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Friday 8 February, 2008
GAME LOG ENTRY 2
GAMEPLAY
Sadly, the second hour was not quite as exciting as the first was. The gameplay remained mostly the same; still slow-paced and at times tedious, although there was a greater selection of units to choose from. The levels seem to take far longer than they should; accomplishing a few simple goals can take incredible amounts of time. For instance, I spent no less than seven minutes destroying a single ship with a relatively large sized fleet of my own. The gameplay does not move along fast enough to keep up with the story.
The story remains interesting, though perhaps not quite as interesting as in the beginning. There were a few interesting developments and I am certain that there are far more to come. I feel that there is too much space between the narrative advancements. If the game were a little faster paced then its quality would improve dramatically. This story, more than many others really does draw the player in. The fictional universe created by this game feels whole and realistic (as realistic as science fiction can get anyways), it does not overreach as so many other games do.
DESIGN
Perhaps the most innovative thing about this game is the control the player has over the camera. Unlike most RTSs, Homeworld is not limited to a two-dimensional plane. The game is entirely three-dimensional, the camera rotates 360 degrees and can zoom in or out on whatever unit the player desires, and follow that unit as it moves. The units themselves also move in three dimensions. Sometimes there will be resources or enemy units at a different elevation than the player’s own units, so the player can choose to alter the elevation of his own units to reach them.
Graphically the game is relatively unimpressive, especially by modern standards (the game is eight years old after all). The units look blocky and unwieldy, they also have, in my opinion, odd color schemes that do not fit with the rest of the tone of the game. This is made up for however, by the detailed and immersive environment. The background art is really quite something with stars, nebulae, planets and other eye-candy; and the player can view all angles of it with the 3D camera. The other artistic aspect that helps set the ambience is the music. The soundtrack is beautiful, if a bit solemn, and perfectly fits with the purpose and feel of the game.
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