Real time strategy games have seen an overall ratcheting up in speed as well, making what used to be more mentally stimulating, slower, more strategic movements and tactical gameplay-rushed, almost spastic affairs. Speaking of speed, over the years, I’ve noticed a gradual upswing in game speed across most game genres first-person shooters, adventure, RPGs, etc. Yes, you read that correctly-there are zero formations for grouped units, so piling as many units into large blobs is pretty much your safest bet at overcoming your foes as quickly as you can. Although terrain in Deserts of Kharak plays a more prominent role (line of sight is indicated by solid or broken red lines), battles basically come down to spamming a bunch of units and then hurling them as fast as you can at the enemy. Those roles are more or less analogous to those of the ships in the originals, and the blue tactical maps are very similar as well.Īfter logging a few hours of both campaign and multiplayer (when I could find a game), Deserts of Kharak reminded me a lot of another recent release, Act of Aggression.
The carrier is a slow moving behemoth, however, and can’t fend off enemies on its own, so it has to rely on lighter, more nimble vehicles to aid it in various combat roles. The gigantic fleet carrier, the Kapisi, is basically the Mothership from the earlier games, and both share having an innate self-sufficiency being able to engage in research production, and resource gathering independent of outside influence. But when I heard that Blackbird Interactive, made up of franchise veterans, had formed, and were working on a prequel, titled Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, I was looking forward to seeing what they could produce.
I was a little discouraged after Gearbox Software acquired the rights to the Homeworld series and released the ho-hum Homeworld Remastered, and assumed that the Homeworld series had reached its end point.
The original game is kind of a studded jewel among hardcore PC gamers and remains an indie classic. I must admit that I was pretty intrigued upon hearing about the latest iteration of the Homeworld franchise. “Well, maybe it’s the home part of Homeworld, get it?”
“No! Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is what it’s called.” He heard me sniggling then added: “Oh, whatever man, you know what it’s called.” “Right…Deserts of Iraq or something…” I mumbled, baiting him. “So you remember that that new Homeworld game is coming out soon, right?” he said. A few months ago, a gaming friend of mine reminded me that the “next great” Homeworld game was looming large on the horizon: