Red Storm obviously put quite a bit of effort into the development of the storyline for DS and gives you an interesting array of units to fill your ranks. Unfortunately, I found the engine so cumbersome to control and the AI of my units lacking even the most basic concept of self-preservation instincts that it left my ability to appreciate the finer aspects of DS somewhat limited.

The game is played from a user-controlled, top-down third person perspective that you can rotate in all directions which is handy due to the numerous valleys and hills in the game. The best description I can think of for the gaming engine in Dominant Species is a 99% knock-off of the Myth controls developed by Bungie Entertainment with one noticeable change. Red Storm gives you the ability to rotate your view up and down, one of the bigger shortcomings of the Myth engine, but with the most unfortunate side effect of making the actual activity in the game almost impossible to follow. By the time you get your camera angle set up for battle, most of your units are lying on the ground spewing green blood onto the desert sands. Perhaps I am being a bit harsh, but Dominant Species had the potential to be a top-notch real-time strategy game with extensive unit types and a working 3D physics engine, but the control interface definitely makes completing your missions a lot harder than it should be.

Graphics: 14/20

Nice use of D3D graphics and very smooth texturing provide a visually enjoyable environment for Dominant Species. The animations are detailed and unique for each different unit type, and structures are well-defined and artistic. The big low of the graphics engine is the small field of vision. Being able to rotate your view and scan the horizon is great, but if the fog of the horizon is only a hundred feet away (a distance that can be closed by your enemies in under 5 seconds) it really doesn't help, does it? Red Storm claims 3Dfx support, but I couldn't see it. All in all a nice D3D environment, too bad you can't see what's going on.

Sound: 7/15

In the sound department, Dominant Species doesn't offer much to grab your attention. Environmental sounds are minimal, if any, and the battle grunts and noises don't really add to the overall gaming experience. I think the key word here is lacking.

Gameplay: 14/30

The object of this game is to harvest the anima from the fountains and use it to build up your defenses and attack units. As I said before, as a real-time strategy DS had a lot of potential, but the clumsy point-of-view interface just does not work when you have to get over to point 'A' to stop an attack on your base. If you do manage to get a handle on the point-of-view dilemma, the game does offer a good element of strategy as you must carefully balance your resources between defending your base and sending out patrols to deal with irritable scouts from neighboring tribes.

The AI in DS doesn't cut it. As if it wasn't enough for me to be running around the screen trying to find my units, but sometimes they'd just chase off after an enemy patrol even against 10-1 odds. Then I had to try and find him all over again before he got annihilated. Needless to say that didn't happen very often. The overall RTS elements of DS are great, but trying to complete the various mission objectives for each level hindered not only by your opponents, but by so many nagging problems with the interface, takes away a lot from the gameplay.

FunFactor: 13/20

I tried to get into Dominant Species, I really did. After hours of attempting to master the view controls, I gave up and focused more on the game, but it was somewhat frustrating. How can you expect to kill things if you can't find them to kill? Add to this the similarity between your units and the opponents, making it impossible to tell them apart in battle, and you have a pretty good candidate for the recycle bin. Re-playability is enhanced only by the included map editor and the fact that the level difficulty does have different paths based on how well you did on the previous mission.

Mulit-Player: 3/5

Multi is supported via the internet or local LAN. Mplayer.com is also on the Multi options but I didn't have the heart to drag anyone else through the myriad of interface mayhem so you'll just have to try it for yourselves.

Overall Impression: 6/10