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Homeworld 2 has the exact same style as the original, so you’d be forgiven if, upon looking at the screenshots, you thought it was the same engine. Once seen in motion however, there’s absolutely no denying what a fantastically beautiful game this is. Combined with the good sound effects and positively stellar (pardon the pun) musical score, it’s easy to understand Homeworld 2’s immersive ability.

Hiigaran Destroyers

Vaygr Destroyer

A fleet of fleets

The interface has received an overhaul as well. The changes are subtle but useful, and while the camera controls can still be clunky – notably the artificial limits on zooming out – it’s not enough to be a problem for dedicated or experienced gamers. The best improvements lie in managing the fleet, as strike groups now allow groups of mixed vessels to move at the same speed and attack as one.

Ship AI is good but requires too much micromanagement at times. Notably, ships are prone to disobey orders and target the wrong vessels. Flak frigates have a disturbing fetish for attacking corvette-class ships when there are perfectly good bombers and interceptors to attack. It’s not that flak frigates are ineffective against corvettes, they’re just less effective than torpedo frigates. Ships also seem likely to forget a movement command, in order to defend themselves or even engage an enemy. This doesn’t seem to happen all the time, so perhaps it’s a bug or simply a ‘fuzzy logic’ design that doesn’t really work out for the best. In the end, however, a Homeworld 2 fleet is far more capable without human supervision than it would be in the original.

Skirmish and multi

Skirmish and multiplayer mode are utter gems. Rather than feeling like a collection of manipulative puzzles, here the game actually gives the feeling of real space fleet action. Skirmish mode even features a difficulty level.

Homeworld 2 may be an RTS, but it plays quite unlike its competitors and not just because it has a truly 3D battlefield. It’s a rather slow-paced game; matches can take a long time but there is more than enough action to keep a player occupied. Between building, researching, managing resource collectors and their platforms, harassing the enemy, scouting, and defending against harassment, it almost feels like the game is too fast.

Combat tends to be furious on the verge of being chaotic, but it is possible and even necessary to micromanage. If there is a downside to Homeworld 2’s multiplayer it’s that momentum is very difficult to change. Winning the first battle often sets the pace for the rest of the match even if only a small portion of the winner’s fleet makes it through. Now he’s free to attack resource gatherers or to repair the damaged ships and use them to form the core of his next attack fleet.

Torpedo Frigate

That poor Vaygr is about to get piz0wn3d

Beams away

There are no expansions and the construction craft – carriers, shipyards and the Mothership – all move very slowly. Expansions are more like mobile resource harvesting operations than permanent bases, and can’t be used to re-construct your fleet. Destroying your opponent’s economy with a sneak attack is viable, but does little good if his fleet overwhelms yours and destroys your Mothership. It takes some getting used to, but eventually a measure of caution is learned and the player will scout, feint, test the enemy and avoid direct fleet combat until he feels confident of victory. Until then, there are rushes, harassment strikes and expansions to worry about. All in all, it’s a very thoughtful RTS. Assuming you don’t run into one of those crazy hardcore Homeworld fans who will hand you your ass on a silver platter (with a cherry on top) in five minutes, it’s even enjoyable!