choose to play as the Taiidan, the Kushan take on the mantle of evil alien overlords; if you play as the Kushan, the Taiidan fill this role. This works well enough, seeing as the aliens are never shown face-to-face, but it does mean that ship stats are uniform. That is, a Taiidani Interceptor has the exact same stats as a Kushani Interceptor. Each of the two playable races has a few unique units, but in general they play the same way. In addition to the two playable races, there are three alien races that have their own units in the campaign, but you don't get to use these. Bit of a shame, really.