The late 1990’s were what happened to define video gaming genres. It was a period of exploration and experimentation, and during this period, games like Half Life, Deus Ex, System Shock, Starcraft and Fallout have set the mold for each genre of video game you see today. An anomaly at the time was Homeworld.

Telling the story of the Kushan people which inhabit the arid desert world of Kharak. Upon accidentally discovering an ancient starship in the sands, they realise that they were not native to their planet. They then embarked on an endeavor to reclaim their homeworld that would ultimately cause the near genocide of their race and the overthrow of a corrupt empire.

Developed by Relic which are now best known for their work on the Company of Heroes series and the Warhammer 40k franchise, Homeworld is a space based real time strategy game where you command a fleet of starships in battle. The most interesting feature of it’s gameplay was the ability to use all 3 dimensions, x,y, and z-axis to fight your battles in empty space.

The addition of a third dimension and the removal of any physical obstructions added depth to the standard 2D RTS. The lack of physical obstructions such as choke points meant that smart maneuvering and tactics won the day, and ship formations played an important role in both tactics and strategy. There were almost ten different formations for different situations and the formations could mean the difference between victory or defeat. Fighters had limited fuel range and required docking at a carrier or a mothership, and that played heavily into the battle as you were forced between keeping your fighters in battle or returning them to base otherwise they would be vulnerable to attack when out of fuel.

One useful feature to handle all this is the sensors manager. It displays everything that happens on the battlefield, all your ships, your enemies, points of interest and resources. In fact, it becomes your most important source of information in the game, and you spend most of your time in it.

While this all sounds complicated, the excellent tutorial helps to quickly guide you through the maneuvering and the intricacies of the game, and you will be able to get into the action in no time.

The game was handled in full 3D graphics, and was absolutely stunning, even now. The graphics may look dated by comparison but each individual ship had individually animated turrets and components. The ships in particular are distinctive in design, not sleek but practical, elegant but brutal. In battle, projectiles would impact armor, guns would recoil, and ion beams will pass through ships before exploding. Fighters would nimbly maneuver around the battlefield, avoiding heavy gunfire and skimming between capital ships which were spewing out beams of death at each other. Homeworld also managed to convey a huge sense of scale to space instead of  just making it empty.

The campaign in the game is the centrepiece of the game. Immersive and emotive, the story is told via a series of in game cutscenes and black and white animated films. A key point to the campaign is the persistent fleet which you can carry over from each mission. I won’t go into much detail because it’s something that is best experienced by yourself, but it is in my opinion the best storytelling ever in a game. However I will mention that it can get frustrating due to the difficulty sometimes, but this can be overcome by a bit of thinking and some patience. Once you get it right, the sense of achievement is overwhelming.

In Homeworld, the music is very good. It is never prominent and never out of place but instead serves as a complement to the game, bringing out the situation in more detail and setting the mood. The sound effects are just as impressive, with good voice acting and excellent effects.

Game requirement wise, you need not worry if you have a modern system, but you might run into some issues trying to run it on newer hardware. Don’t hesitate to contact me for help if you do!

Homeworld is a game that you must play at least once. The revolutionary gameplay is something that has to be tried, its storytelling is top notch, and the graphics and sound effects only help to amplify the epicness of the story. The hard campaign is a challenge, and is much more intelligent and satisfying that many games today. There is also a multiplayer component over internet and LAN which is fun to play!

I’ve played this game since I was 10, and I only completed it when i was 18 (Yes, it was a huge challenge for me when I was younger), but replayed it many times since then.

I easily give it a 5/5