Science Reviews

That's about all you know as you begin the game. You fight them because you're told to by the cold manager, Enrica Hayes who has no brains and couldn't care why you do what you do. When you get your mission briefings from Enrica, you then get to configure your units with whatever options are available, fill your drop ships, and land to attack.

The game works with individuals grouped together into set units. While a set of 4 tanks move together, a particular tank can get wounded and die. You can't tell a particular tank to go somewhere on its own, though. The unit moves together. This makes it easier to manage many missions, simply grabbing units and pointing them in directions.

The graphics are great! Ground Control has the move-anywhere view that Dark Reign 2 uses. Very intuitive and easy to use. Follow along with a unit, or get a birds-eye view of the great graphical combats. While my Athlon-750 often choked on some of the larger scale combats (boding poor results for slower machines), in general it whisked along at a good clip.

The landscape is fully three dimensional and fully rendered. Hide in the shadow of a cliff to get an ambush jump on your enemy. Sneak along under trees or overhangings to avoid being seen. Troops have options for weaponry and healing that can be customized. Troops can be carried in APCs to zip from location to location, and peel out quickly into whichever formation you specify.

The downsides on the game are the stuttering I mentioned before on heavy-graphic situations, and also the general situation you, Major Sarah Parker, find yourself in. While it's great that the lead player and her boss are both women, it's very, very annoying playing a game in which you watch your 'friends' shoot up hospitals, where you're berated by your commander and where no matter how quickly you get to someone, the program insists it's "too late" and you must watch the person die to further the plot. I have enough frustration in real life without playing a game in which the lead character is drinking after each mission, wondering why she even keeps fighting. Does that provide any incentive for the player to want to keep playing?

Also, most games of this style allow the player to choose amongst factions and decide which side to play. In this game it's very linear. Each mission is forced on you, and what you do in the mission is pre-set. While replaying the same mission 10 times might have them decide to attack from the NE or the SE randomly, they always attack, and then the same exact messages always appear, which you cannot click through.

If you enjoy strategy combat without building units or structures, and have a fast enough machine to handle this, Ground Control might be the perfect game for you!

Traditional real-time strategy games are all about base building and figuring out how to churn out disposable units faster than your opponent. They appeal to those who enjoy Axis & Allies, Starship Troopers (the movie), fast-paced action, and who don't care about patience / intricate plans.

The best thing about Ground Control is that you can rename and customize your squads. I say squads because unlike traditional RTS games and like real-world militaries, all your units in the game are squads of 3-10 individual soldiers/tanks/planes. In the first mission you get 1 squad of marines, and you can customize them to be Offensive (more firepower), Defensive (more armour), Recon (more speed), or Balanced. If they survive the mission, they may earn a medal of commendation, and will gain experience. The next mission, they'll fight a little harder and live a little longer than an inexperienced squad. Half the fun of the game is grooming units into elite squads, or feeling sorrow when you have to leave a n experienced squad behind to fight a suicide delaying action while the rest of your force escapes.

Customization goes further than experience, names, and general focus. You can also choose to add special equipment or weapons. This lets you tailor your forces to your unique strategic style. For example, you can give one unit of tanks indirect-fire mortars, and your other unit of tanks a loadout of armour piercing cannon shells. You put the mortar unit behind the anti-armour unit, then have some Recon-focused marines scout out the enemy. Shell the enemy with the mortars while retreating the marines, then decimate the enemy with the anti-armour tanks when they get close. Other commanders may wish to load all the tanks with the armour-piercing rounds and simply charge the enemy. Whatever your style, Ground Control delivers.

The fact that your forces are limited makes each of your soldiers that more precious. You have to PLAN your attack, using your squads' special abilities and unique equipment to their best advantage. Use terrain to give a better field of fire, use fast units to lure the enemy into an ambush, conceal your troops in the shadow of a ridge to protect them from return fire. Tactical finesse is needed if you are to avoid friendly fire casualties, efficiently destroy the enemy, and prevent the loss of key units.

Most missions have a time limit, adding even more excitement. All the missions are tied together with a pretty typical plot of Mega Corp vs. Techno-mystics, all fighting over something powerful that niether truly understands. There are a few recurring characters (like in StarCraft), but they pale in comparison to that game's memorable heroes. That's fine. While Ground Control won't win awards for story or writing, it deserves recognition as one of the more innovative, strategicaly satisfying, and FUN games of the year.

There is a wide range of playable characters and pods available, and the choice of upgrading or buying parts for your vehicle. The speed of the racing is incredible; it's a white-knuckle ride across ice and desert and through caves and tunnels. None of the pods come equipped with weapons, but to be honest you just don't need them: the game in no way suffers from the lack of them and the racing is excellent by itself.

There are eight racing worlds and over twenty levels, each at different stages of difficulty. Each is beautifully designed and exciting to play, although later on in the game the tracks set in the same worlds may seem a little similar. The map of each track that appears at the top right of each screen can sometimes be hard to read as not enough of each track is shown and making out competing pods is difficult.

One great thing about the game is that it has great replay value. Even though it's pretty easy to beat, I've played it through several times now and still haven't got bored of it. Overall, four and a half stars. The graphics are excellent but the tracks can get a little repetitive. You don't have to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy this game.

The Graphics are TOP NOTCH!! The compant, Lucasarts produces the best graphics in computer games. The game follows the story line of the movie well. Sure, the tracks are on differant planets than just Tatooine, but hey; It's fun! :) I love the game. And the characters from the movie, you can play all of them. The ONE thing that is not like the movie (BUT I'M GLAD IT IS ON THE GAME) is the "YOU GET A NEW PODRACER" feature when you crash...It's a life saver!!!

ALL AROUND, I GIVE THIS GAME A 2, maybe 3, thumbs up.

JASON ANDERSON

In Mega Man X5 we saw one of our favorite videogame series change into something else. These changes actually made the game easy and never made me think about playing it again.

However, Mega Man X6 is different. First of all, the game is actually a good challenge, actually this is the first Mega Man X game that has taken me more than a week or 3 days to get to the end of, and I still haven't beaten it (for me thats saying a WHOLE lot, I'm pretty sure people can beat Mega Man X in a day). The game is not as focused on plot as X5 was either.

However, the game may seem a little too difficult at times. Not to mention that they still didn't get back to anime videos. While I admit in X4 the voice acting wasn't good, Mega Man X6 has far too much dialogue. The game keeps something going for hours, that my friends is action, just what this game needs.

My only other gripe is that with the capsules they kept what they were doing in X5. In other words, until you collect all 4 pieces, you can't use the armor.

You can play as Zero but in the end it won't pay off. In X4 Zero was a character to remember, but now I gaurantee that you'll prefer X over Zero if you liked Zero in the past. X gets a Z-Saber but its useless to use. The music in the game could use a lot of work too. In the Past Mega Man X games the music has been really good.

Another gripe (but can be a good thing to raise Difficulty and replay), is that the level is never the same level twice. A random effect happens. You could play through a level once, then play through it again to find different enemy placements, you could find objects that weren't normally there, platforms in different places, but you can also find many mini bosses who use a different pattern.

My advice, Play Mega Man X4 or X2 before playing this game just to get the feel of what its like. X5 was also be a good decision this time around. Keep that in mind as those games are much better to get you started on the series. For the expeirienced, good luck with this one cuz its actually a challenge.

And so far, I can't even get the game to play. I installed and uninstalled twice. I have downloaded updated drivers for NVIDIA GEFORCE FX 5200 128meg video card. I have changed all of the settings over and over again. And still can't play. I see the beginning story in the aftermath that follows the end of Homeworld, of them rebuilding. But as soon as I see the ship fly in on the first cutscene, I get kicked back to Windows.

My recommedation is if you have XP, don't get this game. So far, it's more trouble than it's worth. So now I guess I will try Homeworld 2.

The whole beautiful "space is a large, lonely place" premise has been completely manhandled with foolish commentary. The music and sound effects are trite. The ships are still huge, but a lot of the "improvements" or other enhancements seem visual or unnecessary.

The fact that "Barking Dog Studios" (never heard of them) places their logo on the pause screen helps to solidfy the fact that Sierra and Relic seemingly don't want to touch this one. I'm hoping that Homeworld 2, being developed by the Relic team, is a closer match to the awesome original.

Cataclysm is a 3 dimensional real time space stragegy game. However, it is not of the Descent or Tie Fighter genre, where the question is how fast you can shoot. The thing that make it so addictive is that it also includes elements of a simulation (such as sim city) and the battles involve stragety rather than how fast you can point and shoot.

The basic story is that 15 years after returning to their homeworld in the epic game Homeworld, a Hiigaran mining space vessel, the Kuun-Lan, inadvertently releases an intelligent interstellar virus of sorts which can subvert living and inorganic matter, almost instantly turning your own ships against you. Eventually, it allies with your enemies, the remnants of the old Taidan Empire, which you (hopefully) wiped out in the first game. You have to conduct scientific/engineering research, build ships, mine resources, and upgrade the mining vessel until you become one of the most powerful armadas around. You get to be the General, rather than the pilot!

The game graphics are excellent and very detailed. In fact, they are so good that the scenes between missions use the game's graphics rather than specially done animation. In fact, on the DVD "Yes -- live at the House of Blues," there is a music video of the Yes song "Homeworld" which uses only video from the first Homeworld game.

As you startoff yo only have a small fleet, and a few planets that support you. But you can persuade planets to join your cause, build fleets, begin missions, and more. Though this game has controls that take some time to get used to, you will eventually you master them. One of the coolest things in the game is the fleet engagements. Though the ships may not look that good, the commands are effective. You can send task forces to engage specific things, you can command squadrons of fighters, and even set specific manuevering points and attack procedures.

The game also includes a long list of characters from the movies, like Han Solo, and newly created characters. You can check the character attributes to see if they're effective at diplomacy or combat.

The few cons in this game are is the lack of action. You usually will be ssitting watching at an unchanging screen for minutes or hours. There is also no strategic command for Assaulting planets. The game will only simulate the battle.

Lets see the pros and cons laid out once more.

PROS+
Great fleet battles
Long roster of characters
Need of Strategy

Cons-
Lack of action
No assault command
Some difficult controls
Though the lack of action may turn players away, this is still a fun game with a need of strategy.

If you are a fan of strategy games such as KOEI's 'Pacific Theater of Operations' series or MicroProse's 'Master of Orion 2,' you'll likely enjoy Rebellion. The game incorporates the standard resource gathering, exploration, fleet building, diplomacy, etc. and does it in high Star Wars style! You can micro-manage every facet of your infractructure or delegate as much or as little to your droid assistant as you wish. Fleet battles can be glossed over or you can take direct command. You can even choose how big to make the galaxy. The soundtrack is classic Williams, and is varied enough not to be repetitive or annoying.

I would rate the interface at intermediate complexity, and the game overall as mildly complex. As has been previously stated, you WILL need to read the manual, and I also recommend the strategy guide if you can get your meat-hooks on one. I suggest playing a 'small galaxy' game as the Rebel Alliance first, since the Rebels can re-locate their base. It's FUN to make the Imperials play a 'shell game' when they think they have you on the ropes. Once you've finished that first game, you will have the basics down and should be pretty well hooked.

You know you want to build a Death Star. Yes, you can watch it do the job in cinematic glory. Happy hunting!

If you are unfamiliar with the Homeworld series, it's based on fighting your way through levels, where you bring your resources and space fleet from the previous mission (level) to the next. They are all interconnected, and if you do poorly in one, chances are you'll be at a disadvantage in the next one.

You command the mighty mothership in your quest to save the galaxy by retrieving an old hyperspace gate. The mothership is able to build ships, including carriers that in turn can build most types of ships. You will be tasked with developing technology, building a viable fleet, mining for resources, completing mission objectives, and fending off the enemy - all in a nice concoction of organized chaos. The pace can be pretty high at times, and although the battlefields are nicely laid out and the navigation relatively simple, it's still a mess to get through some of the missions. Chances are you'll play each mission somewhere between 2 and 20 times before you succeed.

PROS:
* Excellent concept and gameplay
* Beautiful graphics and sound
* Hours and hours of fun and challenging gameplay
* Multiplayer option, and option to play against the computer
* Large fleet of different ships - friends, allies and foes
* A lot of improvement to make to your fleet through research
* Nice storyline to follow

CONS:
* Extremely hard - only one difficulty level. It's a good idea to either read online strategy guides and walkthroughs, or simply buy the official strategy guide.
* Hours and hours of challenging gameplay - It can get a bit tedious and frustrating to play the same mission over and over again.
* Not a game for relaxing in front of the computer.

I highly recommend this game, and it's sure to give you days and days, probably weeks and weeks of active gameplay. I was considered giving this game a 5, but since there's quite a bit of room for improvement, and the difficulty level is a bit on the high side, I give it a still very enjoyable 4 STARS!!!

1. "Sequal" does not nessicarily mean better game
2. Better graphics are often used as an excuse to cover up the exact same story
3. Never pay full price for a computer game

First and foremost I love both Homeworld and Homeworld 2. That being said I have to say that if I had paid full price for this game I would be incredably mad. Its the exact same basic story they just improved the graphics(with eye popping clairty I might add). I still love the game and the missions are quite challanging but if you are expecting something revolutionary you are not going get it. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The first big improvement was the way they changed the way the various ship strenghts and weaknesses. In HW1 and HW:C, the capital class ships (Destroyers, Cruisers, ect) would chew up fighter and corvette class ships without taking much of a beating. That and the fact that they were also good at killing large ships discuraged me from purchasing fighter/vettes. HW2 has changed that by taking away the really powerful anti-fighter/vette weaponry from the cap ships (ie the missile launchers) and replacing them with large and ungainly anti-cap ship torpedo launchers, making it possible for the player to take out a Battle Cruiser or a bunch of destroyers with nothing more than the lowly attack-bomber; unless, of course, the enemy has brought some smaller escorts to guard against that very move.

Another big improvement is the ship limit built into the game. In both HW1 and HW:C, ships shared the limited supply spots based on their size, allowing you to go for a handfull of capital ships (which took more supply spots), a large swarm of fighters (which took less supply spots), or a compromise with a few of each. In HW2, they have changed that by giving each TYPE of ship their own supply spots. Now, instead of having to worry about whether you can buy a fighter and still have enough supply for a frigate, you can build both (as long as you haven't filled up your Frigate spots and your Fighter spots). The benefit to this system is that it allows players to buy up as many capital ships as they have spot for, AND buy some fighters, vettes, and frigates to escort them to the enemy Mothership.

Besides Motherships and Carriers, you get to make Shipyards as well. Shipyards are the only facilities that can make the super-capital class Battle Cruisers. Furthermore, Relic expanded upon HW:C's use of Mothership/Carrier add-ons by making you build modules in order to build certain ships and upgrades. For instance, you need a Frigate Module on your Mothership in order to build frigates from your Mothership. Other modules include Research Modules, Hyperspacing Modules, Gravwell Generator Modules, and a host of others that you can build to "customise" your Mothership/Carrier/Shipyard, and the limited number of spaces for these modules makes choosing which to build on which platform a tricky situation.

Pros:
-Strike craft can take out unescorted capital ships
-Strike craft come in formations that are rebuilt with no additional cost as long as one of them docks with a friendly Mothership/CV/ect
-Customizable "modules" available for Motherships, Carriers, Shipyards, and Battle Cruisers (BCs can't build ships, but they can get upgrades that increase the combat effectiveness of nearby friendly ships, modules that enable them to hyperspace jump, and some others)
-Subsytem targetting allows you to take out the engines, modules, or sometimes certain weapons on the larger enemy vessels. This can be critical in those battles where you really need to keep that Destroyer from closing with your Mothership, or you want to take out the resourcing point so the enemy Carrier can't dock workers.
-Great graphical improvements over the previous two incarnations
-"Skirmish vs CPU" mode where you can fight against one or more AI enemy.
-Multiplayer capable with up to 6 players.

Cons:
-The storyline completely ignores the events from HW:C (probably because Relic wasn't involved)
-Although the single-player campaign is fun, it has a limited replayability. Multiplayer combat (or skirmish against the AI) is the way to go after playing the single player version.
-There is no mission editor (not surprising, but something that could have helped with single-player replayability)

I still play this game when I want to, it's just that it's just not the same like the first time I played it, cuz I didn't know what was going to happen(I didn't use a guide because I didn't want to ruin the suprise, and man it was a painful long jurney) If you like games like Silent Hill or Resident evilm I would definitly recomend this game, but rent it first.

peace

Pros:

Mobility, coupled with an array of growls, roars and twitches, will keep your attention for a short while. I do give the creators credit for a sincere effort at realism, however...

Cons:

The clawlike arms are not mechanized, and just hang there.
There is a loud clicking sound (gears?) as he moves his head.
Although the legs move, the tail is stiff and non-functional (tags along on non-powered wheels protruding from below).
The big guy has trouble negotiating anything other than smooth, flat surfaces.

Basically, I think the problem with toys such as this, is simply the lack of child interaction. After a short time, the novelty wears off, and junior goes scurrying back to the lego blocks. I also purchased a very well-conceived E.T. figure for my 5-yr. old son (4 at the time). The vocal effects were excellent, but like Mr. T-Rex, he was soon gathering dust in a box in the closet.

Bottom-line: Child interaction is priority #1. A good jigsaw puzzle will beat the heck out of fancy, mechanized toys. Fool me twice - shame on me.

Don't let the cartoon-like 2D animation fool you - this is a game that requires considerable strategic planning several moves in advance. The number of powerful weapons only adds to the strategic choices. Shall I use the Ninja rope,swing over a cliff, and drop a Holy-hand grenade? Shall I release an exploding sheep over a deep chasm to destroy an opponents worm? Should I fire Patsy's Magic bullet instead, eliminating a worm half-the-map away. The strategic possiblilites are endless.

The Ninja rope is particularly useful, as it allows you to swing over cliffs, or into crevices, and plant explosive weapons in places you wouldn't be able to otherwise.

You can choose to play the single-player campaign, but the multiplayer is the very best reason to buy this game. Play this game with friends! And don't forget to bring your exploding sheep to this party!