Enough that it would be a discouragement to go back and replay missions on a higher difficulty or to earn achievements. The most infuriating issue I found with the game were the unskippable cutscenes. It tended to happen a little too frequently for my liking, and the game had a few other small issues that compounded on one another. Even knowing a twist to the mission was coming and that I would have to dramatically change my tactics, I sometimes found that it was too late for me to alter my strategy enough to solve the new objective in time. Missions in Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak generally follow a predictable pattern: achieve the main objective by following secondary objectives, big mission twist, completely different objective. Units are constantly moving during skirmishes. This problem can rear its head with the common mission structure that you will see throughout the campaign as well. If I reloaded a checkpoint, sometimes I would be stuck in a spot where it was too late for me to change the outcome of the upcoming event. Even with the tutorial help, the slower-paced, methodical style of the game, a few times locked me into unwinnable situations. The opening few missions of the campaign mode do a good job of introducing units and demonstrating the situations they are useful in. Every unit has counters, and being able to quickly identify an enemy’s weakness and react in an efficient way is key to victory. Gameplay-wise, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak follows the familiar paper-rock-scissor style typically associated with the genre. There seemed to be some sort of context sensitive AI that would let units respond to the situation rather than just announcing “Light attack vehicle at your service!” The sound and graphics combined to bring battles to life, as units circled, fired, and exploded with convincing style. The voice acting is well designed and thought out, even after many hours of playing I would hear units tell me new things. The sound design complements the art style in bringing the universe of the game to life. A sense of the scale: that’s your mobile base on the left (and not even all of it) compared to several small units on the right.
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