Far Gate

There really is nothing to dislike about this credible tribute to the seminal Homeworld, except to say that against Homeworld and it's semi-sequel Cataclysm, it just isn't as polished, or, to be more accurate, as finished.

As with Homeworld you can select and direct your ships in a true 3D space, unlike Homeworld, however, there is really no need to: the enemy attacks from the same horizon. The graphics aren't as impressive, especially the dozens of ships and stations (although the planets and gaseous clouds are more interesting to look at than Homeworlds Spartan backdrops).

The biggest problem is that even on a hi-spec PC, the game slows to a crawl whenever the screen fills with units. This wouldn't be such an issue if the game wasn't without some sort of failsafe device. Let me explain: you start in a solar system, and no matter what the objective, you must first deploy a Pre Fab unit to build a base of operations. Once done you are asked to explore, kill, probe, whatever, but the fact is that if you sit back, rake in the seemingly limitless resources and expand your base to its limit, you can build the maximum 200 ships and win without much effort. The problem is that the missions are scripted in such a way you only encounter the enemy when you physically move your ships into a certain area. Therefore, if you don't move, you can fill the screen with polygons and win every mission in jerky slow motion.

All of which could be rectified with a patch. Elsewhere, the comic-book story line, eccentric soundtrack (that at times sounds like freeform jazz - nice), mission builder and multiplayer options make up some rough edges, but we'd suggest waiting a while for Super X Studios to finish the game before parting with your cash.