Homeworld 2

"Does NO justice as a sequal"

The first Homeworld was one of the most amazing games i had ever played. From the feel of sending defenders to guard a fighter repair and refuel frigate hiding in the middle of a dust cloud, to deactivating 16 cloaking generators, revealing your entire battle fleet as it takes its final few steps to your enemies doorstep. All the things you could do and strategies you could use in 3D just worked. Like so many other games Sierra has produced (AVP2, Halflife, Caesar III) Homeworld was a jewel.

I was thrilled to know end when I heard about homeworld 2, i thought, homeworld + more ships + better graphics + more strategies = Homeworld 2! Not Quite...

Graphics:
Ok, lets get this out of the way. Homeworld 2's graphics are amazing, absolutely breathtaking, but then again, so were the first Homeworld's in 1999. But dont get sucked in by Homeworld 2's graphics!!! Who likes a nice looking game that has nothing to support it!?

Music and Sounds:
Neither game has much going for it in the way of music, but this isn't Final Fantasy, so who cares, as for sound, sure homeworld 2 has some nice sound effects and the voices are done superbly, ill give them that much.

GAMEPLAY
I'm turning most of the rest of this into one giant gameplay category, so now for the nitty gritty. The first Homeworld had 26 ships that both races could build as well as 2 race-specific ships for each, ranging from various fighters, to capital ships, to utility ships. Homeworld 2 has 15 both-race ships and about 9 ''unique'' ships for each race. I put unique in parenthesis because nearly all of them are essentially the same as one of the ships on the other race EG: Infiltrator frigate = Marine Frigate, Torpedo frigate = Missile frigate, Pulsar gunship = Laser Corvette.

Research in HW was an interesting ordeal because you would research things like ion cannons, chasis, fast tracking turrets, heavy guns etc. and from these you would be allowed to build your new ships. In HW2 rather, you research upgrades like ''fighter armor lvl 1'' insted of having to strategically decide ''what ships am i gonna get and will i be able to defend my self until i get them?'' like you did in HW

In the first HW there were 6 formations and 3 stances you could put your ships into, each having its own offensive and defensive advantages. In HW2 there arent any formations, only 3 ''strike groups'', but what these essentially mean are do u want your fighters, frigates, or cap. ships in the front?

Now, in the original HW, you had to manualy tell your ships to attack the enemy ships they were strongest against, the better you were at that the more succesful you were. In HW2 however, dragging a box around the enemy fleet will result in all your ships attacking whatever they're strongest against. So, to summarize it all:

COMBAT IN HW2 INVOLVES BUILDING A BIG FLEET THAT HAS SOME OF EVERY SHIP IN IT, PUTTING IT INTO A STRIKE GROUP, AND THROWING IT AGAINST YOUR ENEMIES FLEET.

In synopsis, Homeworld 2 is a decent game, but it lacks in comparison to the first HW, which was a GREAT game. Its up to you, but whether or not you get HW2 a suggest you pick up a copy of Homeworld and Homeworld: Cataclysm on e-bay for 20$

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 09/28/03