Homeworld: Deserts Of Kharak For Mac

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Alles Discussies Screenshots Artwork Uitzendingen Video's Nieuws Gidsen Recensies Alles Discussies Screenshots Artwork Uitzendingen Video's Nieuws Gidsen Recensies. Bought this 2 days ago and love it but it's driving me nuts, it crashes all the time and even starting it up is a nightmare. I contacted BBI via their forum but their tech support, whilst quick, keep asking me things like, 'have I modded the files' and ' have I tried updating my graphics drivers'. I already gave them a full breakdown of my iMac setup but they seem clueless, naive at best re.

• Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak Buy
• Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak Review

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is a real-time strategyvideo game developed by Blackbird Interactive and published by Gearbox Software. The game was released on January 20, 2016,^[2] and is a prequel to the 1999 space-based real-time strategy video game Homeworld.

Development[edit]

Gearbox Software bought the intellectual property rights to the Homeworld franchise during THQ's bankruptcy auction in 2013.^[3][4] Following this, they announced that they were remaking both Homeworld and Homeworld 2 in high definition, released on Steam in February 2015 as Homeworld Remastered Collection.^[5]

After obtaining the IP rights, Gearbox granted permission for use of the Homeworld IP to Blackbird Interactive, a company formed by members of the original Homeworld development team in 2007. At the time, Blackbird was developing a ground-based RTS game entitled Hardware: Shipbreakers, which was subsequently renamed Homeworld: Shipbreakers and announced as a prequel to Homeworld.^[6] On December 16, 2015, the game was officially announced as Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.^[2] The game also became available for pre-order on Steam on that date. Pre-orders of Deserts of Kharak also included the Homeworld Remastered Collection for free, while those who already owned the Homeworld Remastered Collection received a 20% discount for their pre-order of Deserts of Kharak.^[7] The pre-order also came with a free copy of the interactive Expedition Guide, a DLC companion application to the game, which details the history of Kharak and its society, the expedition and its purpose, technical data on the vehicles used by the Coalition and the Gaalsien, and a behind-the-scenes look at Blackbird's founding and the eventual progression from Hardware: Shipbreakers to Deserts of Kharak. Blackbird would later revive the Shipbreaker name and concept with the space salvage simulator Hardspace: Shipbreaker, scheduled for release in June 2020.^[8]Deserts of Kharak became available for purchase on Steam, along with the game's soundtrack by Paul Ruskay (who also composed the soundtracks for all of the previous Homeworld games), on the day the game launched.^[9][10][11]

On 15 March 2016, the Soban Fleet Pack was announced as Deserts of Kharak's first in-game DLC pack, adding Kiith Soban as a playable faction in Skirmish and Multiplayer modes. Kiith Soban is a subfaction of the Northern Coalition, but with a number of unique differences, including their own version of the Carrier, Battlecruiser, Baserunner, and Railgun vehicles. The pack is available as of 22 March 2016.^[12] A second DLC pack introduced the Khaaneph faction, clanless scavengers from Kharak's southern deserts who use salvaged Gaalsien technology. The Khaaneph fleet pack was released on 26 April 2016.^[13]

Plot[edit]

The game is set on the desert planet of Kharak, the home-in-exile of the Kushan (Hiigaran) people, 106 years prior to the events of Homeworld. Kharak is a dying world, the desert growing larger with each passing year, and the Kushan clans regularly wage war amongst one another. Then a satellite detects an object in the Great Banded Desert, known as the Jaraci Object, or the 'primary anomaly'. An expedition had been sent by the Coalition of the Northern Kiithid, a group of Kushan clans from the northern polar region of Kharak, but had disappeared in the desert four years earlier; the in-game campaign centers around a second expedition, and its chief science officer, Rachel S'jet.^[2][14]

Rachel's expedition, centered around the Kiith S'jet land carrier Kapisi, departs from Epsilon Base in the Kharakian desert. Shortly after the expedition departs, however, Kiith Gaalsien (a group of religious zealots exiled from mainstream Kharakian society) attack and destroy a number of Coalition bases, including Epsilon, and lay siege to the city of Tiir, the planetary capital. The Gaalsien then attack the Kapisi at a S'jet base known as the Boneyard, while the Kapisi is undergoing final outfitting for desert operations.^[14] A masked Gaalsien commander named Khagaan declares that the Coalition's use of satellites and other space-based technology violates the law of the Great Maker, Sajuuk, and the Gaalsien declare war on the Coalition. Escaping from the Boneyard under cover of a sandstorm, the Kapisi searches for their sister ship, the Kiith Siidim carrier Sakala, which also escaped its base after a Gaalsien attack.

Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak Buy

In a region called Hell's Gate, the expedition stumbles upon the wreck of a previously launched S'jet carrier, the Ifriit Naabal, the flagship of the first expedition four years earlier; Rachel's elder brother Jacob had been first officer of the carrier, which recovered an artifact from the wreckage of a space-going vessel called the Kalash. The expedition moves in to salvage more artifacts from the Kalash, but come under attack from superior Gaalsien forces, led by Khagaan from the carrier Ashoka. Just as the expedition is about to be overrun, the Sakala and its escorts arrive with reinforcements, driving the Gaalsien forces off. The Sakala draws off the Ashoka while the Kapisi attacks the Gaalsien resource operations, but the Gaalsien carrier changes course to attack the Kapisi and its escorts. Despite the Gaalsien carrier's defenses and EMP weaponry, the Coalition forces engage and destroy the Ashoka.

Approaching the edge of Gaalsien territory, the two carriers assault a Gaalsien fortress, again using the Sakala to draw off the base's defenders while the Kapisi attacks the resource operations. Accessing the Gaalsien database, Rachel discovers that her brother had survived for years in Gaalsien custody, and that the Gaalsien believe the Jaraci Object to be the mythical Khar-Toba, the 'First City' and origin of Kushan civilization. The Gaalsien leader, the K'Had Sajuuk, believes he will become ruler of all Kharak if he enters the temple of Khar-Toba. Along the way, the expedition also discovers a number of shipwrecks that are largely intact in spite of their age and conditions in the desert, and Rachel theorizes that they in fact materialized inside solid rock (referencing the hyperspace abilities of vessels by the time of Homeworld), having been forcibly intercepted by the power contained within the Jaraci Object site. Making their way through a narrow canyon into a region the Gaalsien call the 'Dreamlands', the Kapisi and the Sakala engage and destroy two Gaalsien carriers, and fight their way to a high plateau in order to obtain critical supplies via airborne cargo landers from their leaders in Tiir.

As the K'Had Sajuuk's forces approach the primary anomaly, a weapons satellite opens fire on them from orbit; Rachel leaves to investigate the source of the signal that triggered the satellite, as the Kapisi holds its ground against enemy forces on the plateau in order to secure a runway for the landers. Just as the Coalition forces gain the upper hand, however, the Siidim forces betray them, opening fire on the S'jet cargo landers; the Siidim, long-time enemies of the Gaalsien, declare that they alone were of divine origin and would 'purify' the desert, and that Khar-Toba and its secrets were theirs to claim. Rachel discovers that the signal that triggered the orbital satellite was from a Taiidan carrier, which crashed on the surface after deploying the weapon; Jacob used the transponder to trigger the satellite himself before dying of starvation and exposure. Rachel escapes the wreck with the transponder and makes a rendezvous with the Kapisi, which engages and destroys the Sakala and its escort forces.

With the Siidim defeated, Rachel travels ahead of the expedition, discovering that Khar-Toba is in fact an ancient starship, surrounded by an ancient city buried in the sand. The expedition sets up a scanner network around the wreck to better direct the Taiidan weapon satellite in orbit, and face the K'Had Sajuuk, commanding a unique flagship-style carrier. The Coalition forces destroy the Gaalsien flagship in a heated battle; as his ship is consumed in the explosion, the K'Had Sajuuk warns that Kharak would be destroyed by fire from the sky (prophetically referencing the events of Homeworld) as a result of the Coalition's actions. At the end, Rachel reflects that her brother had believed the salvation of their people to be found in the desert as the scene pans out from Khar-Toba towards the night sky, and the future that would await the Kushan in the century to come.

Factions[edit]

Unlike the previous games, which had two separate races, all of the factions in Deserts of Kharak are Kushan, but have distinct looks from one another, and also work differently. The campaign centers around the Coalition (the player's faction) and Kiith Gaalsien; two other groups, Kiith Soban and the Khaaneph, were added in DLC packs as playable factions (in addition to the originals) for Skirmish and Multiplayer modes.

Coalition of the Northern Kiithid

A loose alliance of clans from the northern polar regions of Kharak, based in the planetary capital of Tiir, which were responsible for Kharak's spaceflight program and the discovery of the Jaraci Object. The clans involved are based largely on what vehicle designs they provide to the expedition forces; they include S'jet (the command carrier, its production facilities, and its launched aircraft), Soban (armored attack vehicles), Naabal (heavy ordinance and Baserunners), Manaan (light attack vehicles), and Somtaaw (salvagers).^[15] The Coalition makes extensive use of wheeled and tracked vehicles, heavy armor, and deployable technologies such as portable scanners, turrets, and mines, deployed by the Baserunner vehicles. Their tactics are described by the developers as being similar to the Greek phalanx and Cold War-era vehicle tactics, both of which required total commitment to battle.^[16]

Kiith Gaalsien

A renegade clan dedicated to Sajuuk, the Great Maker Whose Hand Shapes What Is. Unlike the other religious clans, the Gaalsien preached harsh punishments against those who violated Sajuuk's law. Four hundred years before the events in Deserts of Kharak, the Gaalsien were declared outlaws after destroying the city of Saju-ka, killing thousands.^[17] Well-adapted to residing in the deep desert, the Gaalsien use hover technology for their vehicles, and rely on speed and hit-and-run tactics, resulting in their vehicles being less armored than the Coalition forces. The Gaalsien also make use of railguns and self-repairing technology, recovered from wrecks in the desert. Tactically, they are described as being similar to the Mongol hordes, relying on mobility and probing for weaknesses before attacking, and the modern United States Armed Forces, using advanced technology to fight an opponent without fully committing.^[18]

Kiith Soban

A clan belonging to the Coalition, which provided most of the heavy military hardware for the expedition forces. Known as the 'Grey Brotherhood', the Sobani are a mercenary kiith formed from the remnants of a clan destroyed by rivals centuries before, eventually becoming one of the most feared warrior clans on Kharak.^[17] Their vehicles are nearly identical to those of the greater Coalition, with some notable exceptions - the Sobani place greater emphasis on railguns, and both their Carrier and Battlecruiser vehicles are equipped with these weapons over the standard heavy cannons.^[12]

Khaaneph

A group of clanless scavengers from Kharak's southern deserts, descended from survivors of clans destroyed in the Heresy Wars between Kiith Gaalsien and Kiith Siidim, hundreds of years prior to Deserts of Kharak. 'Khaaneph' is the Gaalsien word for 'godless'; while the Coalition clans are seen as followers of 'false gods' due to their emphasis on science over religion, the Khaaneph believe in nothing at all, save for their own survival. They often raid desert settlements and supply caravans, utilizing every last scrap of resources they can muster - even consuming the corpses of the dead.^[17] They use salvaged Gaalsien technology (particularly in the use of hovercraft), combined with heavy armor plating; the Khaaneph Carrier can also provide speed boosts not only for itself, but for all vehicles in a certain radius around it. They make extensive use of siege weapons, missiles, and other explosive devices.^[13]

Spin-off[edit]

Deserts of Kharak is a spin-off, in that it deviates from the backstory included with the original Homeworld in the form of the Homeworld Manual: Historical + Technical Briefing booklet. The latter maintains that Kiith Gaalsien self-destructed and was reduced to the status of myth centuries before the discovery of Khar-Toba^[19] and clans had long ceased any serious military conflict.^[20]

Reception[edit]

Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak Review

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak has received 'generally favorable' reviews from critics, scoring 79/100 on Metacritic.^[21]

Mark Steighner of Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4 out of 5 saying, 'Homeworld: Desert of Kharak is an accessible and well-made strategy game with outstanding production values and a legitimate claim to being part of the legendary franchise.'^[23] Patrick Hancock from Destructoid rated the game a 7.5/10 saying, 'the campaign is well executed for veterans and newbies alike, proving that over a decade without Homeworld is far too long.'^[22]IGN awarded it a score of 8.8 out of 10, calling it a 'deep, exciting, varied RTS with all the right tools.'^[24] Zach Turnbull from Gone With The Win rated the game a 8/10 saying, 'A good, if not ground-breaking, tactical RTS accompanied by excellent story elements. Don't expect to recreate the magic of the original Homeworld 16 years ago and you won't be disappointed.'.^[25]

References[edit]

1. ^http://madewith.unity.com/stories/blackbirds-epic-road-trip
2. ^ ^abcHomeworld: Deserts of Kharak Announced - IGN
3. ^Sliwinski, Alexander (2013-04-22). 'THQ auction results: Nordic Games takes Darksiders, Red Faction; 505 Games is Drawn to Life'. Joystiq. AOL. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
4. ^http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/community/articles/1029/homeworld-acquisition-and-plans/
5. ^Griffin McElroy (2015-01-26). 'Homeworld Remastered Collection launching Feb. 25 with original games, multiplayer beta'. Polygon. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
6. ^Williams, Mike (2013-09-02). 'Gearbox had 'no clear path' for Homeworld IP'. gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
7. ^Pre-purchase Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak on Steam
8. ^Chalk, Andy (20 April 2020). 'Hardspace: Shipbreaker, a game about the horrors of blue-collar work in space, is coming in June'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
9. ^Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Expedition Guide - Gearbox Software
10. ^Deserts of Kharak Expedition Guide on Steam
11. ^Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - Soundtrack on Steam
12. ^ ^abSoban Fleet Pack on Steam
13. ^ ^abKhaaneph Fleet Pack on Steam
14. ^ ^abWatch the First Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Gameplay - IGN
15. ^Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Expedition Guide, Section 7.0: 'Vehicle Manifest'
16. ^Deserts of Kharak Coalition Faction Overview - Blackbird Interactive
17. ^ ^abcHomeworld: Deserts of Kharak Expedition Guide, Section 4.0: 'Kharakid Social Systems'
18. ^Gaalsien Faction - Blackbird Interactive
19. ^Homeworld Manual: Historical + Technical Briefing. Sierra Entertainment. p. 24. Military expeditions to track them down once and for all have always failed, and a certain mythology has grown up around them -- as if there is a nagging suspicion in the minds of modern Khiraki that the only way Kiith Gaalsien could have survived is if they really did have the grace of Sajuuk.
20. ^Homeworld Manual: Historical + Technical Briefing. Sierra Entertainment. p. 2. In 810, with all factions exhausted and falling from internal anarchy, a small clan emerged from hiding from the settlement at Tiir. [~snip~] within 20 years Tiir was the new capital and the Age of Reason had begun.
21. ^ ^ab'Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
22. ^ ^abPatrick Hancock (2016-01-20). 'Review: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak'. Destructoid. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
23. ^ ^abSteighner, Mark (22 January 2016). 'Review: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak'. Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
24. ^http://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/01/23/homeworld-deserts-of-kharak-review
25. ^'Review: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Review'. GoneWithTheWin. Retrieved 2016-02-01.

External links[edit]

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is Homeworld, in a desert, on Kharak.

I'm not even being all that churlish by describing it that way. I went into this expecting a desert-set RTS with a strong Homeworld flavouring. What I got, and what ended up being a bit of a surprise, was something that transplanted the classic Homeworld space-based gameplay down onto a planetary surface. And I mean literally transplanted, word-for-word and concept-for-concept, almost to the point of absurdity in places. You don't have an army, you have a fleet. The basic minigun-equipped LAV unit is referred to as a 'Strike craft' by the fleet personnel, and function exactly like fighters would in a real Homeworld game. Your biggest units are called cruisers rather than crawlers or tanks or whatever. The sensor manager returns, with identical icons for denoting fighters, frigates and capital ships. There's a main mothership unit that builds all of your stuff, from which you can send salvage craft out to gather RUs from resource points scattered across the map. The list goes on and on, but make no mistake: this game isHomeworld, just with the third dimension stripped out.

Not that I think that's a bad idea. The original Homeworld games were lauded more for their setting, atmosphere and combat mechanics than they were their use of the third dimension. I can't remember many levels that took great advantage of the added Z axis, and interacting with it yourself by trying to issue move orders above or below your units' current position was always a bit awkward. It seems a bit weird to be saying that making Homeworld two-dimensional makes it better, and I don't necessarily think that it does, but it's definitely different, not to mention much more appropriate for the sort of tightly-focused game Deserts of Kharak is. There's an enforced supply cap restricting the number of units you can build that starts out low and gradually increases as the campaign wears on, so for the first 6-7 missions you're tooling around with no more than fifty units plus your command carrier – and most of those are the fighter-esque LAVs. This means you gain a healthy appreciation for the innovations Deserts does bring to the Homeworld formula: the use of tactics, terrain, positioning and special abilities to bring the pain down on the overwhelming enemy forces without losing too many of your own. That sense of attrition has always been part of Homeworld; a key feature of the series is that your fleet and your mined resources persists from mission to mission, which promotes a keen sense of efficiency on the part of the player, and something that is especially heightened in Deserts of Kharak thanks to the comparatively small set of assets you have to play with.

I should back this up a little bit, though. Deserts is set on the Homeworld prison planet of Kharak shortly after its inhabitants achieve basic spaceflight, and follows the search for the shipwreck containing the hyperspace core (here referred to as the Primary Anomaly) that kicks off the events of Homeworld 1. Said shipwreck is located in the middle of the inhospitable planet-spanning desert, so the pole-dwelling Northern Coalition outfit and dispatch an expedition force centered around a huge aircraft carrier on tank treads called the Kapisi. Unfortunately the inhabitants of the desert — the religious Gaalsien, who see spaceflight as a mortal sin that will bring destruction down on Kharak¹ — don't take tremendously kindly to any of this and launch an all-out war against the North, which means that the Kapisi now has to battle hordes of bloodthirsty desert warriors on their way to the Anomaly.

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is Homeworld, in a desert, on Kharak.

I'm not even being all that churlish by describing it that way. I went into this expecting a desert-set RTS with a strong Homeworld flavouring. What I got, and what ended up being a bit of a surprise, was something that transplanted the classic Homeworld space-based gameplay down onto a planetary surface. And I mean literally transplanted, word-for-word and concept-for-concept, almost to the point of absurdity in places. You don't have an army, you have a fleet. The basic minigun-equipped LAV unit is referred to as a 'Strike craft' by the fleet personnel, and function exactly like fighters would in a real Homeworld game. Your biggest units are called cruisers rather than crawlers or tanks or whatever. The sensor manager returns, with identical icons for denoting fighters, frigates and capital ships. There's a main mothership unit that builds all of your stuff, from which you can send salvage craft out to gather RUs from resource points scattered across the map. The list goes on and on, but make no mistake: this game isHomeworld, just with the third dimension stripped out.

Not that I think that's a bad idea. The original Homeworld games were lauded more for their setting, atmosphere and combat mechanics than they were their use of the third dimension. I can't remember many levels that took great advantage of the added Z axis, and interacting with it yourself by trying to issue move orders above or below your units' current position was always a bit awkward. It seems a bit weird to be saying that making Homeworld two-dimensional makes it better, and I don't necessarily think that it does, but it's definitely different, not to mention much more appropriate for the sort of tightly-focused game Deserts of Kharak is. There's an enforced supply cap restricting the number of units you can build that starts out low and gradually increases as the campaign wears on, so for the first 6-7 missions you're tooling around with no more than fifty units plus your command carrier – and most of those are the fighter-esque LAVs. This means you gain a healthy appreciation for the innovations Deserts does bring to the Homeworld formula: the use of tactics, terrain, positioning and special abilities to bring the pain down on the overwhelming enemy forces without losing too many of your own. That sense of attrition has always been part of Homeworld; a key feature of the series is that your fleet and your mined resources persists from mission to mission, which promotes a keen sense of efficiency on the part of the player, and something that is especially heightened in Deserts of Kharak thanks to the comparatively small set of assets you have to play with.

I should back this up a little bit, though. Deserts is set on the Homeworld prison planet of Kharak shortly after its inhabitants achieve basic spaceflight, and follows the search for the shipwreck containing the hyperspace core (here referred to as the Primary Anomaly) that kicks off the events of Homeworld 1. Said shipwreck is located in the middle of the inhospitable planet-spanning desert, so the pole-dwelling Northern Coalition outfit and dispatch an expedition force centered around a huge aircraft carrier on tank treads called the Kapisi. Unfortunately the inhabitants of the desert — the religious Gaalsien, who see spaceflight as a mortal sin that will bring destruction down on Kharak¹ — don't take tremendously kindly to any of this and launch an all-out war against the North, which means that the Kapisi now has to battle hordes of bloodthirsty desert warriors on their way to the Anomaly.

The plot is yet another way in which Deserts is basically Homeworld all over again. You're trying to get to a far away destination through desolate, hostile territory populated by enemies that vastly outnumber you. The Kapisi is still fitting out as it starts its journey into the desert, just as the Homeworld Mothership was, which provides an excuse for drip-feeding new units and research as new systems come online. The one big structural departure is that your Gaalsien opponents aren't quite the strict mirror image of you that the Taiidan were in Homeworld; they have a few of the same basic units but the Gaalsien variants invariably trade off durability for speed, as befits their background as hit-and-run desert raiders. These differences are explained away as the Gaalsien exploiting the numerous 'alien' shipwrecks littering the desert and reverse-engineering their technology, and that's something that you can do too via the new special abilities.

Every unit now has at least one special ability of some sort, as befits this slightly more conventional style of RTS that Homeworld has become. Some of them are activated via a hotkey and some of them are passive, but all of them are incredibly useful. This might be down to the small unit roster (3 basic units, 3 cruiser units, 3 support units, 3 types of aircraft), however I found it really impressive that I couldn't find a single duff one amongst them and that they all got used to greater or lesser degrees during my campaign. The LAV boost got me out of more tight jams than I care to remember, zooming across the battlefield to the flank I'd carelessly left open to buy time with their lives while my heftier units trundled over there, or evacuating from combat after assassinating a key soft target. The AAV smoke cloud ability is invaluable for fighting enemy railguns, which appear in large groups of 5-8 and will chew you up if they have any kind of line of sight. The Support Cruiser gets possibly the best abilities of the lot, with a set of passive repair beams (upgradable to have AOE), anti-air missiles and EMP rounds that temporarily disable anything they hit; I had five of these things mixed in with my cruiser group towards the end of the game because they were so damn useful. It's the humble Salvager's special abilities that come in useful for breaking up those precious shipwrecks, though, as it can deploy manually-detonated TNT to smash them open. This scatters precious resources over the surrounding area for your salvagers to collect, but also — occasionally — Artifacts that you then take back to a Support Cruiser or the Kapisi to get a passive upgrade of some sort.

I was a little bit disappointed that the Artifact upgrades were rather dull compared to the special abilities unlocked through conventional research. Don't get me wrong, they are useful, but they do boring-yet-invaluable stuff like making your units cheaper or lowering their supply cost. I guess that because picking them up is entirely optional (and in a lot of cases very risky, as it involves an unnecessary jaunt into enemy territory) the developers didn't want to lock off any of the really cool stuff and instead relegated them to having useful passive advantages that you could nevertheless probably survive without. At least the search for these Artifacts results in you never really getting resource-locked; my view is probably biased since I'm very familiar with how Homeworld works and how critical having a decent stockpile of resources is, but even though I erred on the side of caution and didn't waste time mining out every single node I still ended up holding on to a huge surplus of raw materials until the very last mission of the campaign.

The campaign itself starts off really strongly, when everything is still limited in scope and Deserts has yet to lose that new-game shine. The focus on relatively small-scale engagements really helped things here, I think; for much of the early game you only have access to the three basic types of combat unit – LAVs, armoured vehicles and railguns — plus airstrikes from your Carrier (you build fighters like any other unit, but they're called for a single limited attack much like the aircraft from Airland Battle or the Orcas from C&C) and the focus is very much on that clever positioning and use of abilities that I mentioned earlier. The terrain is made of up of the typical sand dunes you'd expect from a desert environment, but an interesting thing about Deserts is that there's no such thing as 'standard' ground level; those dunes constantly undulate up and down just as you'd expect a real desert to, and this makes taking advantage of the high ground mechanic – whereby high ground units get big passive bonuses when fighting enemies at a lower elevation than them — a little more interesting than it would be otherwise as you're constantly jockeying for the best position to take advantage of it. Deserts is at its best when you have those small tracked/wheeled units screaming about the desert landscape, like it's Homeworld crossed with Mad Max. Grim fandango remastered for mac os. The missions are relatively well-designed in such a way that each unit type can make a valuable contribution to the fray, and you can even think about getting your carrier involved too, as it is now an absolute beast in combat with the correct power settings.

Sadly it doesn't last. I suppose it's inevitable given that it's such a literal one-to-one translation in many ways, but Deserts has the same problem as Homeworld in that once you unlock capital ships you render all smaller craft pretty much redundant. Why would I continue to piss about with a formation of LAVs or AAVs when a pair of Assault Cruisers has more firepower than twenty smaller vehicles put together? The game turns from the interesting tactical challenges of the early game to just blobbing things with a group of Battlecruisers, Assault Cruisers and Support Cruisers, and it's unfortunate that this comes at roughly the same point as the mission design takes a noticeable dip in quality. The enemy AI is pretty dodgy at the best of times and it's only because it spawns these preset formations of small craft that it seems in any way balanced at all, but once you give it cruisers any semblance of intent goes out the window. Take the penultimate mission, for example, which involves fighting a huge mess of enemy units that are just driving around randomly at the bottom of a crater. They make no real attempt to take you on en masse, but because there are so many of them there's no really clever way to take them about without taking significant losses. This goes against all of the good points I mentioned earlier; there's no tactics or smart use of abilities involved anymore and no real possibility of preserving forces in an intelligent way, and instead you're just smashing your hard units into their hard units and hoping they die before you do.

I think this is the point where a space-based Homeworld has a definite advantage over its ground-based offspring; two groups of capital ships beating the shit out of each other may not have been particularly taxing as a gameplay concept, but it was spectacular to watch. Deserts is a good looking game in an understated sort of way, but its cruiser vehicles lack the elegance of design and the ion cannons of the Destroyer or the Heavy Cruiser of Homeworld and its cruiser vs cruiser engagements are ultimately no more entertaining than a tank rush in C&C. They're about as awkward too, as the size of the cruisers mean Deserts' significant issues with pathfinding are rudely brought to the fore. At least in 3D space a Destroyer couldn't run into any obstacles and could path around other ships okay; here they get stuck doing fifteen point turns around small terrain features and each other, and have a nasty tendency to cluster up in exactly the sort of way that makes them terrifically vulnerable to enemy artillery/cruise missile strikes. If the early game has been specifically designed to make the most of Deserts' good points, then the last 3-4 missions of the campaign show up its bad ones very effectively by boiling the game down to its most unpleasant elements.

That's a huge shame, because I was very on-side for Deserts of Kharak during the first five hours I was playing it. It did a lot right, and despite copying so many concepts from Homeworld it introduced enough of its own to start building its own identity, especially since the atmosphere and sound design are almost as good as that of the original games. This made it all the more disappointing that it fell down so badly during the closing missions; the quality of everything seemed to dip rather noticeably and it was a definite chore to get through the last two hours of the game. It doesn't feel anywhere near as polished as the first two-thirds, it closes things off with a very perfunctory ending that doesn't do justice to the rest of the game's efforts at world-building, and just generally feels like it was rushed to get it out the door for whatever reason. Also, while I do feel that Deserts does understand what makes Homeworld Homeworld, it doesn't have anywhere near the same bleak beauty that was such a selling point for the original series. It definitely felt like there was something missing the whole time I was playing it, and I think all of that together knocks it down from my initial opinion of 'Good' to a more qualified 'Average with some good points'. Do buy it if you like Homeworld or are interested in seeing how it transitions to 2D, but otherwise I wouldn't exactly rush to pick it up.

1. Hamhanded foreshadowing ahoy! ↩