Dominus

The Good
In Dominus you rule a kingdom that is under constant attack from various clans of different creatures. In order to battle them you have to make potions, spells, traps and create new super creatures by combining weaker ones. You must also capture enemies and question them or convert them to get them to fight for your cause. This all sound very complicated. It isn't. The controls are easy and you soon learn how the manage the menues, even though they are sometimes a bit too complicated and messy.

Personally I love creating ugly monsters by combining different monsters into one hideous body. There are quite few sprites, though, so most of these supermonsters look the same, unfortunately. It's also great fun constructing traps, preferably traps that capture enemies, since they are easily persuaded to join your cause. You can also convert enemies by magic. In the beginning it's also mildly amusing to question you captured enemies in order to find out useful information, such as who their squad leader is. If you find out who these leaders are, you can in turn get further information from them.

The easiest way to combat enemies, though, is by releasing you own monsters on them. Some of these monsters are quite strong, while others are completely useless and may be used only as cannon fodder. You can also use your monsters to gather resources in order to make more traps or spells. You can even join the fight yourself, but that's risky (since if you die you lose the game) and often useless since your range and vision is very limited.

All in all, this game is like a playground where you can, and on higher difficulties, must fiddle with a little bit of everything in order to defeat the attackers. In the beginning this is awfully entertaining.

The Bad
Yup. In the beginning this game is awfully entertaining. After a few hours, not so much. This is a game you can start up now and then and play a little while, but it's not like, say Civilization, with which you could spend hours and hours at a time. It soon becomes repetitive.

Especially the tedious task of managing and questioning your prisoners of war very quickly becomes a chore rather than a joy. All prisoners respond the same way, and after a while you just can't stomach it. It's easier to just convert the suckers than to question them and try to make the most of them.

The different enemy clans, as well as the many different monsters in your army, are poorly designed. They all look like crap. Not only because the graphics are decidedly average, but because the overall design stinks. The music and sound I don't even want to think about. What sound there is is terrible at best.

Although it's fun to try out all the traps and spells and different monster combinations, you will soon have tried them all, and then the game loses some of it's charm. Not all of it, mind you, but the first few times you play it will be the best. It's still fun to play now and then, but the desire to play around with the different possibilities decreases rapidly.

There are unfortunately very few sprites representing your special monsters that you have created yourself. No matter what monsters you combine, many of them will look the same. This is a shame, since it an entertaining feature. The special monsters still get different strengths and weaknesses depending on which monsters you combine, though, even though some of them might look the same.

The Bottom Line
Fun if played casually. Quickly becomes repetitive, but entertaining in the beginning. If played moderately this is a little mini-gem. Quite similar in some ways to Dungeon Keeper. Dominus pre-dates Dungeon Keeper by a few years though.