Homeworld: Cataclysm

"What can I say? Alright, it's a great game! I think that's enough!"

It's very unlikely for me to play anything else than RPG based on DnD stories, but then my friend who likes to try almost any game he can see in the store bought this one and installed it in my computer. I watched him once when he turned the sound very loud and I start hearing Judy Dench's(it was her right? the tactical officer?) voice and some male pilots acknowledging commands...and then I looked at the monitor only to see circular figures which can vary in diameters,vector quantities,cubes,polygons! OMG! I hate to go back to taking geometry again or physics or whatever you call that subject in school dealing with numbers,figures and shapes just to play a game about spaceships! Ugh! But then I stopped playing my RPG game after finishing it for a couple of times(boy, it took months to finish one game),and clicked on the shortcut icon and start coloring my ships,then decided to take up the tutorial lessons. My friend was watching me the whole time and he was impressed at the way I learned the game doing the commands and using hotkeys he never used before! That made me more confident and so I started a new game!

Gameplay:9 Time-based strategy at it's finest and there are 2 time compressions to suit your gaming speed style. Different commands allow you to explore the game,mission,objects and space...I haven't experienced this kind of game before! Takes me out of this current world we're living in!

Graphics:9
Infinite 3D viewable areas and objects? Awesome! Just the mere observation to a small Leech doing its job or flying, not to mention you can view it in any way you like and tilt,twist the screen to your heart's content just to see the detail? Well, the objects are not streamlined,I don't really like 3d objects that has corners or burrs but still I think they make the graphics of this game good enough! Great movies too!

Sounds:8
Alright, there are not much of sound varieties for each scene but the in-between scenes and movie sounds are awesome! The battle explosions,engine sounds weapon blasts are very realistic!( I like to play this game with all the lights in the house turned off! Really out of this world!

Replayability:9
Well, all I can say is that,I'm currently playing my second game after ending my first game a week ago! And I'm experimenting on things I've never done before because I finished the game with only half the number of ships in my fleet! Darn those carriers! I never knew they have Support Modules! You won't get tired on exploring new strategies and probabilities!

Story:10
Well, I don't have any idea about any of the previous Homeworlds,I usually browse about a game's story before playing it to have ideas but this one is quite easy to understand,each scene will tell you something about the whole story that will keep you sticking on the game! And the one thing that urged me to write this review is the endind! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! All I can say is that it gives me the creeps that a simple mining vessel will turn into something devastating that a race of people would call them ''The Beastslayer''.

Overall:10
The awards given are very well deserved and I would give another award if I'm able! LOL! How come others don't know this great game?

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/21/02, Updated 09/21/02