Previewed: February 16, 2005
Previewed by: Roger Cox

Publisher
DreamCatcher Games

Developer
Wargaming.net

Release Date: February 28, 2005
Genre: Strategy
Players: LAN / Online
ESRB: Pending

Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Domination features a renewed global conflict between the Free Nations Union and the Phantom League on distant planets, including sci-fi land, sea and air warfare at a grand-strategy level. From the award winning developers of Massive Assault, Total Domination deepens the Massive Assault player experience through increased gameplay options and all new strategic challenges.

Domination Features:

  • An innovative “Secret Allies” concept
  • 2 huge campaigns wrapped in absorbing storylines
  • More than 20 non-linear scenarios, 8 planets for a World War mode
  • Brand new Assault and Career modes
  • All unit movement, firing and explosions are vividly animated using 3D graphics and sound
  • 36 highly detailed land, air and sea units
  • State of the art A.I. with flexible settings
  • Instantaneous visual recreations of spectacular moves using unique camera angles
  • A.I., Hot Seat, LAN and Internet play modes
  • 3 single player difficulty modes
  • More than 150 hours of gameplay!
Domination is an overhead turn-based tactical strategy game that sets two nations against each other, as the player, you must choose which nation to defend: Free Nations Union or the Phantom League. After choosing a side, you’ll be thrown into one of the huge campaigns.

The game starts off by giving you a quick mini-tutorial and if that’s not thorough enough, you can access the main tutorial through the main menu. From there you have the option of going all the way through it, individual sections of it, or not at all. For most people the tutorial won’t be needed. But that didn’t stop Wargaming.net, who went out of their way to make sure the tutorial was done professionally. It’s an interactive tutorial, which leads you through 12 training missions. Each mission teaches the game’s mechanics and the basics of tactics and strategy.

The games balance is right on. Each side has their own unique land, sea, and air units. For each unit one side has, the other has one of equal strength and ability. The only difference being the appearance of the individual units. The concept of having the similar units on each side is not an original idea by any means, but it is one that works well for all tactical strategy games.

The game is very forgiving, allowing you to retract your moves if you don’t like them. This is a nice feature that I wouldn’t have expected from a strategy game. Being able to basically start over is awesome, but I hope that option is eliminated in multiplayer matches. It would take away from the fun factor if your opponent could retract their moves after making a mistake. Half the fun is capitalizing off of other people’s mistakes and making them pay for it. We will just have to wait and see how the multiplayer portion of this game turns out.

For those who get tired of the campaigns or simply need to take a break, Domination offers a very fun selection of non-linear scenarios (20 in all). The ones I played through were:

  • Turning the Tide – In this scenario, a so-called democratic alliance has invaded a neutral country. The country joins with you in an effort to drive out the aggressors.
  • Helicopter Attack – In this scenario, you get 4 groups of helicopters. It’s your job to attack the enemy’s well defended peninsula.
I found the scenarios to be a fun secondary option to the campaign, but the multiplayer feature may overshadow these creative side missions.

Domination has a nice variety of sound effects, everything you would expect it to have and more. What’s most impressive is the great musical score that accompanies this solid game, giving it a very epic feel. It’s uplifting, generally fast paced orchestrated music that is a pleasure to listen to. *Note to publisher: Bonus soundtracks with pre-orders are much appreciated!

As of now the voice acting is in Russian and I’ve been having trouble understanding them. Good thing this demo has subtitles! I’m praying that it’s dubbed in English by launch. If it is, players can expect everything in Domination to be voice acted or read. I hope they do the game justice by getting professional voice actors, we can only hope.

One noteworthy feature is the slow-motion kills that occur. Whenever you make a great strategic attack (that the game deems worthy) the camera will zoom in on the action and pan around the unit as it’s obliterated into thin air. Who doesn’t like watching stuff blow up in slow-motion? On top of that, Domination offers you the ability to save and view replays.

I have only one major complaint with the game at this point. The trees do not fall down when you move units over them, but instead they proceed right through them. This is a key problem because it can become very difficult to see your units and enemies underneath the foliage. What saves this issue from becoming a “must fix problem” is the game’s great “zoom” feature. The zoom is excellent, allowing you to view things from high above to down below near the tree-tops.

To sum it up, Domination is an absolute pleasure to play. It’s the most strategically fun game I’ve played since Command & Conquer: Red Alert and I found it to be more engaging than Command & Conquer Generals. After loading this game on my computer a week ago I haven’t been able to stop playing it and have come nowhere close to running out of things to do. The demo is huge and the final version is going to be even bigger and better, with an estimated 150 hours of gameplay.

Currently, Domination is set to become the best turn-based tactical strategy game of 2005. Look for it in stores at the end of the month. Domination promises to be a must own title for all strategy fans. I’m extremely impressed from what I’ve played so far and can’t wait to get my hands on the final copy.