Do you have X-Ray vision? Are you strong enough to subdue a balky interface? Can you leap tall buildings ... no, no, forget that last one. Just be prepared for a workout when you play Ultimate Domain from The Software Toolworks.
What we have here is a solid concept completely undercut by poor design. This game, set in medieval times, pits you against two other players in a race to become the first to recover seven of nine lost jewels of Geneisa. Starting with four settlers and one territory, you're required to build your economy to the point where you're able to send your army out beyond your own borders to seize unclaimed land, wipe out your enemies, and garner information about the legendary missing jewels.
Unfortunately, your quest to become the crown jeweler is a lot more difficult than it should be because of the game's interface. To move around within Ultimate Domain, you're asked to move your mouse to the edge of the screen. This type of design has been mastered by countless other games, but it doesn't work well at all here.
When you move to the edge of the screen, you usually find yourself a few positions further along than you want to be because it scrolls too fast. As a change of pace, the screen occasionally doesn't move at all. You can move around by using the cursor arrows on your keyboard, but this is a very slow method of navigation. Since each territory covers more than one screen, this interface problem really detracts from the game.
What makes this worse is that the designers knew about this problem, since there's a reference in the user's manual to the fact that it could take awhile to master the mouse movements. When you see this, you can't help but ask yourself whether you want to spend some quality time practicing a mouse move, or whether you want to move onto a game that's easier to operate.
Then there's that vision thing, when something you're searching for is hidden by flora and fauna. For instance, the only way you can gain access to the trade screen, where you change your settlers' occupations, is to click on a brown flag. If the flag is hidden behind a tree, you have to waste valuable time trying to find it.
Flags aren't the only things that drop out of view. During one game I played, I used my cannon to blow away a tree because one of my army units was hidden behind it. I knew the unit was somewhere in that area, but I couldn't move it until I did a little full-contact landscaping. This particular stunt isn't mentioned anywhere in the user's manual, so please _ don't try this at home!.
Unmanageable mice aside, this is a sound strategy game that requires a lot of patience. It's very important to manage your settlers in proper fashion early in the game. They're flexible, and will perform any task they're asked to do. Keep an eye on their morale, which is the key to expanding your population. Happy peasants get together and produce baby peasants, who quickly grow up and enter your service. Also, wandering nomads are much more likely to remain in your territory if your settlers are happy campers.
Each of the four seasons constitutes one turn in the game, and each season brings a different set of conditions. Your outdoor workers, such as farmers and woodsmen, slow down in the heat of summer, and literally hibernate during the dead of winter. White-collar types, such as inventors and specialists, stay indoors and work year-round.
Technology is the key to blowing your opponents to hell and back later in the game, so you should get your inventors working as soon as possible. They're starting from scratch _ the wheel hasn't even been invented yet _ and their pool of knowledge builds in a logical fashion. You must build a workshop for your inventors to work in, and for your blacksmiths to build the inventions.
Other important buildings that you'll need are a barracks, where you raise your army, raise your taxes, and propose alliances with the other players; a temple, where you store the jewels that you manage to find; and a tavern, where you'll be able to question travellers about the location of the missing jewels.
There isn't much suspense over the outcome of your battles against opposing units. The side with more firepower usually wins. When you raise an army, it shows up on the screen as one soldier, although you may have more than one member of the unit. If you have single units wandering the countryside, you can combine them for ease of travel.
Keep in mind that your soldiers are good for more than fighting. The jewels aren't necessarily in occupied territory, so it's a good idea to have a few units out wandering the land trying to scoop up any stray baubles that might be lying around.
Ultimate Domain is an entertaining game that demands a lot of time, since it takes a while to get to the point where you can start seriously challenging your opponents. It's just a damn shame that the designers treated the mouse as though it was some kind of filthy rodent.
