Rating: 
Summary: Fails to carry on the Legacy
Review: Cataclysm is simply not the mind-blowing experience that Homeworld was a year ago (or even today :). The core gameplay has been tampered with too much. Granted, Cataclysm manages to improve many aspects of the first game, but the sum of the parts do not add up to a complete whole.Changes are made to the very basic way you can play the game, and at first they seem exciting, but after a few battles they quickly become tedious. For example, the technology tree now adds "upgrades", which means you must take time out of the fight to search the map for outdated ships and stop what they are doing to upgrade (downright annoying). Also, there are many new technologies which must be micro-managed for them to work, such unlink ships to fire missles, then linking them again to attack once the missles run out. Overall, all this forces you to micro-manage every battle you have, instead of concentrating on the big picture. A fight in two seperate places usually means that you'll lose in the place you can't watch over. The graphics engine has been improved for the better. The game can now handle more ships on-screen at the same time before slowing to a crawl. Progress bars tell you the status of research or building without having to go into those respective screens. The almost useless "fog of war" has a single redeeming factor - it adds a sense of depth the sensors screen, and you can more easily tell the relationship of different positions in 3 dimensions. Too bad you can't use the old ships in Homeworld with the Cataclysm engine. Finally, the worst offense - the story in Cataclysm is nowhere near as good as Homeworld. The feeling of mystery and strangeness present in the first game is just not there in the second. The voice work is over-acted, and even the music is a step down. Given that the single-player campaign was much harder and more frustrating, the story barely motivated me to finish it. If you loved Homeworld and want some change to a comfortable game, give Cataclysm a try. Just don't except lightning to strike a second time.
Rating:
Summary: Not Enough of Anything New (3½ Stars)
Review: As of last year, Relic's "Homeworld" was perhaps one of the most original real time strategy games to have come a long in a while. However, despite winning PC Gamer's coveted 'Game of the Year' honor, Homeworld didn't exactly break sales records, how could it when it ran up against such master pieces of software engineering like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"? But it sold enough to generate a sequel, but instead of coming out of Relic, it was produced instead by Barking Dog, another Canadian game house and released under Sierra's banner. Though I suppose we should be glad Sierra is releasing anything these days given the financial woes the company has endured over past year. So bad was it that they cancelled the Babylon 5 space combat sim, among others. So, can Barking Dog catch and run with Relic's ball. Yes and no. "Homeworld: Cataclysm" is essentially the same game as the original, though they changed the menu graphics, it is still basically the same just more colorful. In either Single Player or Multi-Player you will control the same command ship- basically a Kiith Somtaaw mining vessel that is used as your primary base-gone is the awesome crescent shaped Mothership, it having been relegated to an orbital ship yard above Hiigara. The mining vessel assumes the role of the Mothership and can be modified by adding various research and manufacturing modules that enable the player to develop then build new ships, weapons, and upgrades. However, the ships that are built are a far cry from the wonderful designs of the previous game, replaced with uninspired vehicles that display a marked lack of creativity in their appearance. In fact, none of the original vessels are present except in cut scenes and possessed by other Kiith. Instead of the Scout, Interceptor and Attack Bombers, we now have the Seeker Recon Fighter, which resembles a plumbing fixture. And the Acolyte Heavy Fighter that bears more than a passing resemblance to the old Salvage Corvette than anything else. The Resource Collector has been replaced by the bumper-car looking vehicle that is also a salvage vessel, repair vessel and delivers the new Infection Vaccine to ward off the effects of the 'Beast's' Borg-like beam that it uses to take over your vessels. If fighters and non-combat craft are uninspired, the capital ships are even worse. Gone is the Ion Frigate, replaced with the blocky Multi-Beam Frigate and there aren't any Assault or Support Frigates to speak of. Gone are well designed Destroyer, Missile Destroyer and Heavy Cruiser, replaced instead with a horseshoe-shaped Dreadnaught and Carrier. Also gone are most of the little corvettes, Cloaking Generator, Grav Well Generator, etc. Having said that, however, they have added some neat little touches like the Leech, which attaches itself to ships and damages them over time and the improved Drone Frigate. I really miss all of the original ships, because they were so beautiful, and I suppose I will get used to the new designs in time. Game play is pretty much unchanged, except individually most of the ships can do more, such as the ability to link two fighters together or a holographic system that enables you to sneak into enemy fleets undetected. Most of the key commands are thankfully unchanged. Multi-player games now happen over a much larger arena, making them last longer, while resources may seem more sparse, asteroids contain more RU's (Resource Units) and with the addition of resource rich crystals, I found myself with 30,000 - 50,000 RU's at the end of a Skirmish vs. CPU game. Visually, the game is still a treat. Campaign missions follow the discovery and accidental release of a million year old techno-organic species dubbed the "Beast" by your Kiith, forcing you to eject a third of your ship as it becomes infected. It is then up to you to hunt down and wipe it out before it spreads across the galaxy. The Beast go around assimilating ships and crew and begins to spread like a massive virus, unfortunately it's already been done and they're called the Borg. It's the little things that count. If you remember those great nebula sequences from Star Trek II or the clouded world of Neptune in Event Horizon, players will instantly see the inspiration for the presence of lighting flickering through gas clouds, down into the swirling vortex of black hole. The delicate ripples of thunder only adds to the overall mood, making games almost hypnotic. 3D lighting and effects are still top-notch, but it was the nebulae effects that really caught my attention. If anything, Barking Dog have improved the 3D navigation system, making it much easier to move and position ships around the map- I found myself missing my destination targets less in Cataclysm than I did in Homeworld. The manual is not nearly good as the original, even though it details the fall of the Taiidani Empire, the shock the 550,000 hibernating Kushan suffered upon release from the cryo-trays, the problems encountered on resettling on their homeworld, and the continuing problems with Imperialist Taiidani raids into the Hiigaran sector of space. It lacks much of the 'Wow' factor the original manual contained with its brilliant and inspired history of the Kharak, the Kushan and their Kiith families. Manual lay out isn't nearly as neat, wasting space to fill more pages, making it obvious the creators just didn't put all that much heart into it. Is it fair to compare to the two games? Of course it is, because they are essentially the same game, Cataclysm just has an inferior story. The urgency generated by the creation of the Beast just isn't there, and doesn't require any where near the same emotional involvement of the player as was the case with Homeworld. It just isn't that good.
Rating: 
Summary: A sequel that actually is better than the original
Review: Since Homeworld is already one of the best (if not the best) real-time strategy games out there, it would have been easy to just cash-in on the success. Lucky for us, Homeworld did not fall in that category. While the original Homeworld gave out a feel of an epic battle between legendary enemies and the survival of a world, Cataclysm gives a more "personal" approach. Where Fleet Command in Homeworld was a woman lacking any form of emotion when she speaks (hooking yourself to a super-computer might just do that), the voice of command in this game actually has personality. He sometimes anger, sometimes panic, and sometimes is at awe at what is happening around his ship. You really feel closer to your troops. Also, most ship/fighter also comes with their own voices and expression (a worker ordered to harvest REALLY didn't sound very... motivated). You actually feel for them! What also helps is an equally engaging story. Although very standard in the Science-Fiction genre content-wise, it is very well delivered. As Hitchcock once said: "It is not the cake that is important, but how it is delivered". And although player already knows the story just by scanning the cover box, that third mission really delivered the chills! I really wish game developers put as much effort in establishing a good story... I must also point out the VERY improved interface. Where Homeworld stumbled with a lack of waypoints and user-unfriendly order issuing scheme (especially from the Sensor Manager), Cataclysm refined the game to near perfection. Unit wise, we get a more dynamic fleet. Where in the original game, only research vessels could link together to form... a bigger research vessel, in Cataclysm, linking up two Acolytes (heavy-fighters) creates a slower, more powerful corvette. One can acknowledge the tactical advantage of this (speed toward the enemy, linking-up, pummel the enemy, unlink...). Also, the Command Ship actually "evolves" when you gradually turn it from a mining ship into a battleship through the missions. There is also a ranking system (i.e. ships get better with experience), so there is (supposedly) less incentive of engaging in suicide missions. Personnally, I failed to noticed any difference in performance between a rookie and a wing leader. A superb effort from the Barking Dog Studios for bringing to the Homeworld universe a worthy sequel!
Rating:
Summary: Cataclysm--better than the original
Review: Forget Starcraft, Warcraft, Ground Control, Tiberian Sun, what have you. Once you play Homeworld, I assure you that you will never, EVER want to play those games. The reason is simple: after homeworld's immersiveness, flexibility, and strategy, everything else is too simple, too boring, just not fun. The 17 missions isn't a drawback, each will take you around an hour to beat. When you've beaten the game, play the multiplayer against the computer or fellow humans for much more excitement. The two playable races, Somtaaw and Beast, are opposites in playing style, so once you've mastered one, the other presents a challenge. The 3D enviroment lends a new breed of strategy, much more complex then other RTS's "Build a million units and do an all-out strike". In homeworld, a handful of properly used units can defeat a bluntly controlled deathfleet. Stop reading reviews and BUY THIS GAME!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly Disapointing
Review: When I saw the first HW: Cataclysm ad in PC Gamer, thrilled would hardly describe my reaction. As release date got closer and closer and more details were leaking out about the game, it was beginning to sound even better than the original. What I got was hardly what I had expected. Homeworld was a first, a daredevil of sorts in the gaming world. The first game to ever take RTS, add a third demention, add incredible graphics, art, music, and storyline, and pack it all down into the awesome cuve of your Mothership's hull. You watched as Kharak, the only home you ever knew, burned for the pursuit of Hiigara, your true home. You annihilated the fleet that destroyed your world, watched as your long lost cousins opened fire on you, and saw a minuscule ship haul off something as big as a Missile Destroyer faster than a scout could run at full burn. You cared about that interceptor that just streaked across the sky in a giant fireball, the wing of scouts calling for backup. In cataclysm, you feel nothing. That wing of Acolytes you just sent out to destroy an enemy frigate, as they get butchered from an ambush, your Command Ship as it cries "We're under attack!" provokes no responce from even the least hardened RTS player after they realize that they can rebuild the Acolytes and that the Com. Ship can take care of itself. The music is made up of wannabe remixes of the original soundtrack, the new interface clutters up the screen with redundant information that detracts from the gameplay, the plot is uninvolving and the missions unmemorable. I sense that Cataclysm was developed for the "Gamer who played homeworld only for the MP" with a tacked-on single player game just to get the full Homeworld crowd buying the game. The voice-overs are poor, repedative, and almost laughable at times ("They'll never hit me!" or "'Bout time, there's a rattle in the manifold") over and over again. The graphics show a great improvement over Homeworld, although the ships hardly add anything to the excitement. The storyline, like the music, is a near buthchery of the original universe, making the powerful Kiith families shunning the less powerful Kiithid and forcing them to be half mercenaries half exiles. I would think that someone who watched their home burn would be a little more receptive to the remnants of their race. Even through all this though, I still manage to enjoy Cataclysm and what it did bring to the table in the way of graphics and new weapons, although I can never think of it as I did the original. HIGHS: Nice new graphics, solid gameplay, nice concept LOWS: Everything else BOTTOM LINE: Cataclysm is one of those "Ohh, ahh! Um... now what?" games that appeal for a limited amount of time and then wear off into nothing but sheer gameplay. And while gameplay is good, gameplay alone is not enough to keep a game afloat. SCORE: 45%
Rating:
Summary: Homeworld's sequel doesn't fail to delight
Review: Wow! Usaually sequels are not as good as the prequel, but Homeworld: Cataclysm is like nothing I've ever seen. New, better ships, awesome technologies, and a gripping storyline that equals if not surpasses Homeworld's. This product I highly recommend to fans of Homeworld, Command and Conquer, and and other RTS game, because you haven't played RTS until you've played it in 3D!! A must own.
Rating:
Summary: I didn't think it was possible!
Review: After playing (and aboslutely falling in love with!) Homeworld, I was as excited as a young child on Christmass day when I heard that Homeworld Cataclysm was comming out. When it came out I immediately picked up a copy. I must say that what I thought was impossible was done very well. The day before I started playing I would have sworn it would be impossible to top Homeworld. The game was just TOO MUCH FUN and was just written TOO WELL to be beatable! Oh baby was I wrong! This game is just so much fun! Not only is there more than 2 sides now, there's FOUR! Beast, Kushan, Taidain Rebels, and Taidain Imperials. Plus the Bentusi are back, and you learn more about them! This game is just TOO FUN TO LET PASS! If you have not played Homeworld yet, I seriously recomend that you get Homeworld AND Cataclysm, and beat Homeworld first. Then you have a better idea on how things work in Cataclysm. But either way, if you like RealTime Strategies, this game is an absolute MUST HAVE!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Return to the Homeworld Universe
Review: If you enjoyed Homeworld this sequel is an absolute must! If you haven't played Homeworld and enjoy real-time 3D strategy games you might want to check it out. I've been playing games for a long time and have become somewhat jaded and difficult to impress. However the original Homeworld just blew me way! Stellar graphics, an immersive story, great music and a dream of an interface that smoothly integrated tactical and strategic control. Homeworld Cataclysm builds upon this base very well. Rather than just reusing the original "Mothership" and it's fleet of craft, the developers have created an entirely new fleet and set of technologies for you to explore. Years have passed in the Homeworld Universe and many new technologies have been acquired beyond the original cloaking and gravity well generators. EMP vessels, holographic projections, covert drones and much more add an even greater level of sophistication to the gameplay. Of course the 3D battles are staggering. Full visual effects, coordinated sound and a high frame rate brings space battles, I imagined as a kid, to life. It makes me wish I had a Video Out on my graphic card to tape to share the visuals. The user interface has been polished to near perfection. The control of a large and complex fleet is a pleasure, as opposed to the pain, compared to many simulation games. The few areas of the original Homeworld interface that were weak, such as selecting a distant location in three dimensions, have been greatly improved. The sound is still "realistic" and informative. The music is only "good" this time around. The haunting and highly emotive music of the original is missing. This game is far less buggy than most simulations I've played. But I did come across a small number that didn't crash the game, but an end of mission condition wasn't recognized. This can be solved by a game restart an then reloading your last saved game of restarting the particular mission. I've completed the single player game and am taking a brief break before I go on-line and play multiuser. With the game's new fleet technologies, great visuals and smooth interface I'll actually enjoy experiencing the new ways I'll get my butt kicked by kids half my age.
Rating:
Summary: Mother of God
Review: Okay, I've already written a review of Homeworld, which any of you considering playing this game should look at first. First off, Homeworld gives the background of this story, and allows you to get familiar with gameplay, which some people may find difficult if they try to hop right into this game. This game starts with you as Kiith Somtaaw, a relatively minor kiith (sort of like a clan) after your people made landfall. Without a large power base on your new home, your people return to the stars to make their living, and where you eventually encounter a new menace that threatens the world you fought so hard to gain. For me, hopping into the story midway is a little unfair. I think you should struggle a bit through Homeworld, both so you get used to the game, and so you feel some kinship with the people your kiith is now called upon to defend. Having said that, and having spent the last couple days playing Cataclysm (i pre-ordered it back in May) I have to say that the leap forward from Homeworld to Cataclysm is about the same sort of leap as from WarCraft to Homeworld (that is to say, an enormous leap forward). Dear Lord! The gameplay is still just as good as the original, but commands have been clarified, and the interface has been enhanced. You can now issue commands from the Sensors Manager, allowing you to make move-and-attack decisions while viewing the entire playing sphere. The graphics are MUCH better, if that's possible, with gas clouds now flashing with lightning, and distant thunder rumbling through the nebulae. There are meteor storms through certain regions, maging the map of 3D space have a topography all of its own. Another improvement is the added element of The Beast. In the original, the two races you could choose had a difference of exactly 2 ships; all others were more or less equivalent for each race. Now, Beast ships are radically different, and will require learning distinctly from the Hiigaran ships. There are new weapons to learn, and new strategies that must be employed. With cloaking abilities, and ramming frigates, and the fact that EVERY Hiigaran ship now has a special ability of some kind, the strategies required to REALLY play just became more complex. To top it all off, you now have a limit on the size of your fleet. Each mothership can now only support a certain number of ships. If you built swarms of strike craft, you're going to have to retire them if you want to bring in the big guns. This also will add to the amount of actual THINKING required to play. The winner will now no longer be the one who builds the biggest fleet of Ion Beam Frigates. So. Play Homeworld; it's a great game that should have gotten much more sales than it did. Play Cataclysm, because it's such an innovative game, and SO much better than anything else out there. Sure, StarCraft is good, but it's nothing compared to Homeworld. Much less compared to Cataclysm. One final note: Cataclysm does not require Homeworld to play; it's a stand-alone sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Upgrade to Game of the Year
Review: Excellent enhancements have been added since the original Homeworld. The soundtrack has much more life to it this time around, not to put down the old score at all. Time compression has been added to speed up final resource gathering at the end of single player missions, or to shorten journeys across the map. There's a slew of new craft and new weapons, and control has improved drastically. Notible enhancements include waypoints, the ability to select a group from within a group list, naturally occuring slipgates which produce a beautiful effect on the screen, armor and sensor enhancements, mothership upgrades, and plenty more. The game feels the same, with the same sensor map and the same controls with some minor changes, like now you can dock your craft to your carrier or mothership with a right-click rather than a double-left-click which had a hard time registering due to latency in a heated battle. It's still a system hog with cranked detail, but I found just lowering the texture detail gave you decent frame rates and allowed you to view all of the nice effects like weapon glow and explosions, even with multiple players on a LAN. You can get better frame rates and more detail in a single player game of course. If you liked Homeworld, you'll appreciate the enhancements because it makes the game interesting again, as well as easier to to what you want to do without being restricted by the interface. I seriously can't find anything wrong and I'm not held back one bit. I was under the impression, however, that the multiplayer section of the old game was going to be included for free which would have been great since I damaged my original CD and will no longer install. That's ok though, because you won't even want to go back to the original game after taking advantage of the new features. The internet support has had some minor crashes but I have been able to get through a whole game. It seems it'll only crash within the first minute or not at all which could suggest a variable of the host's machine. Upgrading to cable or DSL will fix this of course and latency is hardly an issue. I'm sure a patch will follow soon, however the single player campaign is flawless under Direct3D with NVidia drivers, however OpenGL crashes. During the brief moment OpenGL worked, I saw no difference compared to Direct3D. Finally, something worth spending the hard earned bucks on.
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