A revolutionary vision of Real-Time Strategy in space
Gameplay: 9/10
This game takes the RTS genre into true 3D (in space no less). Not only do you have to worry about the X and Y axis for your ships, but the Z axis (depth) as well. More amazing than the shoe-horning of a excellent RTS into 3D is how simple Relic made the interface. Genius.
Graphics: 9/10
Watching two capital ships with fleet in tow pounding each other is a sight to see. This is what people imagined when they thought of an epic Star Wars game. Lens flare and Nebula effects add to the fun.
Sound: 9/10
The score is haunting and appropriate, the voice acting is consistant, and the sound of the units are great. Honestly hearing radio chatter is so cool.
Value: 8/10
The game is a bit short, a bit simple (if you know what you're doing), linear, and the multiplayer isn't that good. Still it's such a good value, you get a revolutionary RTS game for (in 2000) $50 and today (2006) peanuts.
Tilt: 9/10
I had so much fun with this game. When I saw fleet on fleet combat actually happening as I saw it in my head my jaw dropped. If you like RTS games or sci-fi you owe it to yourself to pick up this game.
When I first played this game I couldn't believe my eyes. Here was an epic story, excellent score, and most importantly space ship fleet combat modeled correctly. You had to take into account all 3 dimensions of space and use them to your advantage. Maybe you could lure an enemy fleet to follow diversionary squad while your main fleet flanked them from above (KHAN!). There is of course the requisite RTS elements, you must mine resources (asteroids for ore), research new technologies, and then use this new tech to build ever advancing ship-lines. One really cool thing is that different ships have different types of weapons (an ion cannon for instance). Even in the late stages of the game every ship has a purpose because a certain type of weapon (even remedial ones) might be the most effective against a certain type of enemy in a certain situation. Also, your troops all carry over between missions. When you warp out of one board and into another the fleet you amased follows you, and as such you build a strong attatchment to your ships (as it should be). The down-side to this is that if you make a mistake in one mission, even if you succeed, you may have to restart many missions down the road when you realize you do not have the proper fleet to handle the more difficult situation. The game became extrordinarily easy once I realized a "broken" aspect, the salvage ships. Basically I built large squads of salvage ships and would constantly harass enemy fleets with them. What a salvage ship does is use tractor beams to tug enemy ships to your mothership where it is refitted and becomes usable by you. If you salvage a large % of an enemy fleet you can conserve your resources on tech and have an ever increasing fleet of your own (basically you are destroying one enemy unit and adding one to your fleet, all for free). If you are running low on cash you can steal a unit and then scrap it. Though it can be hard at first once you master the salvaging technique the game becomes excessively easy. Still this game is terrific, and other than homeworld 2 no game really comes close to modeling epic space fleet vs fleet combat.