Domination Hands-On

I remember the time when video games weren't so complicated. All you had to do was to load the game and play it. If you didn't like the outcome, play it again. I must say the situation is slightly different nowadays: in order to play a modern video game you sometimes need to be capable of making snap decisions, and if it turns out to be the wrong path, having the nerve to come to terms with your failure and do it all over again, and again... and again. While this seems quite simple on paper, it tends to get rather frustrating in practice. (It can also get rather violent. You should see what I've done to my monitor after playing PoP: WW).

I am not saying all this because I long for oversimplification in games. I simply want to stress out that going wild with fanciful and unnecessary options in the game sometimes kills all the pleasure. I cannot enjoy a game if it takes me roughly ten hours to grasp the commands. If a game has a set of intricate and arcane controls, it MUST have some form of interesting and exciting gameplay content. If it doesn't, the violence ensues. And after that, I will have to go see my therapist. And boy, am I afraid of my therapist. (His name is SixShooter. He's not a nice man. - Ed.)

Wargaming.net's Domination (formerly known as Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance) allows you to be as violent as you like without presenting a threat to society. From what I have seen from the version I played, it plays quite similarly to its predecessor Massive Assault, meaning it will take you about five minutes to get the hang of things and many hours of playing to finish the game on the hardest difficulty level. The game continues five years after the First War for the New Worlds, which ended in the victory of the Free Nations Union. Although the Phantom League lost the war, it is not completely defeated so it once again presents a serious threat.

For all those who have never had the chance to play the game, Domination plays as a typical turn-based strategy, with bases to conquer, units to deploy and several mission objectives to carry out. The core of the game is the conflict between two factions at war - the Free Nations Union and Phantom League. The story leads you through a series of missions where you will be able to pick your side and find the way to outsmart your enemy.

In truth, the premise of this game is very simple - it offers you the chance to confront your enemy on a map and think of the best strategy to beat him. Still, saying that this game is that simple is very far from the truth. Most of the time with this game is spent planning, and the possibility of rewinding and replaying your moves offers many hours of carefully designing the best possible strategy for sending your opponent's army into the paradise for mechanical soldiers.

The Domination start menu offers a standard set of game modes: single player and 2-player multiplayer via LAN or Internet are both present, with the hot-seat option included. Single player has several different options, which are all quite self-explanatory - training, campaign, scenarios, career, assault, and world war. Career mode offers the possibility to pick a side and character and engage in an all-out war with the opposite faction. This mode features three world wars (out of eight in the final version of the game). The assault mode allowed me to play The Assault of Treasure Island. I only had limited resources, which I could spend on units of my choice, and a limited number of turns to annihilate the enemy (e.g. Destroy his two bases located on the map). World war followed the same principle, only this time the war was fought on a more global scale. At the beginning of each turn, both sides would get a chance to buy a certain number of units and deploy them on the map, trying to eliminate the enemy and capture enemy bases.

Of course, the most important segment of the game is the single-player, which brings several different missions in this version. What's so great about this game is that you don't need to play the tutorial at all - the first few missions are easy enough so I had ample opportunity to get the hang of things and understand the game mechanics. As I've already said, this game features the war between two factions on distant space colonies, which plays on a number of different maps. The game may not have the visual charm of Dawn of War, but it definitely requires a more strategic approach. The real war is not on the battlefield but in the heads of the opponents - you have to consider the strengths and the weaknesses of the confronted forces and move your units on the battlefield as if you would move the pieces in chess. But isn't that what turn-based strategies are all about anyway?

At the beginning of the mission, you are given an objective and several units at your disposal. In order to complete your task, you will have to judge the situation well and make what you consider to be the best possible move. In case you've changed your mind or made a mistake, it is possible to rewind and replay all moves you have done in the last turn, which saves you a lot of time and trouble.

To be honest with you, at the start of the game, I was amused with the easiness with which I managed to defeat my enemies. Little did I know, however, that the first two missions in the game where simply an introduction to the fierce battles that ensued. After some time I realized I had my work cut out for me, as it took me quite a while to complete some of the missions. The reason for that was my careless planning - it is possible to get several mission objectives during the course of the mission, so it often happens that you lack resources needed for performing the second part of the task. Once, I carelessly lost several units while trying to destroy enemy forces, and just when I thought the mission was over, I received orders to go to the other side of the map to help defend a base. Being devoid of land transport, I never managed to come in time so I had to start all over again.

The version I played featured a solid number of different unit types and vehicles, including naval and air units. The game has gotten several new units, including faction specific ones. Commander units have better armor and strength than the regular ones, but it's usually a bad idea to let your commander unit be destroyed as mistakes such as that are not tolerated - your *will* fail your mission. What I really liked about having land and air units was that I was able to perform joint strikes. This made the whole experience much more exciting and believable.

The music in Domination is mostly fitting for this type of game, and I rather liked how the Russian voice-overs were done. (The preview build we got comes with the English text and Russian audios.)

Now let me clear this up: audio-visual characteristics are not this game's forte; Domination obviously does not rely on spectacular unit models or photorealistic environments, though it is rendered in 3D and vaguely similar to C&C: Generals (I say that because this is one of those games that looks different in motion than on the screenshots). It's simply a war simulator that allows you to demonstrate your strategic skills and prove yourself as a tactician. It seems that the developers are on the right track, so let's wish them all the best.

Now if you will excuse me, I have an electroshock treatment to attend to.