Parents' Guide to Homeworld Mobile

This critically acclaimed series has been called many things over the years, but "easy" has never been one of them. In bringing the franchise to mobile devices, Homeworld Mobile is a brand new chapter in the franchise saga, spinning out of the events of Homeworld 2. While the story has direct ties to the lore of the base series, it's also doesn't seem to affect the events of the main games. This puts it in an awkward middle ground of expecting players to know and understand the existing history of the series, while also severing ties with it. The result is a story that leaves longtime fans out in the cold and newcomers scratching their heads in confusion.

In terms of gameplay, Homeworld Mobile faithfully recreates the full-sized experience. But in moving to the mobile space, it brings some additional levels of complexity to an already difficult game. Combat takes place in the vast recesses of space, and due to the scale of battles, ships come in vastly different sizes. On the smaller screens of mobile devices, it's easy to lose sight of your individual units or to see what they're doing. The cumbersome camera doesn't help the situation much. Also, by shrinking the available screen space, the user interface had to be condensed as well. Navigating through layers of unmarked menus is more complicated than it should be. Making matters worse, the opening moments of the game don't do a great job of explaining the mechanics, and it's even possible to break the tutorial. That said, if you're willing to put the time and effort (and frustration) into figuring everything out, you're eventually left with one of the deepest, most complex strategic experiences you're likely to find on the mobile market.