User Rating: 7.8 | Dominions II: The Ascension Wars PC
Gamespot makes many good points in its review about Dominions II. The game is impressive in its complexity- the amount of customization options available to the player is tremendous. The variety of options, from 17 different races to a host of ways to design a "god", allows for a lot of replayability. The computer AI can be extremely challenging, as it is able to micromanage the details of empire management fairly well. The similarities to classic turn-based fantasy games like Master of Magic or Warlords are welcome; the designers clearly tried to assemble some of the best ideas from those well-constructed games and incorporate them into Dominions II. I also agree with Gamespot that the graphics are low end compared to today's standards. Personally, when I'm playing a turn-based game, the graphical quality is not always a high factor in my enjoyment of the game, but I acknowledge the points that are made here. Likewise, the seeming lack of control during combat, an especially important part of this, and any, game, can be frustrating, The manual, while detailed in describing the game's many aspects, does not provide a tutorial for the game, nor is there an in-game demo. This is important, as the game is complex enough to make it difficult to grasp just by the "jump in and start playing" strategy that many gamers (myself included) use. I do believe that this is an excellent game, however. For fans of Warlords, Master of Magic, and Heroes of Might and Magic, there is a lot to love here. The number and variety of units and spells and the customizability of one's race and god unit lead, as I mentioned, to a lot of replayability. It is well-geared for multiplayer, with hotseat and TCP/IP support, and even PBEM. Setting up for TCP/IP was not quite as simple as the manual implied, but it worked, and even two players working together against the AI faced a tough challenge. If I could improve this game, I would focus on the combat system first. Armies are given a set of general commands that they follow when they engage in a battle- Attack closest enemy, fire at archers, cast spells, etc. There is a limit, however, to the set of commands that can be issued to a given army, and not every battle is fought the same. I would introduce a system where, at the beginning of a battle, a new set of orders could be given to units. Also, spellcasters do not always know the right spell to cast- why does he cast Banish Undead ten times in a row, when only one undead unit is left on screen? Get over it and hit him with the lightning bolt already! Another improvement would be the automization of province management- setting up more complex queues for unit building (as per Civ III) and army vectoring (as per Warlords). This would greatly reduce the amount of micromanagement that the players face in the later stages of the game. However, despite these weaker aspects, the game is still a lot of fun, and yet another good fix until someone finally gets the power to publish Master of Magic 2. It's worth looking at. As a side note, the game is very Ironman. Fans of the "save and reload" camp of gaming will receive a rude awakening when playing- there is no such thing. The game saves, and that's it. You will learn some hard lessons as you live with your mistakes. But that just adds to the challenge...
