Homeworld: Cataclysm was put together as more of a follow-up to the original and less of a sequel or an add-on. The story supports this idea since it simply continues where the end left off. The home planet of Hiigara was found after the many hard battles, a new fleet was created, and they began to rebuild their civilization. Cooperating with various other races they had met in their travels, the fleet has grown to a respectable size and now uses a lot of new technologies. The Taiidan and Turanic Raiders still make a pest out of themselves with continued attacks against Hiigara. Unfortunately, just when things are starting to look up a new, and far more evil force joins the story.

The Beast is an organism that lives simply to absorb other races and their technologies. With the ability to assimilate ships and their crew, it could be the unstoppable race. With the Taiidan and Turanic forces weak, it is up to the Hiigaran people to stop this menace before it spreads throughout the galaxy.

The story above as well as the events that unfold during the single player campaign definitely seems a lot more fleshed out than what was seen in the original. A lot of credit should actually go to the original story since the new one was able to simply expand upon the basic required plot development elements used in the original Homeworld. The player is allowed to jump straight into the conflict; in fact the first mission in Cataclysm takes place in a large fleet battle involving a great number of ships. A bit more care was taken into the event scripting and real-time cut scenes than before. The cut-scenes are longer and because of this spend a bit more time laying out the current situation. The scripting of events in general is very well done and keeps each mission moving along at a suitable pace.

Homeworld: Cataclysm is built upon the same engine used in the original but Barking Dog has obviously put a great deal of time into tweaking things to get the most out of it. The textures are sharper, the lighting is a great deal nicer, and the background environments feel far less static. Changes made to the interface are probably more important since what was used in the first Homeworld was already thought of as something close to genius. The changes made have eliminated the bottom task bar, instead placing everything into situation specific pop up menus. Right clicking with no unit selected brings up the basic commands and options. When the menu is brought up while one or more ships are selected, the basic options as well as every unique option for any ship in that group is included in that menu. This menu can be accessed from any view in the game, including map view, pilot view, and the default view. With use of numbered groupings a player could control an entire battle fleet in any available view. This extends the ultimate control and readiness of a player’s fleet far beyond what was seen in the original.

The consolidation of the separate support units has brought about the creation of ‘The Worker’. The name may lack flash, but it makes up for it with its ability to do so many things. The Worker builds, repairs, salvages, and even gathers resources for the fleet. This not only saves cost but it also makes support efforts during larger engagements so much easier to handle.

The Hiigaran fleet now consists of a completely new host of ships that are the product of the many new technologies available. Ships like the Swarm Frigate, Multi-Beam Frigate, Mimic, Sentinel, and the new Destroyer lend their new weapons and unique abilities to the increasingly tough fight against The Beast. These are only a few of the many new technologies available for research: Force fields, repair bots, missile weapons, stronger armor types, EMP pulses, leeching abilities, ramming abilities.

The Beast pretty much takes the place of the Taiidan forces as the main antagonist in the story. The beast uses a lot of the older units from the original, but again, they can benefit from various new technology upgrades and also have a few new abilities up their sleeves. The Beast’s most powerful weapons are its infection beams and missiles. Both of these weapons can severely harm a fleet that is unprepared, but both also can only be used in moderation. Still this does bring up the issue that always seems to come up when a real-time strategy title attempts to use a race that operates in this fashion. While the new unique units do add a great deal of variety and even more depth, the minor generic unit balance issues of the original have simple been traded off for new minor balance problems.

Yet the fact remains that these balance problems are not that bad. In terms of sheer volume, this follow-up shares about the same amount of ‘problems’ as the original. Chances are The Beast will be exploited by players online, but there has always been a desire to win, and in the hands of most gamers The Beast comes out as the best choice. There are Hiigaran players that enjoy using the race and don’t seem to notice this issue. All of this doesn’t dictate how the game is played since the 17-mission single player campaign strategically introduces new technologies to the player’s side as needed.

In general the music found in Cataclysm sticks to that ambient sci-fi style found in the original, but in certain missions the music tends to break out a little and add some spice to specific moments where it is needed. While I am all for ambiance, since the current trend is to score every videogame like a movie, it is nice to allow the music to carry me into moments.

The improvements made in Homeworld: Cataclysm are definitely impressive. After playing the game there is no way I could call this a simple add-on, but I really wouldn’t mind calling it a sequel. Barking Dog’s attention to detail and their sincere desire to improve almost every aspect of the original has resulted in an extremely solid title that easily stands up to any real-time strategy game released this year. I am impressed.