espite its title, Homeworld 2 is actually the third game in the Homeworld series. Homeworld: Cataclysm was the sequel to the first game, but it employed the same game engine as the original. HW2 employs a new game engine and features redesigns of the ships, controls and interface. Players who have put the first two games through their paces will be very much at home with this new version. Players who are new to the franchise will, with the help of the tutorials, be able to learn the gameplay in very short order.
The story behind HW2 is minimalist, told largely in stylish, black-and-white cutscenes. Returning fans will make much more sense of it, while newcomers will be able to absorb the basics: good guys (the Hiigara) just trying to get by; bad guys (the Vaygr) trying to conquer the good guys. The fate of the Hiigara rests on keeping the brand-new mothership in one piece so it can crank out the smaller (some only in comparison) ships needed to lift the blockade on the Homeworld and drive the Vaygr back where they belong.
The game has a long, epic single-player campaign game, a single-player skirmish mode, and a LAN or Internet multiplayer mode. There are only two playable races, but each has 17 different ship types spread among five classes. There is only one resource type, which the player designates collector ships to mine and return to the mothership. The mothership then uses that resource to build ships and systems and to conduct research into new examples of both. As the ships are built, the player must deploy them against the enemy in attack or escort/defend modes.
Fleet battles fought in all three dimensions
Homeworld 2 really does allow its battles to be fought in 3-D. A click of the mouse sets a ship's destination, and a shift-click allows the player to set how far above or below the galactic disc the ship will end up. It is easy, but in practice orders tend to be issued in 2-D as on any other map, with ships automatically shifting up or down to intercept the enemy or resource they have been targeted on.
The graphics in HW2 are amazing. It is not just that they are clear, smooth and bright. It is that they really aid in controlling the fleets. The game allows players to zoom in and out seamlessly and quickly all the way from a vast tactical perspective down to a single-ship view that is so close that individual windows can be seen on the hull. It takes a little practice, but by the second hour players will be easily and painlessly scooting the point of view about the map, plotting courses at great range and watching the fighting close up.
The camera doesn't take long to learn; how to conduct the war does. Getting a handle on which ships do what and how, not to mention learning to balance production vs. resources, takes long enough that new players may need to fight several of the opening battles more than once before they win them. Relic's minimal style in help and description does the new player no favors here. General notes about each ship are in the manual or available on the screen, but detailed information, such as how a mobile refinery is best deployed, is nowhere to be found.
I really like the "wiping plane" hyperspace effect that Homeworld 2 uses, but the best thing about the game is that it has a pause button. At any time, I could freeze the game while I poked about the map, issuing orders and changing settings.
— Eric
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