Homeworld 2 may be more than 11 years old, but that hasn't stopped the modding community from keeping it relevant and interesting. A new mod transforms the famed strategy series into a Mass Effect edition, complete with ship battles between fleets from various races and huge Reapers.
An accompanying trailer (below) really sets the tone for the mod titled Mass Effect Reborn, and everything looks great. Narration is provided in the form of audio quotes pulled from the Mass Effect games, which make the fan-created project feel authentic. I'm not sure much of that makes it into the mod itself if at all, but it creates an entertaining trailer that makes me want to try this out for myself.
I tip my hat to whoever came up with this project originally and to those at Phoenix Interactive that made it happen, because it's a pretty natural fit. Mass Effect has some awesome ships and technology (including the sentient Reapers), so seeing them battle it out under your command looks to be a great experience. The models are all convincing, though there's some noticeable framerate issues when some ships are shown flying by close to the camera (this could just be an issue with the machine used or video rather than the mod itself.)
The beta was released earlier this month, available here in a 429MB file, and the full release is due out this May. We may not have been able to fight the fleet battles ourselves in Mass Effect, having to watch most naval action play out in cutscenes, but Mass Effect Reborn gives us an opportunity to recreate some climactic moments--and create our own new ones.
via Kotaku