Sierra and Barking Dog Studios are following their 1999 hit Homeworld with a sequel. That's right, we said sequel; despite what you may have heard about Cataclysm being an expansion pack, it's actually a stand alone package that builds on the original game. Key improvements to the game engine include waypoints and sensor usage. There will also be new ships and weapons, and seventeen single-player missions. Multiplayer will support up to eight players via LAN and will continue to have support on Won.net.

The background story of the game continues to grow. Cataclysm takes place fifteen years after the first Homeworld game. There are new sects in the game, and a new enigmatic race makes an appearance, recalling similar plot strangeness from Volition's Freespace. You know how these space epics are. Peace never lasts, and you're left fighting for position as the political universe bounces from chaos back to a semi-ordered state. As for the graphics, a look at the screenshots makes it quite plain that they're as good as ever. Barking Dog Studios is shooting for a demo and beta in the summer, with final release in the fall.

Developed By: Barking Dog Studios
Published By: Sierra
Genre: Real-time strategy
E.T.A: September 2000

By
Bernard Dy