Gamer reviews for DomiNations

Prove Your Might in Ruling the World in DomiNations

Throughout history, humans have had a long standing reputation of being conquerors and of having the will to dominate weaker groups in order to survive and flourish. In fact, one of the basic laws humans have lived by is that the fittest and the strongest shall endure and live on to make their mark in history.

Banking on such an idea comes the base-building strategy game DomiNations, developed by Big Huge Games and Nexon M Inc. DomiNations allows players to put up their own base and build a powerful empire through battles, exploration, and even technological advancement. The game not only requires players to succeed in battles and exploration but players must be able to survive all the challenges from the Stone Age and up to the Space Age.

Gameplay is fairly simple and straightforward—especially in the beginning—as players will simply have to position their town center, build their defenses, and then gather resources. Then once the player has already amassed a few troops or even an army, then they may participate in a single player battle by going on a military campaign in the region.

At first glance, the premise may not seem very different from the rest of the strategy and base-building games out there. But what truly sets this game apart from the rest is the presence of different nations the players may choose as they go forward. At the moment, players may choose from among seven nations available—British, Romans, Chinese, Germans, French, Japanese, and Greeks. Each nation possesses unique special powers, exclusive army troops, and even special bonuses. Players, however, may choose their selected nation after getting past the Stone Age.

This game tackles history very well as players may watch their city grow and advance throughout the ages. Buildings, troops, and technology change as the players move on to more progressive eras. With that, some nations even provide special bonuses that are one-of-a-kind to a specific nation only.

Aside from picking which Nation to pick, players may also select the type of research and technology their empire must invest on in order to grow. Technology varies according to the age the players are in but these technologies are highly varied. Players may select to study about Pottery, Chivalry, and even Crop Rotation. With the coming of the Industrial Age, after the most recent game update, players may now research technology such as Heavy Weaponry which may bring in Flight power into the picture.

The game also offers tons of other unique attributes like special Generals (Alexander, Cleopatra, Napoleon, Nobunaga) to pick who offers exceptional powers to the empire; Wonders (Pyramids, Stonehenge, Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower) to build which will offer players unique rewards; and even Alliances with players from around the world that may help players in battle.

One challenge that may seem evident in the game is that with more and more players it seems that getting attacked happens far too often even while under a peace treaty. Getting attacked often is a serious matter as gold and resources are stolen, which then makes it hard, especially for new players, to gather all the gold and resources they need in order to grow as an empire.

Despite that challenge, however, DomiNations still remains to be a highly interesting and interactive game for this genre that is steadily on the rise to be one of the top games for this genre – if all hurdles are to be addressed.