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Homeworld
reviewed by Donald Melanson
Compared to other genres, there have been
relatively few breakthrough real-time strategy games. Dune II almost
single-handedly defined the genre as we know it today, then the Warcraft and
Command & Conquer series took the concept to the level that we've been
mostly accustomed to to this date. Sierra's Homeworld is the latest revolution,
and will surely be the standard by which all future real-time strategy games
will be judged against.
The step that Homeworld takes is to bring the
genre into 3D. This could have easily made things overly complicated, if not
completely unplayable. Instead, Homeworld adds a whole new level of gameplay to
the genre. Despite this, the concept of a 3D real-time strategy game still
gives the impression of something very complex, and could be off-putting to
some. But since Homeworld has been nothing short of a runaway success, this
appears to have not been the case.
The other area where Homeworld innovates is
with its storyline. Much like Sierra's Half-Life, Homeworld focuses more on the
story than other games in the genre have previously, and as a result make it a
greater game overall. It's also something that appears to be on a slight
downturn in light of the exploding trend in multi-player gaming; it's a great
single-player game.
The graphics are unquestionably the best ever
in a real-time strategy game. In fact, an onlooker may even think you're
playing a 3D space combat game at times. Likewise, the sound and music are
perfectly suited to the game. However, despite these innovations, the
underlying basics of real-time strategy remain. You choose between two races,
harvest resources, and continually research new technologies. In that respect,
anyone who's played a real-time strategy game should be able to jump right
in.
Between Homeworld,
Half-Life and Gabriel Knight 3, Sierra has published three of
the best games in recent years; quite possibly the best in their respective
genres.
Donald Melanson is the editor-in-chief of
Mindjack Magazine. His latest venture is tripledub.net, a new media design
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