Right off the bat let me say that this game is not for the faint of heart when it comes to strategy games. The graphics do not detract from the game play, but on the same token they cannot easily be ignored. However, if you can look past this unfortunate detail, Dominions 2 is a well-developed and substantial game both in combat and, most importantly, in mythological cadence. You start out as a pretender god after the world's one god seems to have disappeared. Your task is to eliminate all other gods and become the supreme ruler. You can do this one of two ways: kill off all the other gods or destroy all faith that the world has in them. This may be the only mode of play, but let me assure you that it is more than enough by itself. This game is very hardcore in the turn-based approach. A player on average can take up to 30 minutes a turn commanding only a small dominion, let alone a global one. Do not be fooled however: it doesn't get dull for a moment. The entirety of your turn will be spent whizzing around the plethora of screens containing items, spells, creatures, prophets, and heroes at your disposal. Even at the end of your turn, you will still cross your fingers and hope you didn't forget to do anything. One way to instantly get the wrong impression of this game is to play it in the hotseat version unless you are planning a sleepover for the next week and a half with anyone involved. The game is way too long to trade with each player over periods of hours. However, Ilwinter has a masterfully executed system that causes all turns to be taken simultaneously and it is supposed to be taken advantage of when playing with up to 17 different people (which the game does support). You can do this by using the e-mail system of play. It isn't very complicated, but still requires a bit of prowess with the computer that some gamers might unfortunately not possess. It, nevertheless, allows everyone to take their turn simultaneously, cutting down a month (the standard unit of time in the game) from over 6 hours in some cases to just one or two. As mentioned before, the mythological accuracy and symbolism in this game is outstanding. Each race is fabricated entirely on the basis of some set of creatures from a staggering number of religions, philosophies, and countries. Ulm, for example, is the stalwart Germans of medieval times. With little or no magic (no fundamentally followed religion) they rely on steel for everything and make up for their lack of magic by being physically superior to any other human (which I will not make comment on). The spell system is well organized and causes for constant discretion of the players (a fine trait indeed). The fact that you must research in the classes of magic leaves every magic using Dominion at a dilemma with their pretender god: is it better to have the god in question stay in the bases and research (he/she is normally unparalleled in the practice) or send them into battle (not a bad choice either most of the time). The repertoire of spells is staggering as well and each spell has a decent explanation of itself, some even having mythological references. It may just be a personal opinion, but I find the combat system to be very efficient in this game. You create an army using resources and gold with a little bit of everything (though sometimes one unit in bulk will do). Then you pick a hero for the leading task. You organize the soldiers into squadrons, each squad having a unique morale total. From there you click on a province and watch what happens next turn. That's right, you don't control your units. They fight themselves and the realism of this makes many strategies used in a normal strategy game ineffective (which they should because most commonly used game strategies don't work in reality!) and causes for army organization to be in top shape for a fight. You are not completely powerless however. You can tell each squadron fairly explicitly what to do a period of 6 turns, which usually enough to rather efficiently sauté any unorganized enemy into nothingness. This game brings logistics to life in a way that even most turn-based games fail to address. Invading every town in sight is not always the best option for an army because, simply put, a starving army does not fight. The system of logistics, morale, supplies, and climate attribute causes the tried-and-not actually true method of amassing a terrifying army and plunder all in sight to crumble most graciously. Combat afflictions also play an important role in keeping heroes and grand armies from stealing all the sunlight. Think your Black Lord Krelthin is powerful with his Hammer of the Mountain? What if he loses an eye in combat? What if gets his arm chopped off? The uncanny realism of the permanent afflictions in Dominions II is a very nice touch and adds even more to my final recap. THIS IS NOT YOUR NORMAL TURN BASED STRATEGY GAME. It is better than a normal strategy game; it's realistic. In this game it is shown time and again that you're "only god-like, not omnipotent" and I wish more games would be like this. If it were not for the below average graphic work, this game could easily be the best, most realistic strategy game on the market right now, but if the graphics don't bother you too badly give it a shot. Trust me, you'll love it. P.S. The Dominion strength and dominion types are also awesome, balanced, and well executed. Sorry, I can’t go into detail. This review is getting pretty long!
Other Helpful Reviews for Dominions II: The Ascension Wars
I was pleasantly surprised to come across this game though I was very hesitant when I first started playing. First and foremost, the graphics are extremely dated, i.e. you can count the pixels that make up the sprites. ... Read Full Review
Dominions 2 is a solid strategic offering from the indie game continuum(check out shrapnel games and gametunnel). Its important for many reasons to support indie games and the primary reason would be that they are more... Read Full Review
