Homeworld (1999)
I had never really been into any computer games (with the exception of children's crap, like the Carmen San Diego series) before my friend Phillip lent me Homeworld a few years ago. I remember running through the tutorial in complete awe; though the graphics aren't stellar by today's standards, they're still pretty impressive and given my lack of gaming experience, I wasn't about to complain. So I bought my own 'Game of the Year edition' copy and proceeded to enjoy. One of the biggest strengths of this game was the uniqueness of the plot and its dramatic video presentation. Basically, the Kushan race (you) has discovered a long lost hyperspace core and evidence that they were exiled long ago from their true home planet, Hiigara (which is, believe it or not, spelled correctly). They decide to build the Mothership with the hyperspace core, but during its testing, apparently they break some kind of ancient treaty. This really pisses off the Taidan, the dominant race in the galaxy, and they decide to destroy the Kushan planet along with all of its population not aboard the Mothership. From then on, the Kushan have to regroup and steal various pieces of technology while defeating any attacks made by the Taidan on their quest to return to the homeworld Hiigara. There is also another hostile race encounted in the Garden of Kadesh levels, but that's left for the reader/gamer to find out.
I'd say one of the hardest (and most fun) things to do was getting used to the million buttons that a gamer can memorize in order to have efficient control over their race. Any given ship has basic movement commands that can be issued in a variety of ways. For instance, one can move a ship within the scope of the ship's own view; the same ship, however, can be moved over much bigger distances in the sensors manager, which is basically a zoomed out view of the entire map. Most ships have their own individual tasks they can carry out. Fighter and corvette class ships are most useful in attack formations when defending or offending against an enemy. Frigate and capital class ships are more useful in big wall formations, as they move more slowly and are more efficient when they all target one enemy at once. Repair corvettes and repair frigates can be used to give health to any damaged ship, including other repair ships. Salvage corvettes are used to take command of other enemy ships, though the salvager must bring the stolen ship into dock with the Mothership (and often more than one salvage corvette is required to successfully do this). Finally resource collectors are used to break down the asteroids and space dust around the map and break those materials down into Resource Units or RU's, which are the minerals used to build ships.
So Homeworld is a great game, and much fun for anyone interested in RTS games. One other great item that was included in my 'Game of the Year edition' box was the soundtrack for all the great music written for the game. The only track missing from that CD was the "Homeworld" theme written by Yes, which is a great song. Hopefully I'll eventually get around to writing about the sequels Homeworld: Cataclysm and Homeworld 2. Oh yeah, one might also notice I couldn't actually find a decent picture of the front cover of the game box, so I ended up using a version of the box that appears to be written in German... (Updated 1/13/2004)


Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2000)
(this review was copied directly from my review on Amazon.com) The first time I came in contact with RTCW was when some friends of mine and I played the Beach multiplayer demo at a LAN gathering. Basically, everyone who played it went through a religious realization of how great the multiplayer experience was, and we all looked forward to the official release.
I was certainly not let down at all. Although the Beach was still by far the best multiplayer map in the game (and easily one of the best multiplayer maps of all time), the others were still excellent. The ways in which all the various classes of players could collaborate made the game team-orientated in a very original way. Although the engineer was the only completely necessary class in most cases to win a match, having an even distribution of players using all the classes made for a much easier time in achieving the objectives. For instance on the beach map, the Allies needed to retrieve some documents inside Castle Wolfenstein. In order to get inside the castle, engineers were required to plant dynamite and blow the castle walls (Axis engineers could diffuse the dynamite). Medics keep the engineers and other players alive to carry out the task, lieutenants feed everyone ammunition and throw airstrikes to eliminate the opposing threats, and soldiers employ a panzerfaust, mauser sniper rifle, venom (handheld gattling gun), or flamethrower to provide additional protection. Though RTCW was not the first game to invent player classes, it employed these classes in new ways that provided for fantastic gameplay.
Also, the single-player campaign was excellent and I still consider it one of the best of all the games I've ever played. I thought the storyline was pretty cool, and enjoyed how the writers weaved together fact and fiction concerning WWII and Himmler's work in the paranormal. The main character is BJ Blazkowicz, a captured US soldier who escapes from Castle Wolfenstein and encounters both Nazi enemies and undead demons in an effort to thwart the Germans and win the war for the Allies. In addition to the weapons listed in the multiplayer description, the game also features such weapons as the Thompson, MP40, Colt, Lugar, pinapple grenades, and potato mashers. My favorite single-player experience is a level later on in the game when Blazkowicz is required to sneak throughout a German village and eliminate eight important generals. The village is armed with an alarm system and if an enemy spots him, they can pull the alarm and the level resets. Basically, the level requires a player to use only a knife or a silenced weapon and contributes to the invention of the Covert Ops class in the sequel to RTCW, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, which is another game I very highly recommend (also, the game is free). (Updated: 1/25/2004)



Battlefield 1942 (2001)


Max Payne (2000)

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