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By Contributing Writer Mike Bean Rating: Awesome Homeworld is a real-time strategy game, but you can toss all of your nasty pre-conceptions about the genre out the window. While the basic formula of gathering resources and producing units is mostly the same, Homeworld is based in space, and everything in the game is COMPLETELY three-dimensional. The result is a game that plays nothing like any real- time strategy game ever released. Relic Entertainment has come up with a slick control interface that complements Homeworld's 3D nature. The game is entirely mouse-driven, and though it may seem odd at first and take a while to get used to, it will feel like second nature before you know it. Homeworld's camera system is also innovative. It lets you choose any focal point you want on the map, and the camera intuitively revolves around that point. By giving the player complete control of his or her own point of view, Relic has eliminated many possible camera problems. Homeworld's story is extensive and well-crafted. The majority of the scenarios only add to it through the use mid-level and post-level cut scenes. The graphics are outstanding thanks to excellent textures and colorful environments. The free-floating nature of the camera makes the graphics even more impressive, and watching the conflict unfold around you brings out a very special feeling that most games could never give you. The sound is also incredible, with music that does a great job of conveying the vastness of space and the desperation of the task before you. I haven't heard a soundtrack this good in a long, long time. As great as it is, Homeworld doesn't last quite as long as it should. The single-player campaign consists of only 16 scenarios, and while there are two distinct groups in the game, there is only one story line. Given the relatively small amount of single-player scenarios, a campaign from the opposing point of view would have been a very welcome touch. As it is, picking the other group will give you the same campaign with different- looking ships. Despite its relatively small number of scenarios, this is a great game that any fan of real-time strategy games should buy. Homeworld's awesome graphics, magnificent soundtrack, and wonderfully original gameplay make it one of the best games of the year. Send your thoughts on this review to mike@mastergamer.com
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