Overview

The worst…

Editor’s Note: We seem to be having a recurring problem with HyperSnap capturing the Windows mouse cursor instead of the in-game one. Please disregard this problem, and accept our apologies.

Four years of development, a contract dispute with the publisher, a superior stand-alone expansion to the original game to look back on and learn from, and this is what Relic throws our way? You would think that somewhere along the way, an employee of Relic or Sierra would have deigned to actually play the singleplayer campaign of the game they’re developing.

Hyperspacing in

She's a biggun

A wrecking yard

There is no other explanation for the state of Homeworld 2. No one can argue that skirmish and multiplayer work great, that the campaign has an interesting storyline that’s delivered in measured, powerful doses that will keep you hooked. The technical aspects, such as graphics, cutscenes, sound and music, are beyond reproach. All these come together to form what must be the most beautiful frame for the worst mission design in history.

It’s not just that Homeworld 2 is absurdly difficult and offers no way to tone that difficulty down. It’s a game that is clearly aimed at the hardcore audience that bought the original, which wasn’t exactly the easiest game in the world. Sure, the developer might actually be able to sell HW2 to more than the fans of the original if they’d insisted on a difficulty slider, but that’d be common sense. Common sense is missing throughout Homeworld 2.

Mission design

If you ever stop to actually think about what happens in most missions, you’re going to laugh. Spoiler Warning! Take mission 9, for example. It starts off reasonably enough, but then the scripted repairs on the key ship on your fleet will require a shipyard. As per mission script, the shipyard will hyperspace in. Why wasn’t it with you all along? No clue. Why was it risking itself by (presumably) being alone in the middle of nowhere yet close enough to get to you in one jump? No idea.

The Vaygr flagship

Complete with subsystems

Enemy harassment force

But those are mere plot details. What will really fry your noodle later is how come a very deadly squadron of enemy destroyers and missile frigates appears right behind your shipyard. They weren’t there before. They couldn’t have known your shipyard was coming or gathered an appropriate strike force in time (unless they could intercept and decrypt your communication so completely that your war should be lost by default.) So why are they there? Just to make things more difficult. That your own fleet is in a life-and-death struggle on the other side of the Mothership is of course, also no coincidence.

Unfortunately, if you lose the shipyard, the mission is over. Not because it’s scripted to be over, mind you, but because the ship you’re repairing attaches itself to the Mothership and won’t detach when you build a new shipyard. Fortunately, bugs are quite rare in Homeworld 2, and this is the only game-stopper we encountered.