Dominions III (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 8.2 (4.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Jeff Lackey
• Reviewed on: 12/18/2006
• Updated on: 06/25/2007
• Released on: 09/29/2006
• Originally published on GameSpot: Dominions III (PC) Review

Dominions 3: The Awakening is a test of how much you are willing to invest in a strategy game. If you're the type who scoffs at reading manuals, who revels in state-of-the-art graphics, and who wants to be able to dive in and be successful in a game within minutes of installation, you'll be sorely disappointed. But if you are willing to invest the time to dig in and read a thick manual, experiment with more options and variations than you'll ever be able to completely explore in an average lifetime, and patiently learn a complex but well-designed game system, Dominions 3 will reward you with one of the richest strategy-gaming experiences available on the PC today.

A simple perusal of the features hints at the depth and level of options. You are the divine leader of one of more than 50 nations, set in three different eras. The nations span the gamut from Norse-mythological to Roman to Japanese, as well as everything in between. Your choice of nation results in very different options and playing styles. Each era provides a different gaming environment: The Early Era is a world emphasizing magic, the Middle Era blends magic and more conventional arms, and the Late Era represents a time when the magic arts have faded and thus emphasis is on standard (as defined by "standard" in a fantasy environment) military operations. Each era has a distinct feel and requires development of different strategies for success. In addition, there are more than 1,500 types of units, as well as 600-plus spells and 300-plus magic items, and note that these are not merely hundreds of slight variations on the same spell or troop. In the role of a god (here called pretender) attempting to establish yourself as the ultimate deity due to the vacuum left by the previous Big Guy, you get to design just what type of divine being you want to be. The types of creatures that can be used to represent you range from a wide and weird assortment of icons, such as a dragon, a grey-haired wizardlike character, a fountain of blood, and many others. You then decide how to distribute your magic points and your "dominion," which is essentially your divine influence (you win when the entire world worships at your altar).

The range of combinations that you can put together in creating your pretender produces very different results during the game, and thus you can spend a lot of time just experimenting with different types of pretenders. You also decide whether to start the game dormant, for a gain in points, or fully awake and active. Even that relatively simple decision results in strategic debate among Dominions 3 aficionados. Some will argue that not a lot happens in the first couple of dozen turns, so the extra points you gain by starting dormant is the way to go. Others contend that there's a lot you can do with your pretender being active from turn one. And yet others point out that the best decision depends upon whether your rivals start active or dormant, which you won't know when setting up the game. That's the way it is in every aspect of the game. There are an almost infinite number of choices and variations that provide an extreme breadth of approaches to victory.

Once the game starts, your pretender and a couple of heroes are placed in a province on a nice map that looks hand drawn. Dominions 3 includes a number of maps that vary in terms of terrain and number of land and water provinces, and it also includes a random map generator that does a very nice job of creating maps to your detailed specifications. In addition, Dominions 3's mod-friendly nature allows almost any graphic map to be turned into a Dominions map. You've got a lot of options right from turn one, such as deciding which specific military units and heroes to recruit, sending your scout out exploring, and deciding who you want to assign to research, as well as which of the seven magic schools to pursue, and more. Each of these options provides you a myriad of choices, with the choices growing as the game progresses to the point that it can be overwhelming to the Dominions newbie. Enter the exhaustive 300-page manual. The manual includes a tutorial that introduces the basic features and gameplay concepts in a witty, conversational manner. The entire manual is extremely readable, which is good since it is really required reading to be able to effectively play the game. If you're the kind of gamer who does a happy dance when you see a thick, well-written manual chock-full of useful information and tips, you're going to love Dominions 3. If your reaction to a phone-book-sized manual is a groan, this probably isn't the game for you.

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