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Rating:  -
Before I start, I would suggest anyone who gets this game be sure to download the patch that has been made available. This balances out units a little better (not too much, but a little) and also decreases the difficulty of several of the missions (they are possible to beat without the patch, but they are hard).
This game builds wonderfully over the orrignal Homeworld. It has made several improvements in how things are handled and also polishes up things in general. In addition, unlike the orrignal Homeworld the different sides have very different strengths and weaknesses that are readily apparent when playing them.
Some nice additions:
You no longer build single fighters, but rather build fighters in wings. So long as a single fighter in the wing survives you can send the fighter group back to a carrier or mothership or shipyard and have the unit returned to full strength. This makes fighter units much more useful and practical then the frail things they were in Homeworld.
Resource collection at the end of missions has been automized. You will no longer have to sit around for hours after missions sending harvisters out to collect resources for you. Once all enemy units have been defeated all resources in the map are automatically collected and added to your resource pool.
Subsystems. You can now build subsystems that give your ships interesting capabilities as well as target enemy subsystems. Large ships (such as battle crusers, carriers, motherships) come with some standard subsystems that cannot be completely destroyed but can be dammaged to the point that they no longer function. This makes hit and run type attacks much more useful then they were previously since you can use them to dammage enemy capabilities or cripple enemy ships, while allowing access to some nice abilities should you chose to build some of the more unique subsystems.
The ability to capture any ship in the game has also been added. That is right, capture ANY ship in the game. Including motherships. In addition, the units which capture enemies are much less flimsy so while they do still need an escourt they can be counted on to not die immediately.
Fleet formations have also been added. While there are really only 3 choises for fleet formations, they really do make it easy to use ships of different classes together. When used properly these formations are extreamly powerful, however you need to learn when to use a formation and when to break it up.
There are a few things I am less than satisfied with however. It is for these reasons that I am only giving it a rating of 4 out of 5.
The first major thing I was disapointed with was the reduction on the number of formations. I remember that with the orrignal Homeworld there was a large number of fomrations to chose from. I kept wishing I had access to some of those, particularly the claw and the sphere. While it may be argued that the addition of fleet formations makes up for this change, I couldn't help but wish that I had access to many of the old formations.
The interface is something I am not 100% satisfied with as well. While I will agree that it is definately a step up from what was used with Homeworld, it does feel somehow cumbersome. I guess it is a function of too many menues when it comes to building units and researching. Even in this respect it isn't too bad though.
Also, the 3D nature of space has largely been ignored. This problem still existed in Homeworld, though it was a little less noticable there since they did fairly often launch surprise attacks from above or below. Homeworld 2 largely just uses the horozontal plane when it comes to combat. Units controled by the AI simply will not try coming from strange directions, but rather take a head on approach. Thankfully I was able to find a group of people to play with online who were not burdened with this problem.
My final real problem with Homeworld comes with the addition of a new unit: the shipyard. The reason for this has to do with multiplayer where its importaince overshadows even that of the mothership once it has been built. It has more subsystem slots than the mothership. It is the only unit which can build battlecruisers. It has all the capabilities that the mothership has and more. From a stand point of game ballance I can see why this may have happened (the game designers didn't want players skipping ahead in the research tree right to battlecruisers), however I cannot help but feel that if anything the shipyard should be more of a smaller mothership with more limited capabilities. Somewhere between a carrier and the mothership.
All that said, the game is still a wonderful game. It contains almost all of the orrignal Homeworld's good points, and gets rid of many of its bad ones with the introduction of few flaws. If you like the idea of controling an intergalatic battle fleet then I would definately suggest that you pick up this game. The campaign alone would be worth it, but multiplayer is where this game really shines since that is where you will see interesting tatics that can be used once the pesky notion of 2D is forgotten.
Rating:  -
In light of completing Homeworld 2 twice, the review is a brutal truth of what the game is---a game so challenging, so hard, it just simply isn't worth your bother. Ordinary gamers will derive no enjoyment from this. In a manner of words: this is a game with spectacular graphics, breathtaking naval fleet warfare, all hampered by arduous game play.
Fifteen missions long, the average player will find themselves struggling by just the fourth, if you finished the third by the skin of your teeth. Rapidly changing mid-mission objectives, wave after wave of enemy forces, you'd better be up to the challenge of preventing your shipyard from hostile takeover to graduate to the real fun.
Then mission 4 hits you, hard and heavy.
Players are simply not prepared so early in the game, after such breezy missions, for one of such difficulty. Continual enemy attacks never leave you alone, never giving you a breather, to collect resources, to replenish your ragtag fleet. Don't grin that smile yet, that massive frigate assault will wash it away. There's no time to get a feel for ship classes, what works best against which enemy unit, to experiment on new technologies. Took a stunning number of weeks to beat that mission alone. Just concentrate on bombers and pulsar corvettes and she'll be right mate. Homeworld 2, it seems, is one heavy mission after another, broken up by occasional missions so quiet you could sleep through them. Those restful missions would be ideal to build your fleet to full strength and maximum unit numbers.
A detrimental mistake!
An unbelievable attribute of the game---the stronger you are, the heavier the next mission's enemy forces will be. The astounding stupidity of this is simply shocking. Try full unit limits from the tenth mission onwards, when enemy forces are already considerable, you'll see. This isn't so bad, really, but it makes hill into mountain.
Homeworld 2 is a RTS game of its own, nothing like Starcraft-type games. Even the hardest Starcraft mission gave you time to rebuild a weakened army, fix your base up. You could explore the darkened map, tease the enemy from different sides. H2 won't let you do that. This game demands strict obedience to the mission objectives. You play to fulfil them, not your own agenda.
Even more absurd, whatever forces you have left you begin with next mission. Scrape a mission too finely, and what are your chances of survival, really, when come the enemy hordes, and come in numbers they will.
What H2 steals from you is enjoyment. This is for the determined player. Who doesn't want a challenge in a game? But it's not fun. Move! You can't sit idle at any time; you can't split your fleet up, to feint at an enemy base from different angles. You want to live, keep all eggs in one fleet.
The menu controls are shocking. Mouse scrolling doesn't work in H2. It takes valuable time to position and drag the tab down the page. You can't even press ENTER or ESCAPE keys, only mouse commands. Such is the Idiotic Intelligence of the developers, that you can't authorise commands with an ENTER tap. The screen panels where you click to load or save games are so slim you really have to position your mouse precisely over them.
The method of saving is a joke. Strict alphanumerical order, the starting letter or number determines its placement in the list. It's better to save games chronologically, like Starcraft and Jedi Outcast. In-game auto-saving works against you; replay a mission, and you might re-save over it.
Where in the game booklet does it say docked strike craft automatically repair? A tiny offhand mention in the Vaygr Battlecruiser. How would you think to dock your fighters when you need them active at all times?
Absurd to target warship subsystems (engines, weapons, etc) when destroying the ship takes just as long. Absurd to capture an enemy ship, not only from your strict unit numbers, but the ship will always target your marine frigate. Played game twice, still can't get cloaking technology.
Like viewing a sphere of blinking red and green dots all game long? You'll spend considerable time looking at your radar screen; it's the only way to see enemy units and positions, and easier to select targets.
Graphics are awesome, ship details commendable. Mouse-wheel scrolling permits easy panning and rotation of the camera angle. Fun to follow a bomber group on their attack runs, or zoom right in at besieged warships about to be missile volleyed. High comp system will avert the occasional slowdown when camera-close to a ship going nova; exploding capital ships are cool.
Mid- and inter-mission cutscenes are simple but satisfactory. Fleet Command voices sounds too similar; Makaan is chilling as the Vaygr warlord, smooth and polite.
Game music will become repetitive. Only two tracks stand out: the oriental Hindu-like music of the Keeper missions, and that brief heavy battle track in missions 9 and 12. Hammered by endless Vaygr fleets, your heart pounding as you brawl for survival, why the damn hell did they finish after two minutes? Superb and haunting, they rapidly faded back to that mundane battle music.
There is nothing special about mysterious Sajuuk, the one hope of your homeworld. Can't spoil you here, but the game designers are criminal fools to make the guy just that. And if that doesn't inspire your outrage, behold the short, simplistic final cutscene of the game.
This is Homeworld 2. Visually stunning, rigid game play design. You'd do well to think long and hard before sampling this farce of fun. All fine and fancy to spout rave reviews and the shine the five-star flag, but honest and informative feedback goes a long way to whisper the truth.
Rating: -
I found that this game proved 3 things
1. "Sequal" does not nessicarily mean better game
2. Better graphics are often used as an excuse to cover up the exact same story
3. Never pay full price for a computer game
First and foremost I love both Homeworld and Homeworld 2. That being said I have to say that if I had paid full price for this game I would be incredably mad. Its the exact same basic story they just improved the graphics(with eye popping clairty I might add). I still love the game and the missions are quite challanging but if you are expecting something revolutionary you are not going get it. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Rating:  -
I thought the first Homeworld was great, then i played the second one and was totally blown away. Improvements all across the board. I would not hesitate to recomend this game to anyone.
Rating:  -
(...)P>As with its predecessors, H2 is a three dimensional real time space stragegy game. It is not of the Descent or Tie Fighter genre, where the question is how fast you can shoot: it also includes elements of a simulation (such as Sim City) and the battles involve stragety rather than how fast you can point and shoot. You get to be the General, rather than the pilot!
The game graphics in Homeworld 2 are similar to Holmeworld and Cataclysm, but substantially improved with much more detail and much less visible color gradation in the backgrounds. But, beyond the similarities in structure and format, Homeworld 2 is not nearly as addictive or enjoyable as Homeworld 1 or Cataclysm. The story is not very clear, the levels are not nearly as challenging as in Homeworld 1 or Cataclysm, and I was able to power my way through the entire game in a couple of part time evenings, rather than having to work at it for several weeks. Unlike the earlier Homeworld games, you don't have the ability to individually control the smaller "fighter class" ships -- you can control only squadrons. In addition, less strategy is involved, and, there is too much "artificial intelligence" operating everything. Only 3 or 4 of the 15 levels were really challenging.
I spent a year playing one-on-one against the computer with Cataclysm, and was never bored. I got through Homeworld 2 simply to get through, and I will now remove it from my 'puter -- I may play it from the beginningagain, but only just to try and understand the story better.
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