Home of the Underdogs
About News FAQs Contact HOTU GoogleGroup Music Manuals
Category Applications Action Adventure Education Interactive Fiction Puzzle Role Playing Games Simulation Special Sport Strategy War




Support the EFF
Welcome How you can help
Browse Games
Welcome Random Pick
Welcome By Company
  Welcome By Theme  
Welcome By Alphabet
Welcome By Year
Welcome Title Search
Welcome Company Search
Welcome Designer Search
Recommended
Welcome Freeware Titles
Welcome Collections
Welcome Discord
Welcome Twitter
Welcome Facebook
Welcome File Format Guide
Welcome Help: Non PC Games
Welcome Help: Win Games
Welcome Help: DOS Games
Welcome Recommended Links
Site History Site History
Legacy Legacy
Link to Us Link to Us
Credits Thanks & Credits
Abandonware Ring

Abandoned Places

dungeoncrawlers.org

Creative Commons License


Game #4034
Hall of Belated Fame Inductee  Homeworld: Cataclysm    View all Top Dogs in this genre
Strategy   Real-time strategy

Rating: 7.96 (149 votes)

Homeworld: Cataclysm box cover

Homeworld: Cataclysm screenshot
The original Homeworld was the first game to take the successful format of real-time-strategy seen in Command & Conquer and transfer it to the depths of interstellar space. Featuring gorgeous graphics, realistic space combat, a haunting soundtrack and a genuinely gripping and emotional storyline, Homeworld set a standard for its genre that has yet to be bettered.

The plot follows the fortunes of the Somtaaw, a small clan kept in stasis for most of Homeworld, thawed out late into the resettlement of the homeworld and with decimated populations, these smaller clans were forced into space as the best of the land went to the Mothership's crew. On a mining expedition, the Somtaaw's base-ship finds a high-tech pod and takes it aboard to investigate it. Needless to say, the pod isn't entirely benign and the story develops from there, masterfully and emotionally into probably the best RTS plot I've ever been through and maybe even one of my favourites ever.

Combat is more punchy than Homeworld and production is faster, too, leading to a much more resource-led war than was found in the original game. While this leaves the game pretty much without the "must keep all my ships safe" preservation-orientated combat of the first game, it replaces it with a much livelier system of tactical strikes, feints and repair-retreats that the original lacked due to the fact that a tactical retreat sacrificed too many of your precious ships and resources to be worth the bother most of the time.

Following on from the storyline of the original, Cataclysm's gameplay is a definite improvement over even the high standards set by Homeworld, with intuitive hotkeying supplementing the old, cumbersome menu. Homeworld featured a bewildering array of ships which many found confusing and hard to keep track of. Cataclysm streamlines the ship selection somewhat, but it feels like they've cut back a little bit too far, leaving the player's side feeling a little lightweight compared to the original.

This minor criticism aside, Cataclysm has great dramatic tension and gives you such an emotional connection to your forces that you will find yourself returning to this one quite a few times, even after you've completed it. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by: Frosty840
Designer: Michael Gyori
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: Sierra On-Line
Year: 2000
Software Copyright: Relic Entertainment
Theme: Science Fiction
Multiplayer:  
System Requirements: Windows XP
Where to get it:
Related Links:  
Links:    
If you like this game, try: Robo Rumble, Earth 2140, Conquest: Frontier Wars

© 1998 - 2024 Home of the Underdogs
Portions are copyrighted by their respective owners. All rights reserved. Please read our privacy policy.