Despite every sci-fi fan on the ship screaming at you not to, the device is brought on board and quickly infects the lower decks. You start in command of a simple mining vessel, are quickly called in to lend a hand with some rebel insurgents, get sent to investigate a distress call and find a strange alien artefact. It's the old 'alien life force infecting allied ships' plot - the Borg with organics rather than technological origins.ĭespite the hackneyed background, it is remarkably well told considering it mainly uses the in-game engine. So what's this 'episode' all about? Actually that's a good description, since unlike the grand, sweeping tale of a lost race that was seen in Homeworld, Cataclysm's single-player game does feel more like a traditional episode of any science fiction TV show. It's the first 'episode' to take place in the Homeworld universe (which indicates more may follow). Hence the reason Cataclysm isn't being touted as a sequel to Homeworld, but as a sort of official follow-up. Cupid's arrow hit and the two teams pooled their talents. At the same time Relic had a bucket full of ideas that for one reason or another weren't able to be included in the original game.

The plucky developers (who seem to be making a habit of improving other peoples' games - part of their team had a hand in Counter-Strike!) approached original designers Relic with a mission to improve on what they'd already seen of Homeworld.

Five minutes into Cataclysm and the glassy-eyed stare of concentration, the lack of awareness regarding the real world, the nervous twitching on my fingers and the slowly-drying reservoir of sputum forming on my chin gave me my answer.īarking Dog Studios apparently started working on Cataclysm a year before the original game was actually finished. Criticise its unwieldy 3D system, its cartoonish graphics, its hackneyed storyline. That maybe now I could look at it with a more objective eye. I guess it was no secret that I was something of a Homeworldtan the first time round, but after swearing off the thing for four or five months (mainly to have it replaced with an equally unhealthy Counter-Strike obsession) I thought that maybe it was out of my system.

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