I absolutely adore real time strategy games, but it has been a very long time since I’ve played one. Admittedly that is mainly down to my aversion to PC gaming, but also due to console RTS games being few and far between these days.

So, when I saw the trailer for Homeworld: Vast Reaches on the UploadVR Showcase, I was very excited. I knew about the Homeworld franchise and how revered it was, but I’d never actually played any of them before; and now, with the release of a new game in the series on VR platforms, it seems like the perfect time to start.

Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

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GOING HOME
Playing as Tyrra Soban, you take control of the Kushan fleet. You’re not just an ordinary commander, however, as you have a neural link with the mothership which allows you to both see your army and control them at your fingertips. You’re new to the job, and as such will be guided by the previous fleet commander, Karan S’jet, who does a great job at helping you get to grips with everything as you try and stop some sneaky traders from stealing your hyperspace core.

Set between the events of the first two games, Homeworld: Vast Reaches introduces new players to the world through the use of some great dialogue and cutscenes to help you learn about the different characters and races, leaving you with a solid foundation of the Homeworld lore. Despite not knowing anything beforehand, I never felt overwhelmed by everything going on, and was ultimately left satisfied by the story over the course of its eleven missions.

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Unlike a traditional RTS, Homeworld: Vast Reaches scraps the need for base building as everything revolves around your mothership and a handful of different fleets. Whilst some may be dismayed by this concession, in practice it works quite well; you still need to build harvesting ships to collect resources, and engineers will still be needed to repair units (and also for certain other objectives too), but these ships will also be assigned to one of the fleets.

Where the strategy comes in is with managing your units. As the game progresses, you’ll get access to more and more ships, each built with their own strengths and weaknesses. Capital ships are strong, but they’re also pretty slow and can be easily ganged up on. Bomber units are great for taking out big enemy ships, but are susceptible to fighter units. Using scout ships to find out what the enemy has in store is useful for building up an appropriate armada for a successful attack.

It’s not just ship building either, as the fleet commander can issue special commands depending on the ships available. Perhaps you’ll get the engineers to repair some of your bigger ships, or maybe even charge up a powerful ion blast. It adds an extra layer of depth to proceedings, and is essential to get through some of the later, more difficult stages.

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Speaking of which, the campaign mode does a good job at utilising this simple setup to great effect. Each stage generally revolves one primary objective, which you then need to prepare for and carry out. For example, one mission has you hunting down various battleships to find an important character. Once found, you need to capture it by destroying the warp gate so it can’t escape, and then assign your engineers to board and capture it.

Of course, enjoyable missions would be meaningless if the controls weren’t up to scratch, but they’re pretty intuitive. You can use the grip buttons to pull yourself around the battlefield, and order your fleets around by using the trigger. Placing your left palm upwards will allow you to activate special powers or fleets, as well as allow you to build when the action is paused. If your hand is facing the other way, you’ll see a handy little map that outlines your current objective. These are only the basics, with some other added intricacies to make managing things easier, but they’re extremely easy to pick up and do everything you need to do.

The game is also pretty gorgeous to look at too, with ships having a lot of detail when viewed up close. I also particularly liked the effect that plays after the level ends and you use your warp drive to get away, as well as all the little explosions that go on as you bombard enemy ships (which can be viewed up close should you so wish). It’s also worth noting that the game features a mixed reality mode too that replaces the vast depths of space with your own play area, but it looks so laughably out of place that I wouldn’t recommend playing with it unless you really want to see what’s going on in the real world.

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Homeworld: Vast Reaches is such an enjoyable game that it’s appropriate that my only real complaint is that I wish there was more to it. The campaign is well paced and doesn’t outstay its welcome, but once it is over there’s not a whole lot to make you want to come back. Sure, you could go through the game again on a higher difficulty, but there’s not really a lot of incentive to do so. It’s a shame, especially when you consider that RTS games are renowned for their replayability, and a lot of that is down to the inclusion of a skirmish mode or PVP – both of which are lacking here. Perhaps more will be added by the time the Steam version launches later this year (and I really hope so), but currently it’s a very notable omission.

VERDICT
RTS games are few and far between on virtual reality platforms, but Homeworld: Vast Reaches shows off just how well it can work. Sure, they’ve had to simplify the controls in order to make it all work intuitively in VR, but they did so perfectly. It’s a little disappointing that there’s no skirmish mode to encourage replayability once you’ve finished with the campaign, but it’s still a game I’d strongly recommend regardless.