I would rather spend less than $60 once a year and have continued support for a game rather than pay a monthly subscription or the new standard of $60-$90 for a new game that I may or may not like. Rail against Paradox if you like, but for the hours played, I have received more for my money than any movie ticket, most scripted games, and any amusement park.
The gameplay gets to be the same thing over and over once you get a pattern that works for you. At the same time, loss can be recovered from but not without a cost and the stories are interesting. If you like a story to follow, this game will work for you.
I agree that it is for fans only, but I am the sort that read the lore to HW, HW:C, and HW2 before even booting up the game. To me this is on the level of a great sci-fi novel. This Expedition Guide only further fleshes it out and syncs perfectly with the original lore. Better yet, they made the Somtaaw canon! That is a great thing for me.
Generally,I don't like prequels. There's usually some conflict with the lore. In this case, I was expecting just that, but I can't find any. With the original designers at the helm, they are true to the lore and even further flesh it out. The game is amazing. It has the simple unit variety of Homeworld, but it also requires a combined arms fleet to win without significant losses. The music is like Homeworld 2, excellent. The characters and feel of the game is spot on. Some argue it's too short (and it is 3 missions shorter than the original Homeworld), but tacking on useless missions (Homeworld 2 anyone?) would be more annoying. I prefer meaningful and succinct. It's currently patched to the most recent version, so that's not an issue. If GoG was behind Steam, it happens. Some of us wait for sales and reviews anyway. There is a tactical pause. Hit P instead of Pause. The more you know. I think the maps are on par with the first Homeworld in scale, but even if they are smaller, there's still a lot of room for maneuvering. I didn't have to venture away from my carrier too often because, unlike the original Homeworld, the carrier can move. But there are places the carrier can't go and so you will have to venture out. As for having to use GoG Galaxy for multiplayer, all multiplayer requires a server to act as a middle man. That's life. If the makers of the game aren't going to create server support for it, then it falls on GoG or Steam. I ignore such criticisms seeing that it is a technical limitation of technology. There needs to be a coordinating center. Unlike Steam, you can load Galaxy, play multiplayer, and then unload it without loss of single player functionality. So that. Again, this was a surprising gem. I recommend it for fans of the original. And if you enjoyed reading the historical briefing from the original games, then wait for the Expedition Guide (an .exe in the game folder) to go on sale and get it. They even include the Somtaaw as canon now!
I bought a box copy years back and played it. I was looking forward to the game as there was little in the flight sim market at the time, this was before Star Citizen or No Man's Sky was visible. Just to give you a gauge of my taste, I'm an old fan of Wing Commander and Freespace, including both Privateers, and Rebel Galaxy. I didn't have any expectations of this game, but I know what I like. The game started off okay. The graphics are pretty and all. I saw that there was an interesting system by which to develop the starship, it not bothering me that there's only one, and what appeared to be a fairly open universe to play around with. As time went on, I figured out a few things. The world is fairly open, but the missions do moderately funnel you into a particular direction. The universe serves no other purpose than to act as a backdrop to the main story. No side stories. No varying experiences or characters. The starship can be equipped to be anything from a speedy skirmisher to a hefty gunship, but it's going to center around direct confrontation and when you pass a certain threshold, you become untouchable by the enemy. I created a multi-gun corvette and I would simply fly by as my automated turrets tore holes in everything. I rarely dodged a shot. This became boring. Since I was funneled into a single storyline, it better be good. Instead, it was a bland story with horrible voice acting, unrealistic dialogue, the cheesiest ending, and a final mission I couldn't lose, even if I sabotaged my own efforts. In the end, it's a movie that has a flashy opening sequence but then becomes a cliche and ends trying to sell you a twist you saw coming from a deus-ex-machina mile away that you kept trying to refuse but was forced into your arms anyway. So, I finished it, shelved it, and there it has stayed for reasons I can't fathom.
It's a good game. Not necessarily a great game, but a good game. It took a step in the right direction with sandbox games when few were to be had and the world of MMO didn't exist. The taunts and scan lines were poor components, but the large world and equipment choice does something to keep you intrigued and aiming higher. As for the story, it's a wonderful blanc et noir detective story. I won't say it aged like wine and is better today than it was then, but it's nice to relive the memories and still has its merits. As for performance, one simple improvement is to go to the desktop shortcut properties and change it from playing in fullscreen mode to maximized. It speeds up. For better color, you have to run it windowed. Some things just don't port well.
