Homeworld

Rating:
Summary: To quote a line from pretty much every Keanu movie, "Woah"
Review: Homeworld is undoubtedly the best game I have ever played. I've played many RTS before but never was I as deeply immersed in one as I was with Homeworld. I'd sit down to play a mission or a quick skirmish and find myself still at the computer hours later. It is nearly impossible to stop playing.

The graphics are simply stunning. On a p3 550 with a g400 I pushed the graphics as high as they would go and experienced no slow downs. Running it in a high resolution with 32 bit color is simply amazing. When I loaded up a saved game with a battle in progress one of my friends was convinced it was a prerendered movie until I started to control the action.

I have not experienced any problems with the AI like some of the other reviewers claim to have seen. The only times I've had collisions with slow moving ships is during a mission where the goal is to get asteroids out of their way and the other was when a ship was purposely hitting mine.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth your time and money
Review: I've been a somewhat lukewarm fan of RTS games over the past few years in that I've played them, and enjoyed them more than most other genres, but never really felt compelled to complete them when I ran into difficulties.

This game is different.

It's at least as hard to get through as any other RTS I've ever played, but it's so involving that I'm willing to go back over and over again to complete the mission and go on to the next episode in the story. It's gritty, yet beautiful.

The interface is not the easiest thing in the world to master, and I could suggest some improvements. Movement of ships over long distances can be a hassle. I didn't have too many problems with camera management, but in the chaos of battle I used the Pause function many times to try and sort out my forces. Playing this game does require some eye-hand-mouse coordination, more so than a lot of RTSs I've played.

But I think the gameplay and storyline make it well worth those small few glitches.

Rating:
Summary: Undoubtedly the Best Computer Game I've Ever Played.
Review: My first reaction when I loaded up the campaign was that the cut-scene was very good, with a fine sound track, but not the best I'd seen. And then the cut-scene didn't go away; instead, it became the gameplay. I was impressed, the graphics were simply incredible. Throughout the game, the story telling (which used either the game engine or black & white drawn movies) was compelling, and the voice acting was enough to get me hooked. The plot was full of twists. Sure, the canned responses from the units were repetitive sometimes, but far more varied and informative than most. Only downside: the single player campaign isn't quite long enough, and I would like to see more multiplay maps. But these really don't detract from what is an incredible game.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Revolutionary game, this is one you will remember in 10 years. Graphics are superb, and sound is excellent. Cockpit chatter reminds me of Falcon 3.0. Any fan of RTS should play this game. Only fault was that I am NOT an RTS man and would have preferred more emphais on strategy (I.e. Master of Orion) with battles conducted using the incredible game engine.

Rating:
Summary: This game is simply amazing ...
Review: I read reviews on this game and said I must have it. I played it and well was stunned. I figured it might be like Rebellion or something but this game is truly amazing. The fellow who only gave it a two doesn't look at the fact the those units that are standing there are ASKING you for orders they only do stuff under your command unless fired upon. The games graphics are excellnt I mean I have spent a good half an hour sitting there and staring. THis is a game i certainly recommend for any gamer.

Rating:
Summary: A great game!
Review: I've been a fan of RTS for a long time - starting way back with Warcraft I, II, Starcraft, Command and Conquer, etc... I was very excited to hear about Homeworld, and was well rewarded while playing it!

I have seen some of these reviews knock the user interface. I have to say, I thought the 3d interface was great! It was intuitive and easy to learn (A mouse w/a wheel is highly recommended - it allows for zooming a bit easier than with a two button mouse)

The graphics are amazing. They were so good, I didn't mind getting blown up a few times on the last level. The battle between two huge fleets was so pretty, it was hard not to stop and just watch! It was like watching your house burn down!

Another aspect of the game that was impressive to me - I had absolutely NO bugs to report. I know that can be system dependent, but it's the first game in a long time that worked out of the box, through ALL the levels, without failing at some point or another.

I highly recommend this game. I'm sure there will be many imitators - and some may make marginal improvements, but this game is a huge step for the RTS genre.

I hope Relic turns into another Blizzard - I look forward to their next quality release.

Now that we've conquered 3D RTS, where do we go next?

Rating:
Summary: Excellent at first...
Review: I was so excited about this game that I played it for 15 hours straight... and completede it. The game is great and tons of fun, but it's just to easy. The enemy AI is too predictable, and it's all too easy to win the battles. But if you want the greatst grafics ever on a PC, buy this game.

Rating:
Summary: Ever cried during a movie?
Review: I cried the first time I lost in Homeworld. The music, the immersive feeling, the stress of saving 600,000 inhabitants, must have all got to me, because when my last tray of 100,000 inhabitants exploded, I just curled up in a ball and tears started coming to me eyes. Just like waking up from a bad dream, or at the end of a sad movie: you know it's not real, but you cry anyways. Homeworld can give you such an experience. I'm a 26 year old male, married with 2 children. Computer programmer. Don't know any other game that can do this to me. I'm still learning about strategy, so I can get past mission 4. (Hard core gamers, don't laugh) Anyway, it's a great introduction to Real Time Strategy for newbies to the genre like me, who thought 3D graphics was only good for 1st person shooters and sims.

Rating:
Summary: The AI bites!
Review: Awesome Graphics: Just look at the images.

Adequate Controls: considering it is completly 3D, but it could've been better.

Decent Storyline: It has a pretty well thought out plot to this game... not great, but better than most RTS games.

Game Play: It was fun at first, but I got bored with it after one week after playing 2 hours a day with it.

MultiPlayer: It's pretty cool, if there aren't too many players (anything more than 4). And I can't comment much more on this, since everytime I tried to play a MultiPlayer game, I get disconnected, or one of the other players get disconnected. All I can say is that this game was not designed for a telephone modem bandwidth.

AI: Well... ummm... boy does this AI suck! I had ships colliding into other ships and in effect destroying themselves! And no I didn't tell them to use Kamikazee on any ships. I had to restart many missions because of this... ( I don't like to lose all my capital ships, because they don't know how to stay clear of the enemy's mother ship and then end up colliding with it and getting destroyed in the process! ) The only way I could avoid this, was to focus all of my attention on these attacking ships and then manually move all the ships out of the way of the mothership; which is really tedious, considering the controls and the fully emerged 3D environment.

Overall: This is a decent game, except for the poor computer AI, and that I don't have a better connection other than a 56K modem =(. It might actually be fun finishing a multiplayer game.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent game
Review: Being a fan of strategy games, I was impressed with Homeworld. The true 3d environment, superbly detailed ships, and well done story and music all combined to round out a very addictive game. However, with only 16 missions and one race to work with left me with a "thats the end?" feeling. Hopefully there will be a add-on or mission pack. Not taking away at all from the sheer beauty of the game, but maybe with different races (ala starcraft) or more diverse missions (I completed three of them in under 2 minutes), Homeworld truly would have been a star. In all, a very enjoyable, playable game worth your money.