Dominator Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]
62Developed and published by System 3 in 1989.
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Loader Music: 0:00
Title Music: 3:40
Main Game: 9:40
Somewhere in the outer reaches of deepest, darkest space exists an evil alien life-form capable of destroying entire galaxies.
You are the titular "Dominator", the sole surviving member of a an elite fighter squadron who is sent on a mission to save planet Earth from imminent destruction by destroying the alien menace. To do this, the pilot must find a way inside the creature and destroy it from within.
Being a shoot' em up, Dominator is a relatively simple game concept when compared to other titles from System 3.
The first level features vertical scrolling gameplay (the only one in the game) where the play controls a carrier-class ship towards the alien organism. Wave after wave of enemy fighters must be destroyed whilst avoiding collision with the strange, organic structures of the organism. Should you be successful in destroying the end-of-level guardian, a smaller fighter craft will detach from the main player ship and make it's way inside the alien to continue the mission.
Once inside, the game switches to a side-on perspective. The player's fighter craft now has the ability to upgrade on-board weaponry with a range of equipment and power-ups left behind by destroyed enemies, including a much welcomed auto-fire upgrade that prevents blistered trigger fingers. The first available weapon upgrade is a rear-facing cannon designed to hit those enemies creeping up from behind; the angle of fire can be changed by flying forwards and backwards, which is a neat feature and is useful for protecting the ship from enemies or meteors that appear from the top of the screen.
The horizontal sections of the game are as much about avoiding the the scenery as dealing with the aliens themselves. The level design features many spiky appendages and narrow corridors that become increasingly difficult to navigate as the game progresses. Navigating the levels becomes even more difficult if the player collects too many of the ship speed power-ups, since the speed of the craft no longer affords the level of precision needed to fly through some of the narrower corridors. It's fair to say that you'll spend a great deal of time cursing at the game by the time the fourth level appears where there are many enemies on screen and you are forced to fly between rows of fang-like teeth (which also ooze lethal blobs of acid).
The game does feature destructible scenery, which is a nice touch. While seeing parts of the level get blown to pieces looks cool, it also becomes a requirement in certain levels as you must clear a safe path through the environment.
Presentation of this game is something of a mixed bag, which in uncharacteristic for a System 3 game. The game features some very good graphics (courtesy of Paul Docherty and Hugh Riley) and I especially liked the great explosion animations that gave the game a genuine arcade-on-C64 feel, but some of the background art in the horizontal sections looks basic and uninteresting.
Perhaps the worst thing about the ending is ending. Having destroyed the evil mother-brain, the words "Shit Hot" scroll vertically across the screen and then disappear...game over. I'm not a prude by any means, but the use of bad language in a game that would have been played predominantly by children just seems unnecessary, as well as being a very lazy way to end the game. Surely it would have been better to have simply said "congratulations" if it was only possible to include a short ending.
Moving back to a more positive aspect, Matt Gray provided the music and sound effects for the game and both sound great. It's a shame that there's no in-game music (I would always take a good soundtrack over sound effects on the C64), but the loading music and title screen tunes are both catchy.
Dominator offers an above-average shooting experience, but there are better shooters out there (e.g. Katakis) and the poor ending just lets both the game and System 3 down.
#retrogaming