Homeworld: Cataclysm

The Good
Homeworld broke ground in terms of the graphical layout of RTS games, mainly for games based in space; a fully 3D engine that gives the player the ability to view the situation in a full 360 degrees. Definitely a enormous leap past the stale 2D world of StarCraft and the like. However, Homeworld in my opinion was severely crippled by a few things. The interface was atrocious, moving your ships around was a headache, your Mothership was completely static and unmovable, and resources were quite scarce no matter what the difficulty setting. In general, the learning curve was frustrating and much too steep for most players.

I was relieved, to put it mildly, when Homeworld: Cataclysm was released. All the anomalies that plagued the original Homeworld were fixed, while the core gameplay that made the prequel stand out amongst all other RTSs is still present. For starters, in the interface was fixed, so instead of having navigate a bunch of hidden menus, they were constantly present for easy access. Moving your ships this time around only involves pressing one or two keys, rather than once again having to navigate into other menus or command screens. Regarding resources, they appeared to me to be much more plentiful in Cataclysm, which gives the player a rest when it comes to micromanagement. What if resources are too far away? You simply move your little fleet to them, because you can move your Mothership! What if the resources are too close to the enemy? Simple yet again, since there is a new ship called an 'Ore Processor' which accompanies your Worker ships to far away locations to collect resource, and they don't have to return to the Mothership to drop cargo! This too also relieves the veritable migraine known as micromanagement. Also, there are many new types of ship in Cataclysm that make managing resources and fighting battles much more convenient, the details of which I won't go into here; you'll find out for yourself.

The Bad
I can say that I have no hard complaints about this game at all. The only thing I would've added to this game is the option for an isometric viewpoint while still being 3D, which for me might make fighting battles and reconnaissance a bit easier. But that's only because I've grown so accustomed to playing RTS games in isometric view. Also, alot of people have complained that the plot of Cataclysm is cliche. This may be true to an extent, but a good plot in a game these days is very rare to begin with. Besides, the first Homeworld borrowed heavily from Battlestar Gallactica...

The Bottom Line
As I said above, I really do wish that the original Homeworld had been this good. Everything that I disliked about the first game was repaired in Cataclysm. To be brutally honest, after playing Cataclysm, my Homeworld box has been collecting dust in the closet for the last 3 and a half years. Yes, it really is that much of an improvement. I may play it again some day, but I don't foresee that happening very soon. And now that Cataclysm is priced between $9-$15, it's a perfect time for those who missed out to take heed of the best space RTS ever made.

Did I mention that you can move your Mothership?