Its here at last! OK, so maybe ya'll havn't been anticipating this game as much as I have, but thats the way it is. First off, I've only had the game for 3 days now, and since games are illegal in this household on weekdays, I havn't been able to play the game too much yet; I'll probably update this as I work my way through the single-player campaign. Now for the actual review...

The first thing noticable about this game, especially at the higher levels of detail, is that the graphics are absolutely beautiful. The backgrounds are massive and colorful, often filled with rainbows of gases and glowing planets. The ships have superb detail, with varying textures, lighting effects, the works. However, the real treats are the battles. The only way I can describe them is to say its like watching the battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi, only you control the ships and the camera.

The ambient sounds and battlechatter are also very well done, though I have yet to really listen to the music...

Gameplay is excellent. I think it could be a little better, i.e. a few more types of ships, technologies and such, but overall, its loads of fun. Some people might complain that there are only two different sides to choose, but I think that Relic did an excellent job with both and that another would have taken more effort and time than it would be worth. After all, Relic has less than two dozen people, as compared with 50+ for major strategy studios such as ES and Blizzard.

The different styles of combat the each side uses are very noticable and well put together; the Higarans focus on more multipurpose ships that are touch cheaper than their opponents. The Vygar, on the other hand, have more specialized ships that are excellent at when they are meant for and rather poor at other jobs.

Capital and Mothership-class craft (destroyers, battlecruisers, carriers, etc.) also have subsystems that provide for interesting tactical choices in battle. Would it be better to disable that battlecuiser's engines, pull back, and gather your forces? Or hope that your bombers will survive long eough to destroy it before fighters arrive to back it up? Should you destroy the mothership's ability to hyperspace away or the corvette production facility first? These choices add many interesting tactics to the game.

The interface has also been improved greatly from the original Homeworld. More on that later...

• Over all: 9.2/10
• Graphics: 9.5/10
• Sound/music: 9/10
• Gameplay: 9/10
• Interface: 9.5/10