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That's no moon
The scope of a game like Hegemonia is so great that I know it will be impossible
for me to describe every option and feature available to the player. So instead
of rambling on about the game’s mechanics, I’ll just tell you about
a few of the experiences I’ve had while playing.
Having just liberated an enemy planet, riots began to erupt throughout the
colony. It soon became apparent that they didn’t like having their cities
occupied by my troops. Not wanting to waste precious resources “re-educating”
the citizenry, I turned the missile battleships in orbit around the planet inward,
and wiped out all surface life. I then dispatched a colonization ship to the
now-lifeless rock, ready to fill it with loyal inhabitants. Evil? Sure. But
it felt so good. (Keep in mind this is all done in real-time, so you can watch
as the missiles impact on the surface of the planet and the population slowly
drops from the tens of millions to total extinction.)
In one of the early single-player missions, you are tasked with destroying
an enemy military station. These are daunting opponents, and my small fleet
of proton fighters would have been completely useless against its many proton
batteries and turrets. Luckily, I received a communiqué from a spy who
had infiltrated the station and was ready to disable its defenses for a short
period of time. I dispatched the few fighter squadrons under my command to attack
the station, and by the time it had restored power to its weapons systems, it
was too late. The base exploded in a brilliant mix of blues and reds and turned
into a piece of stellar wreckage. Mission accomplished.
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RTS strategy of “turtling.” I built several planetary batteries
around my home planet, and put a military station in orbit. Being all alone
in the whole solar system, I thought I would be safe for awhile. I built a squadron
of fighters to investigate the system, especially the wormhole on the opposing
side. (Luckily, Hegemonia allows for time compression, so the journey didn’t
take too long.) Almost at the same moment my poor squad arrived at the edge
of the wormhole, four enemy battleships came through, decimated the fighters,
and charted a course directly for my homeworld. I immediately decided to abandon
the planet, and started building transport ships in the hope of evacuating my
civilization to another world. As the colony ships were launching, the mammoth
battleships arrived on the scene. I thought my best chance for survival would
be to head for the wormhole – a bad idea. They made it past the four battleships
and into the wormhole, only to be destroyed by the other fleet waiting on the
other side. Poor bastards never even had a chance.
Climbing the Tech Tree
A huge part of Hegemonia is researching. The list of available items has well
over a hundred options, ranging from family-planning programs for colonists
to neural interfaces between fighter pilots and their ships. As you progress
through the research tree, you will be able to build more advanced starships,
and automatically outfit them with such devastating weapons as quantum cannons
and terminator missiles. Fortunately, researching never seems to bog down gameplay
or create unfair imbalances. Unfortunately, the research list is the same for
each of the three empires. This does have an adverse effect on multiplayer games,
since the only thing distinguishing the races is the design of their ships.
Speaking of ship design, it rocks. Alien vessels really do look alien, and are
functional in their own unique way. Hegemonia also has an intriguing “hero”
system. During multiplayer or skirmish games (and throughout the course of the
single-player campaign,) the player will be periodically contacted by freelance
spies, pilots, etc, who will, for a price, work for your empire.
Space Race
Multiplayer in Hegemonia plays very much like Homeworld, but considerably deeper
and moreended. In a map with three solar systems each with a variety of
planets which in turn can have several moons, (all of which bound together by
a series of wormholes,) you can see that the strategic possibilities are indeed
limitless. At one point in my playing, I had several colonies on nearby planets
with the sole purpose of producing extra parts for the construction facilities
on my home planet. It is also worth noting that Hegemonia has extensive cooperative
features, a rare and welcome addition to an overall excellent game.
In Conclusion
Sure, the game isn’t perfect. I encountered a few bugs during play, but
nothing that impeded my ability to enjoy the game. Probably the biggest strike
against Hegemonia is the lack of any tutorial. (I can’t remember the last
time I had to read a game’s manual to figure out how to play.) The interface
takes a bit of getting used to, and seems to have been designed to stress style
over functionality. While annoying, these problems are minimal, because when
you get right down to it, Hegemonia is a hell of a game. I had originally looked
at Hegemonia as something that could tide me over until the release of Homeworld
2, but I’ve all but forgotten about that game for now. Take note Sierra,
Hegemonia is the game to beat.
Highs:
Stunning graphics
Epic sci-fi battles
Coop multiplayer
Tons of research branches
Awesome ship design
Great cinemas
Lows:
Research list same for all empires
Control layout can be tricky
No tutorial/training
92/100
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