14 DAY TRIAL // I quickly moved through the initial stages of both Homeworld games before I reached two of the missions that I have always dreaded, the ones in which the development team at Relic is using radiation to limit the battle space and to force players to use certain units and tactics in order to reach their objectives.
There are plenty of moments in the two experiences when players need to tailor their plans to the conditions, but most of the time, the games manage to feel organic in their approach, with story elements that justify the limitations.
In the two radiation missions, the narrative reasons for the limited movement space are very weak and gamers will have their patience tested as they try to make sure where they can move without having their ships' hulls breached quickly and with deadly results.
The first Homeworld is the most punishing in this respect because the level only offers a few areas of protected space that are not clearly demarcated.
Use of heavy ships is a good idea and tends to deliver solid results, but gamers need to have a lot of them in order to overcome the defenses of their target, and that means resources, which can only be harvested by carefully placing assets.
Homeworld 2 makes the task somewhat easier
In the sequel, players get some more options, with special units called Movers able to eliminate radiation sources and open up the map for the rest of the ships.
But even the Homeworld 2 mission is more restricting than it should be, with players basically asked to tackle the hulks in a certain order to make sure that they can take out enemy carriers and finally a shipyard before their forces are overwhelmed.
The series was known since it was first launched for the fact that it included some difficult sections which really challenged players, but it would have been nice to see some of the artificial difficulty spikes adjusted somewhat for the Remastered version.
Despite the frustration that failure can generate, Homeworld offers the kind of mechanics that push the player to hit Restart, think a little and try out a new set of strategies rather than abandon the level and head to another game for consolation.
So after getting bitten by radiation, I jumped right back into the fray searching for a new way to move around it and progress.
