Recent reviews by Admiralthrawnbar

I will split this review into 2 sections, because my opinion varies drastically between the two.

GAMEPLAY:
TL;DR: While not perfect, 90% of what I could want from a Homeworld game

UI has been streamlined compared to previous installments, I think for the better. The combination of production and research into a single tab rather than separate ones is particularly useful. I've seen people complain about the pathfinding but personally haven't had much of an issue with it. Music is as good as I remembered, graphics (with one notable exception elaborated on in the next section) are great though you can tell that yourself without ordering from looking at promotional images. I do agree with some other people who miss targetable subsystems, but it's far from a game-changer as there were very few instances in previous games where you could destroy a subsystem and be unable to finish off the ship it was attached to entirely. Being able to click on objectives and have ships navigate straight to them is also another great quality of life feature. Capturing is also re-implemented in a far better way than Homeworld 2 or Deserts of Kharak, allowing a similar playstyle to Homeworld 1's "capture everything that moves" approach. The only real complaint I have for this section is the skirmish AI being quite bad, doing little more than spamming ships at you from game start rather than any actual strategy



CAMPAIGN:
TL;DR: Downright unacceptable for a Homeworld game, if it weren't for the fact that I think the game is getting more hate than it deserves this would be a negative review based on this alone

It seems like they took all the wrong lessons from Homeworld 2, ignored all the good additions from Deserts of Kharak, and sprinkled in some new terrible ideas on top. Rather than a plot-driven story like all previous Homeworld games, 3 is very much character driven, with all cutscenes focused on the characters and their interactions rather than plot and worldbuilding. This had the potential to work, except none of the characters are likeable or engaging at all. We lose the "professionals under pressure" style of writing and voice-acting that shined in previous games. Homeworld 1's intel manages to calming give a report while clearly holding back emotion when his planet is destroyed in front of him, yet here our main character cries out in our first fight because she can "feel the losses" (also never explained). Intel (I refuse to use his name, all the previous Intels were just "Intel", he can live with it too) is the only passable one, and even he does little more than provide a few ham-fisted moral lessons to our protagonist, the insufferable Imogen S'Jet.
Speaking of S'Jet, Homeworld 3 doubles-down on one of the worst decisions of Homeworld 2 by treating Karen S'Jet and anyone related to her like Star Wars treats the name skywalker, while still not giving a justifiable reason for her to be special compared to all the other characters. We are introduced to the concept of "Navigators" (Both Imogen and Karen being examples) as if the they have always been a thing, and as if there is something special about them, which makes no sense because at the same time, they de-mystify the hyperspace cores (one of their few good moves) by making several "synthetic" cores that can do the same thing. No justification is given for Navigators being special, since it's just a piece of technology which is manipulated like any other, yet somehow they are special while the people controlling all the other parts of the ship aren't.
The game also has a couple catch-phrases it tries to make sound cool or deep or whatever that just end up being aggravating every time I hear them. "Sands and sinners" is a believable curse for a culture that originated on Kharak, but they ham-fisted it in every chance they could and it gets old extremely fast. "May the Burden remain" is only set up for this awkward callback late in the game that just falls completely flat.
Our villain is no more engaging a character than our heroes, as she acts like little more than a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, her motivations are only loosely defined and what can be interpreted is laughably stupid. After beating her boss ship in the final mission she actually sounds like a child who's favorite toy as been broken.
I also need to mention the massive step backwards in cinematic quality. Previous games used a pencil and ink style with minimal motion that was beautiful, it added a personal touch that was very appreciated. It was also a masterpiece of show-don't-tell, as with the exception of a vague outline of Karen in the first game, the emperor's robotic eye in the first, and a shot of Makaan's head in the second, we never saw characters faces, all inter-mission cutscenes was of stuff relevant to the mission just ended or to the one upcoming. Even when Deserts of Kharak broke this rule, we almost never saw characters talking to each other, when an update to the mission of situation was occurring we reverted to the previous style of showing equipment and/or locations relevant to what was being discussed rather than the people talking. Homeworld 3 breaks this rule, virtually every cutscene is of characters and their talking to eachother, all rendered with a god-awful attempt at realism rather than the previous artistic approach. Faces are ugly, hair is ugly, it's all just terrible and sad considering early trailers showed an artstyle similar to Deserts of Kharak, which wouldn't have saved the story but it would have at least looked pretty while being terrible.
And after all that, the game has the gaul to end with a clear sequel-bait ending, which I'm still conflicted on because while I love Homeworld, this game might well kill the franchise a second time and if it doesn't, a game built off this story if executed similarly to this one would put the final nail in the coffin.
The game also has a nasty habit of taking control away from you in order to have characters talk. Previous Homeworlds only did this at the start of a mission, or had the decency to pause the action while control was taken from you. In this, I have seen ships dying and been unable to give orders to save them because some character I didn't care about was talking and the game decided that meant I couldn't play my game. You either pause the action when you take away control, or don't take away control in the first place. All the previous games knew this, I'm not sure why this one doesn't.
It also follows the Homeworld 2 trend of forcing you to leave the moment the mission ends, rather than waiting for you to give the order like Homeworld 1. I'm not sure why they removed it then, and I don't know why it's still gone here.

On the positive side, because there are at least a few positives, the initial hook is pretty interesting, our previous protagonist going on essentially the same mission as we are then disappearing is an interesting premise were it executed better. The image of seeing the previous mothership frozen in ice is beautiful and that entire mission, minus the cut scenes bookending it, is great. (though I do have to say, this should have been the homeworld 2 mothership, it makes sense and would have been a nice callback) The individual campaign missions, removed from the storyline, also tend to be pretty good. Nothing outright awe-inspiring but also nothing that feels out of place for a homeworld game

Gameplay: 8.5/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Music: 9/10
Story: 2/10

I'm not gonna lie, the game is definitely a bit rough around the edges, a bit buggy and missing a few quality of life features I'd like. However at it's core it's one of the best games I've played this year. The setting is definitely a unique one that the game leverages quite well in it's gameplay.

Pretty decent

The Best RPG ever made, 11/10

Wonderful! It's a shame that you had to cut some corners with the minor factions but definitely worth it.

This game is homeworld. If you want to give this game a chance, accept that. Other than that, it is a very good game. It has it's flaws, all games do, but on the whole, it's very good. It has a very fleshed out story that works with the game. And keep in mind, this is one guy. If he can do this by himself, imaging what he could do with a team of people.
Pros:
It's homeworld
Unique idea
Procedually generated map
Meaningful discisions that have an effect on what you do later
3 different shipsets to use
Quick/useful tutorial
Cons:
It's homeworld
Slow camera controls
AI can get annoying

This is an amazing strategy game with wonderful graphics

This is an amazing strategy game. for any who enjoy rts games this is 1 of the best out there. i also recomend the mod star trek armada 3