Dubious Yes soundtrack aside, Homeworld was one of the finest games released in 1999. The saga of the orphaned Kushan people's journey to their new home on the planet Hiigara captured the imaginations of real-time strategy gamers and those few Battlestar Galactica fanatics who didn't get enough of a ragtag fleet on the Sci-Fi channel. "Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny" may have been replaced by the less ominous "Running from the Taidani Empire," but that isn't so bad when you consider that avoiding the official license meant not having to deal with Richard “Apollo, Not the Naked Survivor Guy” Hatch and his foufou 1979 hair.

Such dramatic success has of course founded a new PC gaming franchise initially represented by Homeworld: Cataclysm. The new title is being billed as a stand-alone expansion pack for the original game, though it really includes enough new missions and alterations to the basic gameplay to qualify as a full-blown sequel. Regardless of how you classify this game, it works on just about every level. It enhances the Homeworld experience in numerous ways, redefining the concepts that made the original so compelling and playable. At the same time, it's also definitely not a retread. Gamers familiar with the first game don't have to worry about those distressing flashes of déjà vu that so often accompany add-ons and sequels.

A big reason for this is the new plot. Homeworld: Cataclysm takes place 15 years after the Kushan migration from Kharak to Hiigara. During that time, the Kushan have settled in to their new surroundings and begun addressing the new challenges of defending a planet, not fighting to claim it. Although they no longer have to worry about the Taidani Empire, other concerns such as protecting shipping from Turanic Raiders and inter-family rivalries are now present. This latter problem led to some serious issues between the family houses, or kiiths. Kiith Somtaaw, one of the oldest groups, responded to a conflict with others by building two massive mining vessels and a research frigate and then leaving Hiigara for the stars. The game begins with you in control of one of the mining ships, the Kuun-Lan.