Homeworld: Emergence

definitely one of my favorite homeworld games and im happy to see it available to the public once more. i remember playing this as a wee lad back when it was known as cataclysm and just had to buy it on gog to compete my homeworld collection without cataclysm my collection is just hollow. sadly there will probably never be another rts like this horror and rts games rarely ever mix well. sure there will probably be more homeworld games thanks to 2k but there is only one homeworld emergence although who knows maybe 2k will remaster this one day. anyways im babbling now long story short if your a fan of the homeworld games or even just spaceship combat based real time strategy games in general definitely pick this one up you wont be disappointed.

Great game.

Homeworld Emergence (or formerly Cataclysm to avoid copyright infringement), is a stand-alone add-on to the original Homeworld 1 real-time Sci-Fi strategy game. To my knowledge the series is the first one which made full use of 3D space in all directions with very intuitive and easy controls. It's great to see the game back on GOG again after decades. It's a no-brainer for anyone who likes RTS and a space setting. It features 17 missions in total with a play time of about 15-17 hours depending on the difficulty you choose. Pros: + introduced pilot view to get more immersed into battle + uses same 3D space control of the original + interesting story + good sound track + battle sounds & chatter + ship designs + graphics & battle effects + research & upgrade system + strengths & weaknesses of units + tactics & formations + special abilities of units + well-working game mechanics Cons: - repetitive mission tasks (capture this, destroy that) - rather uninspired space backdrop - some missions with minor bugs (progress delay, dialogues missing) - story catches attention in the beginning but could have been better written in the second half of the game - last 3 missions drag on - very last mission very hard to figure out on your own - feels like developers tried to cram all the ideas they had for a longer stand-off into the last mission - graphics engine has problems with displaying lots of units and turns textures into pixel mode at some point Conclusion: Overall a good RTS Sci-Fi game with an interesting story but does have some shortcomings. Rating: 7/10 points

The game itself is 5 stars. Absolute favorite in the Homeworld series. Less epic, more personal. Very good gameplay, good additions to the game with multi functionality of ships, moving parts, the upgradable mothership, and the godsend that is Time Compression. This review is for the GOG published version. The game runs in Windows 10, but does not like multiple monitors. Nvidia aspect ratio GPU scaling only partially works on this game. And of course the incredibly stupid name. Homeworld Cataclysm came out 9 years before WOW Cataclysm. Its called Prior Art. Blizzard doesn't own the word Cataclysm, they don't get exclusive control just because they Trademarked it. Real cowardly renaming the game and changing the title screen.

The story is very engaging, the voice overs are spot on, and the pacing is great. A must have game!