Posted:
17:50:58 on April 10 2001
By: Steve Krutzler
Dept: Reviews - Games
Written for TrekWeb by Ken R. Miller
The last two seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine saw the Alpha Quadrant rocked by a titanic conflict the likes of which Star Trek had never seen. The Dominion War arguably made for the strongest storytelling in the series, and was some of the strongest in Trek lore. In an attempt to recreate and expand upon this storyline, Simon & Schuster has commissioned Gizmo Games to develop the latest Star Trek title, Dominion Wars.
Dominion Wars promises to be a real time strategy game that focuses solely on the action, eliminating resource gathering/management and base construction. What the title is shaping up to be looks similar to Interplay’s Starfleet Command, where the player commands a small fleet of starships and manages weapons, shields, engines and repairs from an on screen task bar. Action will take place over the course of twenty single player missions and multiplayer missions over the Internet.
In addition to managing onboard systems and combat strategies, the player is also in charge of an officer pool. As the player earns more victories and advances through the game, more skilled and talented officers are unlocked for player usage. Officers placed in charge of starships bring their specific skills and tactics to them. Each officer is ranked in three categories: tactical, command and experience. An officer’s rating in each of these categories will add or affect how their ship performs.
Like SFC, Dominion Wars will carry a 3D look while being played on a 2D flat plane and will give players the choice of selecting between different races to play through the game – in this case; Federation, Klingon, Cardassian and Dominion. The Maquis, Breen, Bajorans and Romulans look to take more of a supporting role in the game, and not as directly playable sides. Each playable side currently has five different starships (with likely more to be added) varying in capability. For example, ships like the Bird of Prey and the Defiant are very fast and powerful, but do not have the heavier shields or higher top speeds of larger craft. Likewise, Galaxy class starships and Romulan Warbirds are massive and extremely well armored, but they cannot accelerate as well as smaller craft. Most of the ships seen in the final seasons of DS9 make an appearance in the game, along with some unique ones designed by Gizmo Games.
Where Dominion Wars hopes to differentiate itself is in its backwards compatibility with Starship Creator Warp 2. Using SCW2, players will be able to design their own starships and import them into DW for play. Not only will this extend long-term game play value, but also it is an excellent marketing tactic on behalf of Simon & Schuster. Imported ships (and possibly captain pictures) can be used in both single and multiplayer aspects of the game. Multiplayer modes will include Free for All, Asteroid Hunt, King of the Hill, and Starbase Attack & Defend.
Already, in pre-Beta phase, Dominion Wars looks impressive, with sharp graphics and lighting effects. The gaming gurus over at IGN PC have made several remarks about the game really coming together, especially in terms of play and mechanics. With a summer release likely (the producer has hinted at a late May release) and progress looking good, it appears one can look forward to another excellent Star Trek title very soon.
