Games I Love: Homeworld Remastered Collection

If you read my last blog post this one will likely not be a surprise, the Homeworld games took my love of sci-fi space battles and dialed it up to eleven. I played both the original Homeworld and Homeworld 2 to death way back in the day so when a remastered collection was announced it will surprise no-one that I bought it and didn't regret it. Seeing those battles with shinier graphics was always going to be a plus and not having to spend ages tinkering with resolutions and trying to get the older versions working on modern systems ensured this was a no-brainer for me. I'll do my best to avoid any spoilers given how epic I think the Homeworld story is so without further ado, here we go!

The remaster makes this particular shot I first remember the game for that much more epic!

Rather than looking at each game separately I'll just look at the collection as a whole given they use the same engine (or so it appears to me at least.) Now the Homeworld games for me always sat alongside RTS giants like Total Annihilation and Age of Empires.

It was also the first space strategy game I know of to make full use of fully 3D movement, you could approach enemies from above and below, as most space games of the time even if they were 3D were often locked to a single-plane.

Rather than a base as in most RTS games, you start off with a mothership which takes on the role of a base but you aren't bogged down by having to place buildings. Anything you have unlocked via the research ship can be produced from the mothership itself, everything from the tiniest of fighter craft to massive capital ships and everything in between. The economy of the game is fairly simple, you sent out resource collectors to harvest dust clouds, asteroids or wreckage for RU's or resource units and spend those for research and construction.

Some amazing vista's really show off the improved graphics.

From there on your usual objectives are to find and defeat the enemy which is where the real meat of the game lies, in it's combat. Each ship has its role to play from bombers unleashing their payloads against larger capital ships to interceptors who shoot down those bombers, to see a huge battle in motion is a sight to behold. The improved graphics certainly help in that regard, larger capital ships slowly moving into position as shells and ion beams slice through space, fighters and corvettes buzzing all around it's hard to sell how epic it can look in some screenshots, one of those games that just looks far better in motion.

Personally I think the story of the Homeworld games is amazing and was a large reason the game stuck with me so long though I am loathe to spoil any of the games story. It is that story which keeps the campaign mode ticking along, the cut-scenes whilst short usually do enough to keep you invested in the story and wondering what might happen next.

There is no veterancy system in place for units as there is in Deserts of Kharak but you are still encouraged not to mindlessly throw away your units. Your fleet is persistent from mission to mission and the resources you gather are finite, so your ships have more value simply based on that, losing a destroyer or heavy cruiser can be crushing. You can also capture enemy ships using Salvage Corvettes in the first game or Marine Frigates in the second (not everything can be captured but it can add another element to your engagements.) This can enable you to supplement your fleet if you are skilled enough to pull off such captures or even just a way of acquiring more resources if you retire those units.

The battles can get pretty epic, this I would say is a mid sized battle in a skirmish match!

Is the remastered collection perfect? No, it certainly has it's flaws and quirks though they are few and far between and in some cases for me they are more gripes than flaws:

• Lack of statistics or information in game relating to certain things: Mainly aimed at the first Homeworld but no numbers are given on how things change or improve between the various stances. For example aggressive stance makes your ships do more damage but move more slowly though it doesn't state by how much. The behavior's such as passive, aggressive and defensive are also likewise not really clearly explained, nor are the benefits of formations.
• Removal of the fuel mechanic in the original Homeworld: This is more of a gripe for me than an actual flaw. In the original Homeworld fighters and corvettes had fuel so they would need to dock with a support ship to refuel but it does make things overall easier to get into so as I said, more of a gripe than a flaw.
• Enemy Scaling in Homeworld 1: Whilst I am fairly certain that in Homeworld 2 the numbers of enemies tended to scale based on your fleet from the get go I am pretty sure it wasn't in the original. This can lead to some tricky spots in the campaign, as I found out to my cost on two or three occasions.

In the end thanks to having both campaigns and a robust skirmish mode it's hard not to recommend this to anyone looking for a space combat RTS. It has more than enough to do in it to keep you busy for a while. Also given the current lack of many new RTS games even coming out these days much less anything like Homeworld it just makes it all the more worthwhile to check out.

There are also some good mods out there even if a few of my favourites haven't made the transition yet so far as I know (Star Wars Warlords, The Point Defence Systems mods etc.) Which is one of the big pluses of being a PC gamer!

In my opinion though this is one of the better remasters out there, now if you'll excuse me an enemy fleet decided to pop over for a spot of tea and ion cannons!

And I got lucky timing that screenshot!