The most important changes take place in unit balance and the user interface. The latter in particular has been much improved- largely simplified and less reliant on key commands. That is, you can do almost every function with the mouse alone, whereas in the first game you had to remember key bindings. Build and research queues have been added, and tabbed windows to keep the control panels small. There are no longer formation settings for your fleets- instead, they have been reduced to several strike group and posture settings that automatically configure formations. For the most part this is welcome, as it results in a less complicated control scheme and most of these defaults are what you would do in Homeworld anyway.

Balance changes include charging resource units for research (which now makes it an economic decision as well as a time investment), strike craft that are built as a whole unit of ships instead of just one at a time, and truly distinguishable units for the two sides (Hiigaran and Vaygr). The latter is of particular interest, since the original Homeworld had two essentially equivalent forces that only really differed in graphical appearance. Vaygr strike craft are much more suited toward destroying capital ships, while Hiigaran strike craft are suited to destroying other strike craft. Hiigaran capital ships are more suited to defense than their counterparts, and are slower but generally more capable. This non-cosmetic difference actually makes it interesting to play both sides. Additionally, the irritatingly effective salvage corvettes are done away with, replaced by marine and infiltrator frigates. These are much larger targets that are too expensive to be thrown away, and also take a lot longer to capture craft (which they must do in the field). This makes it practically impossible to win just by salvaging enemy ships. Additionally, players will find that certain weapons do tremendous damage to specific unit types. For example, flak cannons will rip fighters to shreds, and capital ship missiles do huge damage to frigates. This makes it far more important to balance your fleets, instead of just pumping out ion frigates. A final, very interesting addition is the capability to build and destroy subsystems. Subsystems allow certain units (e.g. carriers) to build new unit types, conduct research, or add fleet capabilities. There are also basic systems on larger ships, such as engines and turrets. Destroying these can seriously affect the course of a battle.

The game soundtrack follows the flavor of the excellent original soundtrack, and is truly a pleasure to hear. It really sets the mood for a galaxy-spanning, epic campaign, and doesn't get tiresome to listen to.

On an interesting note, the Homeworld 2 graphics are probably not as advanced over the first game as you might imagine. Though the model detail is undoubtedly better, and there are more neat (optional) effects, the look of the game is largely similar. This is in part due to the surprisingly low system requirements, which allows those with older machines to enjoy the game. Additionally, the lack of overly fine detail makes the game run quite smoothly even when there are literally hundreds of ships on the map.

The single play campaign is, as is to be expected, excellent. You'll fight numerous battles all over the galaxy, see many fantastic unique units, and- in latter missions- acquire some of these units. The story is compelling, and the missions are quite challenging. As before, your resources carry over from one to the next, but they are generally far more plentiful than in the original Homeworld. This makes it less likely for a player to end up in a fix that requires restarting the entire campaign. For one thing, larger ships leave debris that are harvestable when destroyed, providing an actual incentive for destroying enemy ships. As a nice touch, resources are automatically collected at the end of each mission, saving you the tedium of waiting for your resource gatherers to pick it all up.

Though the game in general is great, there are a few things that could have been better. It would have been interesting if the game included a campaign of some sort for the Vaygr- even if it just substituted the two sides as in the original. As is, you'll have to explore their units and capabilities in multiplay or skirmish. Additionally, though the UI is less complex than Homeworld, you also have fewer options available. This is probably only an issue for the hardcore Homeworld fanbase, but would have been nice to have as an option.

Overall, Homeworld 2 is an excellent value strategy game sure to please any fan of the series, and to attract new devotees to the genre as well.