Are We There Yet?

I went through the Homeworld 2 demo about a week or two ago. Back in college, I'd played the original Homeworld quite heavily. It's back drops were stunning, the story was incredible, and it was a fairly revolutionary game for the time. I don't recall ever completing the game as my addiction to Counter-Strike rapidly asserted its claim on my gaming time. But I do have fond memories of the original. When Sierra said they were publishing a sequel, I was almost giddy with anticipation.

I initially gave my impressions on this demo to Ian (click to check out his thoughts on the demo). I wrote him an email with my thoughts and impressions shortly after completing it, so here's what I thought:

• It will be worth reading the manual if you buy it. I forgot how complex Homeworld was. Staying to the original formula has made the sequel no different.
• The demo only has one tutorial that familiarizes you with movement, the camera, and sensors map (an important key to the game). Prior experience with Homeworld is very helpful
• The first mission is a bit of a tutorial as well.
• Graphics are really good again, although I'm not sure they're as stunning as the original. I recall being awed at the backdrops of the original. I'm not in awe with the sequel. They may have sacrificed some of this quality to keep the game running smoothly due to the increased polys on the ship and better ship effects.
• That being said, it ran pretty good on my machine with half the settings on medium quality and the other half on high quality (machine: P4 1.8 GHz, 512MB RAM, 64MB GF3).
• The added shadows and some other (particle) effects are really good.
• Panning the camera with the mouse at the default sensitivity is bad. Does no one pay attention to the default mouse sensitivity anymore? I like the mouse a little loose, but it is way too sensitive. It jumps all over the place. Make extensive use of the sensor map and center on active ship key (default is middle mouse button) to navigate quickly. Ship grouping hot keys are a must as well.
• Sound is excellent again.
• Biggest improvement I've seen in the limited amount of time you have with the demo is in cut scenes. They're fantastic. Some are in-game, others are aren't. Both are great.
• Voice acting is about a C+. Some characters are just ok and others do quite well

As Ian said, the demo did well in that it left me wanting more, which is key to a successful demo release. As my original Homeworld CD has disappeared, I'm tempted to take a visit to Amazon.com. They sell Homeworld Game of the Year edition for $10. They used to have its expansion pack, Cataclysm for the same price, but I see that's no longer true. Oh well. So much for adding a $5 book and getting free shipping.