Gaipe: “Homeworld”
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: Sierra Studios
System: PC
Rating: A+
Every year for the past few years
someone has released a game that hai
taken an established genre of compute
gaming and turned it from something
stale and bland into something fresl
and exciting.
These are the games other compa
nies imitate.
In 1997, Blizzard’s “Diablo” tool
the term RPG and gave it a strong dos<
of action, spawning dozens of imita
tors. Last year, Valve Software’s “Half
Life” took the nearly lifeless first-per
son shooter market and made it viabh
again by adding something simple -
story.
“Homeworld” is this year’s innova
tor, and the lesser companies ar<
already scrambling to copy the lesson
taught by it
I offer these words of warning
though: Take care, as this could become
crack for any one of us. I already sus
pect “Homeworld” will be one of those
games that always seems to take “jus
10 more minutes.” It’s incredible ant
addictive. Damn time sinks.
Much, much more than just anothei
“Starcraft” knockoff, Relit
Entertainment’s first project is a drastit
reinterpretation of the real-time strate
gy game. In a field once ruled by two
dimensional games, “Homeworld” ha:
made the drastic jump into 3-D.
For perhaps the first time ever, play
ers can rotate around in the vast reache:
of space, commanding large armada:
of fights, corvettes and capital class
starships in epic battles that woulc
make George Lucas proud.
The best way to describe what ii
feels like to be playing “Homeworld” is
to envision yourself as the commandei
of the Rebel Fleet in the end sequence
of “Return of the Jedi,” confronting a
large arpiada of imperial ships bent or
your destruction.
First and most importantly, the
interface is incredibly intuitive and eas>
to use. This said, go through the tutori
al. You still have to learn how the cam
era system works before you’ll have the
intricacies down pat. They have to teach
you how to look before you walk, then
fly
The camera system is half of the joy
, of “Homeworid.” You can watch battles
5 from the far distant lofty perch above,
• or you can zoom in close and follow the
; path of one of your ships as it zips and
i zooms in its combat with your oppo
nent.
All the time, every ship is clean and
well-designed. The graphics are crisp
: and showy without being distracting,
l although there have been moments
■ when I’ve felt like Nero watching
• Rome burn - the battle was just too
• beautiful for me to do anything.
; Ships are divided into four classes:
fighters, which are small ships
designed for ship-to-ship combat (think
■ X-Wing); corvettes, which are made
; for heavier combat but not as much
! (think Corellian Blockade runners - i.e.
Leia’s ship at the very beginning of
, “Star Wars”); and capital class, which
: are designed to have heavy firepower
but low, low speed (think Star
: Destroyers.)
t In addition to these four classes,
l you also have your Mothership. The
Mothership is your central base of com
• mand. If it blows up, you lose. Guard it
with your life.
Misplacing the Mothership will be
tough, too, considering the thing is frig
gin’ huge compared to your tiny little
: scout ships. This sense of scale was
exactly what the game needed to make
players feel as if they were there.
Moving ships is incredibly easy, as
simple as point-and-click. You can also
set your units into various combat for
mations, as well as tell them to assume
a defensive or offensive stance.
It sounds like a lot to learn, but you
pick it up quickly once you get going.
Learning the keyboard shortcuts and
hot keys is another thing that will help
you keep your ships flying.
From the opening of the game,
however, it’s clear “Homeworid” is
geared for a slightly older audience.
Those of us who think of “Alien” and
“Blade Runner” with fond memories
Film Registry names
films to be preserved
w/\pnu>iu 1 uin tat) - a Marion
Brando classic and a movie featuring
the first big-screen kiss are among the'
25 films that have been added to the
National Film Registry.
“A Streetcar Named Desire,” the
1951 vehicle that helped launch
Brando’s career, and “The Kiss,” a 15
second flick made in 1896, are among
the films the Library of Congress chose
for the list.
By law, the Librarian of Congress
names 25 films of cultural, historic or
esthetic importance to go on die registry
each year.
Steve Leggett, coordinator for the
National Film Preservation Board, said
the registry encourages the preservation
of movies that might otherwise disap
pear.
Other films on the preservation list;
civilization, 1916; “Do lhe Right
Thing,” 1989; “The Docks of New
York,” 1928; “Duck Amuck,” 1953;
“The Emperor Jones,” 1933; “Gunga
Din,” 1939; “In The Land OfThe Head
Hunters,” also known as “In The Land
OfThe War Canoes,” 1914; “Jazz On A
Summer’s Day,” 1959; “King: A Filmed
Record... Montgomery To Memphis,”
1970; “Kiss Me Deadly,” 1955;
“Lambchops,” 1929; “Laura,” 1944;
“Master Hands,” 1936; “My Man
Godfrey,” 1936; “Night OfThe Living
Dead,” 1968; “The Plow That Broke
The Plains,” 1936; “Raiders OfThe
Lost Ark,” 1981; “Roman Holiday,”
1953; “The Shop Around The Comer,”
1940; “The Ten Commandments,”
1956; “Trance And Dance In Bali,”
1938-9; “The Wild Bunch,” 1969; and
“Woman OfThe Year,” 1942.
Millionaire tops the
prime-time slots again
NFWVnRkr fAP\ _ ART ic -a I.I..
ing like a million bucks, with “Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire” helping
carry the network to a first-place
prime-time win last week.
Airing nightly during November
“sweeps,” the hit quiz show claimed
seven of the Top 16 slpts for die week,
according to Nielsen Media Research
figures pleased Tuesday. Its Sunday
edition won third place, behind NBC’s
top-ranked “ER” and ABC’s “Monday
Night Football.”
Fox didn’t fare so well with its quiz
vwMwy WAVW) »* uvw ovwuu nwxuj
airing was Thursday. In the first half
hour - which faced that night’s “Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire” - “Greed”
ranked 80th place, with a 5.9 rating
and 9 share. During its second half
hour, it vaulted to 40th place, scoring
an 8.7 rating and 13 share.
A rating point represents
1,008,000 households, or 1 percent of
the nation’s estimated 100.8 million
TV homes. The share is the percentage
of in-use televisions tuned to a given
show.'
I
will fit right at home.
The basic storyline is that the race
of people you belong to finds the
remains of a crashed spaceship on your
planet. Within a few dozen years,
you’ve figured out your people did not
originate on this planet. With the dis
covery of a map, the construction of the
Mothership begins as you and your
people prepare to journey to your
Homeworld.
While the single player mode is a
bit short (only 15 missions), the multi
player mode more than makes up for it,
letting up to eight players duke it out in
the vastness of space. If you’ve ever
wanted to see a truly epic battle on your
computer, right now, it doesn’t get any
better than this.
“Homeworld” isn’t perfect; a few
features that would have been nice to
have did not make it into the final ver
sion. But the merits of the game so far
supersede these petty little complaints
so as to rub them out.
“Homeworld” doesn’t just chip
away at the old RTS mold, it shatters it
with a massive sledgehammer and
keeps on pounding until all that
remains is dust.
A new watermark has been set.
If you’ve ever been vaguely inter
ested in real-time strategy, space com
bat or even science-fiction computer
games at all, do yourself a favor and
buy “Homeworld.”
-CliffHicks
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