Reviewed: April 12, 2005
Reviewed by: Roger Cox
Publisher
DreamCatcher Games
Developer
Wargaming.net
Released: May 28, 2005
Genre: Strategy
Players: 10
ESRB: Teen
9
8
7
10
8.8
System Requirements
Recommended System
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Domination is the sequel to highly acclaimed turn-based strategy game Massive Assault. It features a renewed global conflict between the Free Nations Union and Phantom League in distant space colonies. The game is based on the Massive Assault’s original "Secret Allies" concept, acknowledged by the press and the players as innovative and "easy to learn and hard to master" one and in many respects rejuvenating the turn-based genre.
Story: 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.
Features:
- 6 new planets for World Wars including massive-sized death-match maps
- 2 Huge Campaigns
- 20 Original single-player scenarios with new mission types and twists
- All-new "Assault" game mode
- All-new "RTS-style" online play mode (4 Months Free)
- New A.I. - with various computer opponent "profiles"
- 10 New units, unique for each side, leading to different strategies
- Enhanced 3D engine: remade unit, terrain and effect visualization technology
- Additional music
- Massive Assault Network compatibility
- 2 New viewing modes: CNN-style "fancy camera" and historic-atlas-style 2D strategic map mode
- LAN play
- Many single-player and multiplayer gameplay enhancements
Victor Kislyi (President of Wargaming.net) said in my interview with him, that when developing Massive Assault they focused more on gameplay rather than story and for Domination those roles were reversed. Funny thing is, later on in the interview he said “We’ll admit, this story sucks for Americans.” He was right, the story is very weak, but the gameplay makes up for it.
Domination is an overhead turn-based tactical strategy game that sets 2 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 before letting you play.
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 because this game is easy to learn yet hard to master. 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.
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.
- Long Way - In this scenario you must move your convoy and save the country from invasion. Additionally, there are lots of surprises to be had (both good and bad).
The game is very forgiving, allowing you to retract your moves (during each turn) if you don’t like them. This is a nice feature that I would not have expected from a strategy game. Being able to basically start over is awesome and it’s in tact for multiplayer matches as well.
You would think that it would take away from the fun factor if your opponent could retract their moves after making a mistake. I mean, half the fun is capitalizing off of other people’s mistakes and making them pay for it right? Of course, but being able to re-do your actions each turn doesn’t stop people from making mistakes. Sometimes people make even bigger ones. Like on a test when you second guess yourself and end up getting the question wrong. The only problem this features causes are time issues. Waiting for people to make their turn “official” can ride on ones patience.
“Hot Seat” is one noteworthy feature that allows you to play against another person on the same computer. You simply take turns. One thing I noticed in particular is that the game actually remembers each player’s camera position. Overall, I found it to be fun and very easy to use. Although it isn’t an original concept, it is one that is rarely seen in modern PC games.
Another cool 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 either pan around the unit, get a still up-close shot, or do CNN style camera shot 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. The only problem with replays is that the camera moves around way to much and might make you dizzy.
I have only one major complaint with the game. The trees do not fall down when you move units over them, but instead they move 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 being a “major problem” is the game’s great “zoom” feature. The zoom feature is one of the best I’ve seen in a while, allowing you to view things from high above in the sky to down below near the treetops.
Domination has very solid graphics and the best sky I’ve ever seen in an overhead strategy game. The sky moves in real-time and reflects on the water below (pretty cool). It may be silly to say that having a great looking/moving sky in a game is important, but it truly is because the sky is what gave me a sense of scale as well as immersing me in the game.
On top of that there are real time shadows for every unit/tree/and physical object in the game. Plus, the animation is smooth and frame rate was solid when I had the graphics maxed.
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 game, giving it a very heroic feel. It’s uplifting, generally fast paced orchestrated music that is a pleasure to listen to. When I asked Victor Kislyi (President of Wargaming.net) who did the music for them, he said it was all done in-house. I couldn’t believe it because it sounds like they got a full-bodied orchestra to do the music. Maybe I’m easily impressed, but I know cool war theme music when I hear it.
It saddens me to say that the voice acting is below sub pare. In fact, for a while I wasn’t sure how to describe the voice acting to anyone because it sounds so weird. I can now tell you that the voice acting sounds like “Stephen Hawking.” I’m being serious, if you listen to it for a while it begins to sound almost like the people are computerized in the way they talk. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard voice acting this unique and bad all at the same time. In fact I would go so far as saying it’s the worst voice acting so far this year. If it weren’t for the computerized cussing, I wouldn’t have laughed at a single time.
I can’t remember the last time a game had so much replay value. Normally you’d be lucky to scratch 40-50 hours of gameplay out of a game, but that’s not the case for Domination. This game has an unlimited amount of replay-ability much like such acclaimed games as Starcraft and the WarCraft titles. With it’s abundance of features like Assault mode, World War mode, two huge campaigns, and online/offline multiplayer modes, Domination will keep you busy for a year.
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 as engaging as Command & Conquer Generals. After loading this game on my computer several weeks ago I haven’t been able to stop playing it and have come nowhere close to running out of things to do. Simply put, this game is massive and the multiplayer portion will keep you playing until the sun rises and sets for weeks. With more than 200 hours of gameplay (you better believe it); Domination has set the bar for future turn-based strategy games for 2005.
Unfortunately gameplay and graphics alone aren’t everything these days and with a better story/voice acting Domination could have been one of those great award winning strategy games that would be remembered. If you are looking for an addicting strategy game with great gameplay, features, graphics, and replay-ability then Domination is right for you.
Note: Special thanks to President of Wargaming.net, Victor Kislyi, for his time and insight into the development of Domination.