Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: June 12, 2001
• Genre: Strategy
• Style: 3D Real-Time Strategy
• Similar Games: Star Trek: Starfleet Command Vol. 2 -- Empires at War (IBM PC Compatible), Star Trek: Starfleet Command -- Orion Pirates (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

Set near the end of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine story, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- Dominion Wars is a real-time strategy game with the focus on command of a Starfleet warship. The reptilian Cardassians have allied with the Dominion to fight against their Alpha Quadrant neighbors, while the Federation and Klingon Empire unite to stand against the invasion. As a battleship captain, you have the option of commanding Cardassian, Klingon, Dominion or Federation fleets.

Each of the 20 missions requires the selection of a proper crew, including bridge, engineering, and security personnel. Choose from over 20 starship classes and command up to six at any one time. Full management of ship operations includes power allocations between weaponry and shields, engine monitoring, threat assessment, and weapon deployment, as well as transporting personnel to board captured enemy vessels. Five difficulty ratings (Lieutenant through Admiral) are based on the number of ships commanded.

Multiplayer action is offered for up to eight players via LAN or the Internet, and features multiple scenarios including deathmatch modes (open space, asteroids), star base defense and attack, planets, nebulae, and more. Starships and captain portraits created in the bonus CD, Starship Creator: Warp II, can be imported for use in Dominion Wars but are limited to three Federation classes (Defiant, Akira, and Galaxy) and the Klingon B'rel Bird of Prey.

Roots & Influences

This is Gizmo Industries' first release. Obvious influences include many of the late 90s and early 2000 releases dealing with the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine universe. Graphical layouts are similar to other topical Star Trek games, and an earlier title created by Imergy, Star Trek: Starship Creator Warp II (also published by Simon & Schuster Interactive), can be used with the game.

Review: Overall

Gamers not familiar with the television show on which Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- Dominion Wars is based, may be a bit puzzled since names of individual people, alien races, ships, political alliances, and other pertinent elements are used regularly without any real explanation. This gives some indication of the intended audience (fans of Star Trek and its many iterations in general) and, in turn, provides some idea of why it's not much fun.

"Trekkies" are a loyal bunch, guaranteeing that many will buy the computer game (or book or movie) simply for that reason, and with the dirge of unsatisfying games bearing the franchise label, Dominion Wars will quickly be just one more disappointment to pile on the ever-growing heap of space junk. The game enforces the question of why is it seemingly so hard to develop a solid Star Trek video game?

Dominion Wars is hampered first and foremost by the very odd and unsatisfying method of controlling your ships. Although the universe is presented in three fabulous dimensions, you can only travel through two of them. It's a situation comparable to being on a tiny day cruiser that pulls up next to a Carnival Cruise ocean behemoth -- the really fancy stuff is right there before your eyes, but you're not going to get any of it.

Obviously, creating a RTS game in three dimensions would be unbelievably complicated to design, let alone play, so perhaps the creators can be excused. But, teasing you by offering a look into three dimensions from a perspective behind your ship or fleet, and then permitting you to travel on only one plane, eliminates the potential excitement of real-time maneuvering.

The 20 missions provided for the solo player are linear, yet suffer from a lack of continuity. People who are killed in one scenario show up in the next. Although you can play from the perspective of either the Federation or the Dominion side, all missions have a similar feel to previous space-borne games and offer no areas to go "where no man has gone before."

The possibilities for excitement are fairly limited by the restrictions to basically direct flight and attack patterns of a few spaceships. Despite the large range of flight patterns and weapon configurations, combat can usually be won fairly easily by simply isolating ships and attacking them individually, assuming you can locate them all in time, especially without a clear view of the full space battlefield.

Gamers looking for an absorbing and challenging space strategy combat game won't find much satisfaction in the constraints imposed by the missions of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- Dominion Wars. With no skirmish mode and limited strategic movement allowed the fleet of ships, there's simply not enough warp drive to please more than the most devoted Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans.

Review: Enjoyment

The non-intuitive controls stop the game in its tracks. Often, three-key combinations are required to perform simple tasks, and the sheer number of controls to commit to memory make any sort of real time action difficult with no pause mode during combat. Linearity of the missions is hurt by the discontinuity of individuals who come back to life. It's like playing a bunch of disjointed scenarios.

Review: Graphics

The ships and planets are satisfyingly detailed, and the movie-like quality is good in the short term. Camera angles are usually effective.

Review: Sound

Sounds from the television show are decently reproduced, and the music is above average.

Review: Replay Value

Missions are too similar to each other to warrant a replay of most, and the linearity leaves little new to achieve during a replay. A bonus program, {*Star Trek: Starship Creator Warp II}, allows you to design certain new ship types, but suffers from integration problems with {*Dominion Wars}, and is useless in solo play.

Review: Documentation

Manual adequately covers most gameplay issues and a large poster is provided with instructions for the ship designer CD.

Production Credits

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