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First Impressions:s
Last week was a prime week for demos. Chrome, Jedi Academy and Call of Duty all
made it to my hard drive, but it was one sweet little package called Homeworld
2 was responsible for stealing all my time over the weekend.
The original Homeworld was a struggle to bring your race across the stars
to their long forgotten (and newly rediscovered) home planet, Hiigara. Now,
like Odysseus, having struggled so hard to reach home, you find you must defend
it from an invading enemy. The hyperspace core that powered your mothership
on its journey across the stars now powers the Vaygar war machine as they sweep
towards Hiigara.
The demo itself clocks in at just 141MB, giving you a tutorial, two multiplayer
maps and the first two campaign missions. It's just enough to whet your appetite,
and to ease players into both the game and the story line.
What really makes this demo shine is the presentation. It's absolutely gorgeous--the
opening cinematic (a short history recounting the back story) feels more like
hand drawn art than anything computer generated does, but it seamlessly makes
a transition to a highly detailed rendering. Then, without any cuts or loading,
the black cinematic bars fade away and your thrust into the first mission--trials
for the new mothership. When the approaching Vaygar cut these trials short,
an emergency jump back to Hiigara finds the planet being overrun and a convoy
of transports--containing your much needed crew--making a desperate run for
your ship.
Just two short missions had me hooked and hungry for more, forcing me to turn
to multiplayer, which was no slouch. Server setup was easy and painless, and
featured your full gamut of ships--from scout fighters all the way up to carriers.
Even with two maps, hours flew by just playing around with the larger ships
and organizing massive, beautiful fleet battles.
The only thing that suffers (a little) is the camera control, which can easily
be adjusted with an extra second of work. Everything else is top notch. From
the details on the ships to the gorgeously lit backdrop of space, I don’t
think I've ever seen anything so pretty from my rig before, and I only have
a Direct X 8.1 card! The interface is clean but pleasing, and the production
values as a whole are very high. Just one hour with this baby, and its very
clear that the full title will be a high-quality and immensely enjoyable affair--and
that's exactly what a demo is supposed to do.
I call Homeworld 2 as the Demo of the Week, even though we don’t give
out such titles around here. If you're looking for something to download, then
by all means, move this title to the top of your list.
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