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Publisher: Red Storm Interactive
Game Type: RTS (Real Time Strategy)
Reviewer Chris Jolly
Intro
First there was Warcraft; a game that broke all borders and helped lay the foundation for all
RTS style games that would lay in it's wake. Then came Command and Conquer and the
clones soon appeared. And Dominant Species is very definitely one of those clones, and a
very poor one at that.
Graphics
I would have to say that the graphics in Dominant Species are probably the most bland
graphics I have seen to date in an RTS type game. Although this game does incorporate
3DFX technology, the graphics do not hold true to the many advantages in the use of 3DFX
goodness. For instance, the ground tileset is very poorly done and almost seems to be an
after thought to the game. Also, there are many graphical errors in the game. There are many
misaligned textures in the structures when they are made into the terrain and the shadowing
systems needs some work. And yet it does have a saving characteristic. Unlike 99% of RTS
games, this one has a simulated day/night cycle. But all in all they could have spent more time
working on graphical features of the game.
Score - 70
Interface
The interface of the game is a somewhat unique one. It gives many options for the commando
in you. There are formations and patrolling options along with the normal variety that is
seemingly issued out to all the RTS makers. Yet there is a very big problem that needs to be
worked on some more. DS offers a full 360-degree view of the battlefield. This is where a lot
of my annoyance with the terrain comes into play. You have three types of views: the "Terrain
Cam", the "Free cam", and "Follow mode". The default view is the "Terrain Cam" and is one
of the most irritating views. Your camera is set at a very fixed elevation above the terrain. And
this can make selection of an army very difficult to do if you are on a very high hill or in a low
valley. And the "Free cam" is adjustable but very difficult to get customized to the map.
Score - 60
Gameplay
Being an old gamer that started out playing the original Warcraft on my old Pentium 75, I have
seen many games that tried to be "revolutionary" yet lose everyone's attention because the
game just wasn't fun. Some games tried to put graphics over gameplay or just plain unit
numbers over the fun factor. Dominant Species was just not original enough in the unit making
or the strategy to make it entertaining. For example, there are all original types of level one
units you can get, from units that run, fly, or crawl. Yet when you start to get level two units it just
kills everything. All level two and level 3 units are just upgrades of themselves. Such as the
"Lightwing" then you can upgrade to the "Arcwing" and then finally to the "Forcewing." These
creatures look basically the same save they get an extra pair of wings per level. I just found
originality to be extremely lacking, which brought the fun factor down to "playing outside with
your toes, in the nude, while singing Dixie." Another of my major gripes is the lack of the
now-traditional Fog of War. While admittedly the main characters you play in the game are
telepathic, being able to scroll around the entire map (as well as you can using the keyboard,
since the mouse can't be used to scroll) and seeing exactly where the resources and enemies
are detracts greatly from any game. Especially one that already has so many cons.
Score - 55
Audio
While the audio on Dominant Species is a little below average, there were some interesting
sound effects in the game. Such as when you killed an enemy there is the always refreshing
"squish" or explosion sound that is always nice to hear in any game (especially for those of us
with exceedingly low attention spans). I also enjoyed the sound of multiple units attacking; it's
an almost "Yeah! We rock!" yell. Very amusing.
Score - 60
Difficulty
There is nothing really hard about the AI in this game. Most seasoned players will find it rather
easy. Your allied AI especially makes granite look intelligent. Once I had a Lockhorn sitting
right inside my little base and he took off running to go attack an enemy Swingclaw almost a
quarter of the way across the map. Plus they seem to have a hard time getting around
structures that I had in my base. For the most part, the AI would show some intelligence before
going off and doing something incredibly idiotic. Over all, I would give the AI a difficulty rating
of "Gomer."
Score 70
Overall
This game had some high points, yet it carried too many low points to keep it from being on
the "Things I really want to play when I get time" list. We can only hope that if there is a
Dominant Species 2 around the corner that they will at least look at what makes today's
games, such as Starcraft and Total Annihilation, what they are.
Score - 65%
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System
Requirements:
Required:
Win95/98
Pentium 166MHz or
32MB RAM
Internet
4X cd-rom
DirectX 5 or higher
Recommended:
Pentium 200MHz
64MB RAM
150MB+
8X cd-rom
3Dfx Accelerator
Cons:
- Bad AI
- Bad interface
- You can't use the
mouse to scroll
around the map
Pros:
- Day and night cycle
- 3DFX
Coolinfo
Bottom Line:
Unless you have an
abundant amount of
money, Iwould not
recommend even
asking this from your
deranged Aunt Hilda
for your birthday. I
don't think that
anyone that has
played Starcraft or
Total Anhilation
would ever appreciate
this game.
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