A-Z backlog challenge: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
I am a huge fan of the original Homeworld. It was an epic Space RTS in which you traveled across the galaxy to find the world where your people originally came from. Homeworld DoK is a prequel which sees you travelling through the desert to find technology which will both save your people in the present time and then be used to make the events of Homeworld 1 possible.
Battles are fun and well paced. They don't require amazing micro skills. The sensor screen from Homeworld also returns so you can see what is happening on the larger map easily and identify different units quickly by their symbol.
There's quite a wide variety of missions in the campaign. In some you start off in a corner of the map and must collect resources while building up a force large enough to defeat the enemy presence on the map. Sometimes this will include enemy carriers. Other times you will need to defend certain areas or collect research from wrecks before escaping. Unlike most RTS games the enemy does not do any mining of its own. There are certain number of units that start on the map and engage in patrols. Then other units spawn in from spawn points on the map (either building which look like garages or from enemy carriers). The types and amount that spawn depends on the difficulty level and the size and value of your fleet at the start of mission (to keep it a challenge and not make it impossible for you if you struggled in previous missions). You have a persistant fleet and units gain bonuses from veterancy gained through kills.
Unfortunately the AI is really poor. They just head straight for you in the same way every time so it is easy to set up ambushes. Also until late game the enemy has little anti-air so you can use your strike fighters to keep destroying the parties sent at you until you build up a large enough force to head out and complete your objectives.
The main focus the game has is on line of sight and the use of terrain. Although not in space there is a real sense of verticality with the dunes and canyons being very high. It plays out in a really cool way and it is something more developers should implement. Unfortunately with the poor AI it's not imperative to worry about ot too much in order to suceed.
The AI for skirmishes acts in the same way (although in skirmishes it does mine). It builds up its force and once it reaches x units sends them straight for you. With the campaign being relatively short, as little as 7 hours for those who don't play as cautiously as I did, this is as issue as there is not a lot in the way of multiplayer. From the number of steam achievements for multiplayer it looks like they were expecting a lot more to play it for a lot longer however only about 1% of those who purchased the game played enough to get a ranking whether bronze, silver, gold or platinum. There were complaints about the low number of maps, also the unit variety is not great. Games like Dawn of War, Total War: Warhammer and Starcraft 2 are much better in that regard.
For this reason I can understand why people were a little disappointed with what they got for the original selling price. Even on sale it's not great value for money and I doubt I would have got it if I wasn't buying the pack which included Homeworld 1 and 2 as part of the deal. I enjoyed the game but I doubt I will replay it again. I found the all the games mentioned above more fun for single player too and would probably replay those campaigns again before replaying this one.
Release year: 2016
Steam price: $49.99
Best sale price: $16.99
Rating: 74
Like in the original, there is no basebuiding. You have a massive aircraft career which acts as a production and research center but can also fight quite effectively once you have built up the energy reserves. You send out salvagers which collect CUs (construction units) and RUs (resource units) to allow you to do both. You start off building light attack vehicles and over the missions move up to building larger armoured vehicles, cruisers as well as fighters and bombers. You can also build upgrades for the vehicles you already have as well as finding artifacts which when returned to the carrier give various boosts.
Although not as epic as the original, because let's be honest deserts just aren't as cool as space, the story is quite well told through good voice acting and decent cut scenes considering the size of the studio making the game. The return of the composer of the music for the original also really helps with the desperate and tense atmosphere as you are stalked across the desert, much as you had been stalked across the cosmos.
Battles are fun and well paced. They don't require amazing micro skills. The sensor screen from Homeworld also returns so you can see what is happening on the larger map easily and identify different units quickly by their symbol.
There's quite a wide variety of missions in the campaign. In some you start off in a corner of the map and must collect resources while building up a force large enough to defeat the enemy presence on the map. Sometimes this will include enemy carriers. Other times you will need to defend certain areas or collect research from wrecks before escaping. Unlike most RTS games the enemy does not do any mining of its own. There are certain number of units that start on the map and engage in patrols. Then other units spawn in from spawn points on the map (either building which look like garages or from enemy carriers). The types and amount that spawn depends on the difficulty level and the size and value of your fleet at the start of mission (to keep it a challenge and not make it impossible for you if you struggled in previous missions). You have a persistant fleet and units gain bonuses from veterancy gained through kills.
Unfortunately the AI is really poor. They just head straight for you in the same way every time so it is easy to set up ambushes. Also until late game the enemy has little anti-air so you can use your strike fighters to keep destroying the parties sent at you until you build up a large enough force to head out and complete your objectives.
The AI for skirmishes acts in the same way (although in skirmishes it does mine). It builds up its force and once it reaches x units sends them straight for you. With the campaign being relatively short, as little as 7 hours for those who don't play as cautiously as I did, this is as issue as there is not a lot in the way of multiplayer. From the number of steam achievements for multiplayer it looks like they were expecting a lot more to play it for a lot longer however only about 1% of those who purchased the game played enough to get a ranking whether bronze, silver, gold or platinum. There were complaints about the low number of maps, also the unit variety is not great. Games like Dawn of War, Total War: Warhammer and Starcraft 2 are much better in that regard.
For this reason I can understand why people were a little disappointed with what they got for the original selling price. Even on sale it's not great value for money and I doubt I would have got it if I wasn't buying the pack which included Homeworld 1 and 2 as part of the deal. I enjoyed the game but I doubt I will replay it again. I found the all the games mentioned above more fun for single player too and would probably replay those campaigns again before replaying this one.
Release year: 2016
Steam price: $49.99
Best sale price: $16.99
Rating: 74
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