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Dominions II: The Ascension Wars
by Jolex Del Pilar
Saturday, December 6 2003
Shrapnel Games' newest release excels as a multiplayer game, but suffers as a solo experience.
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Title:
Dominions II: The Ascension Wars
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Platform:
PC Windows, Pentium II 500, 128MB Ram, 16MB video card (estimated)
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Publisher:
Shrapnel Games |
Developer:
Illwinter Games Design |
#
of Players: 1 - 17 |
Genre:
Strategy
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Origin:
United States
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Expected
Release:
November 2003 |
Grapevine:
Dominions II: The Ascension Wars excels as a multiplayer game, granting you have a few friends. |
Dominions II: The Ascension Wars is the sequel to the original Dominions, a turn based strategy game based in a fantasy world of magic, elves, and other tolkienesque type characters. Many of the same elements from the first game are still present in the sequel, though there are a few aesthetic changes which I will get into later.
You start the game off as a pretender god, vying for the title of the "one true god" against (up to) 16 other pretender gods. As leaders of your own particular domain, it's your job to spread your influence to other dominions by either subversive or overt means. My feeling is most gamers will choose the latter and forcefully exert their wills, which is a good thing in this game's case. The sheer number and variety of units is enormous. Each of the 17 nations featured have their own units and styles of combat, while neutral regions have their own units as well. Additionally, the magic element of this game is expansive to say the least. There are numerous magic styles to research that lead to dozens of spells that magic using characters can utilize in combat that can help turn the tide of battle towards your side. This game is all about strategic combat, and fans of turned based strategy games will have fun right off the bat.
Combat is initiated when you move an army into a territory that is not controlled by your own troops. The battle itself is handled entirely by the computer and your only inputs are on the placement of your troops (archers back, swordsmen at the front), and what your leaders (generals, main character) do in battle. You can configure your leaders to continuously cast spells or stay out of the battle altogether. On the whole, tactics help a lot when magic is involved as you can dictate the type of spells cast, and the frequency of spell casting. However, if armies are non-magic based, the battles tend to go in favor of the army with larger numbers. A little more combat variety and input would have been appreciated, but I do realize this is a strategy game and not an RTS game. One good thing is that the battles are all done within a fairly good 3D engine which is leaps and bounds above the original in terms of visual quality. The camera can zoom in and out somewhat, and you can see clashing armies executing battle tactics against each other as arrows fill the sky, and lightening bolts cast from spells strike cavalry.
The armies of Atlantis attack a land based empire.
While Dominions II features an in-depth battle system that looks good and is fun to play, it must be noted that Dominions II is not a very strong single player game. There are two main reasons why this game is better utilized as a multiplayer game than a solo experience. First, there is no diplomacy model. Conflicts are often initiated on the player's or A.I's whim. Most of the time, if you have a territory that an aggressive A.I opponent wants, you'll get a surprise in the form of a preemptive strike into that territory. While this is fine in other games, in Dominions II, when a war is initiated, there is no option for peace, unless your opponents are other humans where you can plead in real-time for them to stop kicking your butt. There is no option to negotiate with the computer. In Dominions II, this can be disastrous as a powerful A.I opponent will mercilessly attack your dominion until you are wiped off the face of the map regardless of how aggressive or passive you may be towards them in the game, which brings me to my second point. Dominions II doesn't have a useful save feature. While it does save the progress of your game, it only does so after a complete turn has been completed. You play a turn, and then you are given the option to either restart the game from the beginning of the most recently played turn, or restart from the most recent action. The problem with this is that all battles are automatically initiated and concluded at the beginning of a turn, that's just the way the game handles conflict. It takes one turn to initiate a battle, and then you must wait for the next turn to find out the results. This doesn't give any incentive for the player in the single player game to take risk or try out scenarios on what would happen if the player were to attack a certain A.I opponent. Even if you are brave enough, and do attack an A.I opponent, you are locked into that war until the very bitter end. As described earlier, if that A.I enemy should be more powerful, tough luck. You'll have to suffer through the long winded defeat for as long as it'll last.
In essence, the game mechanics of this game in the single player mode literally demand perfection. Make one wrong move, attack the wrong A.I opponent, and your game is utterly ruined. It leads to a lot of frustration, especially if you're in turn 129 and misjudge the power of another empire whose territory you have had your eye on. While there is a certain dramatic fatalism is facing certain death, it's of no comfort to the gamer who has spent 3 days getting his game to the particular point at which his empire starts to become consumed by an unstoppable, and pissed off, A.I enemy. The game literally plays like a more advanced version of chess in the single player mode, you have to think and rethink every move before it is made, because one wrong moved and you are screwed, metaphorically of course.
It's a shame that the game features such a shoddy single player experience because it really is a great game in terms of the way combat is handled. With special options like the ability to hire mercenaries, or inflict morale losses on opposing armies causing them to be routed, the strategic combat is fun and involving. The only way to really play this game is through its multiplayer mode. It can be done using a hot-seat option, where multiple players take turns on the same computer, LAN, or a TCP/IP option where you can connect to another computer utilizing your computer's internet connection. Even here there remains a problem. Given the games limited target audience, and the lack of mass market appeal when compared to games like Call of Duty or WarCraft III, you won't find any dedicated servers for Dominions II games. Unless you have a few friends who have the game, the only viable method I've found for finding other players is to go to the publisher's own bulletin board system and literally post a message asking for opponents. How many gamers would go through all this trouble to find multiplayer opponents when other games in the same genre offer much easier options?
Dominions II: The Ascension Wars features some solid strategy combat elements, but that being said, it is missing some essential elements in its core design that would make it a solid single player experience. While the game shines a bit brighter in its multiplayer mode, even then the game is problematic due to the difficulty in finding players. In the end, it would be hard to recommend Dominions II to people who are not fans of the series, or don't have at least a few friends who are into turned-based, strategic combat.
--- Jolex Del Pilar
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Gameplay:
[4.0]
While the combat system is sound, the game has 2 fatal flaws that make it a lacking single player experience. |
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Graphics:
[6.5]
They do the job though you would be hard pressed to call this "eye candy". |
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Sound:
[7.0]
The music is perhaps the best strength of this game, featuring colorful voice compositions, and at other times grungy metal riffs. The battle sounds are lacking however. |
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Presentation:
[7.3]
Though the game features a somewhat dated look, there is a wealth of lore in this game, and it helps set home the point that this world is based in a galaxy far, far, away. |
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Replay
Value: [6.0]
While the single player experience just plain stinks, the multiplayer mode may bring you back for more, granting you can find players. |
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Global
Score: [5.7]
Dominions II has the makings of a solid, strategy game, but fails to put together a viable single player mode. The game is purely reserved for online play. |
Click here for an
explaination of our "hit and miss"rating system.
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