Dominant Species

Dominant Species is a real-time strategy game set in a futuristic sci-fi universe where players take on the role of alien Mindlords. These powerful beings command their unique species in a battle over ‘Anima’, the substance of all life on the planet. The conflict escalates with the sudden arrival of humans, forcing the player, as the most promising young Mindlord, to achieve victory over both the invasive human threat and the encroaching rival alien species.

Dominant Species: A Forgotten Skirmish in the RTS Golden Age

A deep-dive review into Red Storm’s ambitious but flawed attempt to conquer the strategy genre.

Introduction

In the annals of video game history, 1998 stands as a monumental year. It was the year of Half-Life, StarCraft, Baldur’s Gate, and Grim Fandango—a veritable avalanche of genre-defining masterpieces. In the shadow of these titans, many ambitious games were destined to be forgotten. Among them is Red Storm Entertainment’s Dominant Species, a real-time strategy game that dared to ask a compelling question: what if the alien invasion was from the perspective of the aliens, and the humans were the terrifying, technologically superior invaders? Despite a fascinating premise and genuine technical innovation, particularly in its 3D terrain, Dominant Species became a casualty of its era, a game whose lofty ambitions were hamstrung by a clunky interface and the overwhelming competition it faced. This review argues that while Dominant Species is far from a flawless classic, it remains a fascinating artifact—a bold, experimental misstep that offered glimpses of a future for RTS games that wouldn’t truly arrive for years.

Development History & Context

Dominant Species emerged from Red Storm Entertainment, a studio founded by renowned author Tom Clancy. By 1998, Red Storm had already made its mark with the tactical shooter Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, establishing a reputation for serious, realistic military simulations. Dominant Species represented a dramatic departure from this identity. It was a foray into the crowded and fantastical realm of real-time strategy, a genre then dominated by Blizzard’s Warcraft and StarCraft and Westwood’s Command & Conquer series.

The development team, led by Producer Paul Wirth and Lead Engineer Jon Owen, clearly aimed for technical distinction. Their vision was to create an RTS with a fully realized, dynamic 3D landscape, a feature that was still a rarity in a genre largely built on 2D isometric perspectives. Games like Myth: The Fallen Lords had showcased 3D terrain, but Red Storm sought to push this further, promising “a truly 3D battlefield” with a “completely free-wheeling camera” that could zoom and rotate at will. This was a significant ambition, especially considering the technological constraints of the era. The average PC in 1998 was likely running on a Pentium II processor with a graphics card struggling to handle 3D acceleration effectively. Pushing complex 3D landscapes, detailed unit animations, and a free-moving camera was a tall order that inevitably led to performance issues and necessitated compromises in other areas, most notably the game’s visual detail and interface responsiveness.

The gaming landscape at the time was unforgiving. Dominant Species launched into a market still reeling from the perfection of the RTS formula by StarCraft, which had released just months prior. It wasn’t enough to be good; a new RTS needed to be exceptional or wildly innovative to carve out a space. Red Storm’s attempt to blend managerial simulation elements with a traditional RTS framework, all wrapped in a quirky sci-fi aesthetic, was a gamble. They were not just building a game; they were trying to build a new kind of strategy experience on technology that was only just becoming capable of supporting it.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

The narrative premise of Dominant Species is its most immediately compelling hook. Players do not command humans striving for dominance over a new world; instead, they assume the role of an alien “Mindlord,” a psychic commander guiding one of several bizarre species native to the planet. These species are in a perpetual war with each other, fighting over “Anima,” the substance of all life. This internal conflict is disrupted by the arrival of a new, terrifyingly advanced threat: humanity.

This simple inversion of the classic “alien invasion” trope is brilliant. It casts humanity in the role of the unknowable, overwhelming force—the Zerg rush or the Protoss technological marvel from the alien’s perspective. The humans are not presented as individual characters but as a faceless, industrial war machine, an existential threat that forces the squabbling native species to potentially reconsider their priorities. Thematically, the game explores ideas of tribalism versus a unified front in the face of a common enemy, and the inherent tragedy of a native population being overrun by a colonizing force.

However, the execution of this narrative fails to live up to its potential. The story is largely conveyed through the manual and brief mission briefings. The characters—the different Mindlords and their species—lack depth and personality beyond their visual design and unit types. There is no memorable dialogue or story-driven campaign moments that rival the cinematic flair of StarCraft‘s missions or the narrative depth of a Fallout. The promise of a rich narrative context remains just that: a promise, ultimately serving as a backdrop for the strategic gameplay rather than a driving force behind it. The themes are present, but they are underexplored, making the game’s story feel more like a clever setup than a fully realized world.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

At its core, Dominant Species is a traditional real-time strategy game. Players gather resources (Anima), construct buildings, raise armies of unique alien units, and engage in combat across a variety of maps. Yet, it is in the specifics of its mechanics and systems where the game both innovates and falters.

The Core Loop & Innovation: The core gameplay loop will be familiar to any RTS veteran: economy management leads to army building leads to combat. The primary resource, Anima, must be harvested and managed carefully. Where the game sought to innovate was in its integration of these systems with its 3D terrain. The landscape is not just a visual feature; it is a tactical element. Units can take advantage of elevation, and the “zerklüftung” (jaggedness) of the terrain, as noted by German magazine Power Play, makes navigation a key strategic consideration. This was a forward-thinking idea, anticipating the terrain advantages that would become standard in later 3D RTS titles.

The Fatal Flaw: Interface & Control: Unfortunately, this innovation is crippled by what most critics unanimously identified as the game’s greatest weakness: a poorly implemented, clunky, and frustrating interface. The free-moving 3D camera, while ambitious, was difficult to control. Power Play noted that it “leads to increased control difficulties at the beginning” and that without memorized keyboard commands, a “mouse-clicking commander-in-chief quickly runs out of time.” Computer Gaming World bluntly called the interface “poorly implemented” and the maps “useless” from a navigational standpoint. This fundamental failure meant that executing basic RTS commands—selecting units, moving across the map, managing production—became a chore rather than a seamless extension of the player’s will. In a genre where speed and precision are paramount, a cumbersome interface is a fatal flaw.

Units & AI: The units themselves were generally praised for being “excellent” and “original” (Computer Games Strategy Plus). The different alien species offered variety, and the inclusion of the technologically advanced humans added a unique asymmetric balance to multiplayer. However, the enemy AI was often cited as problematic. Power Play called it “eigenwillige” (idiosyncratic or quirky), requiring constant player micro-management. This further exacerbated the control issues, as players were forced to constantly fight with the camera and interface to compensate for their own units’ poor decision-making.

Multiplayer & Editor: The game featured robust multiplayer options for its time, supporting 2-4 players over LAN or Internet. It also included a mission editor, though Gaming Entertainment Monthly pointed out it was unsupported by Red Storm, limiting its potential. These features added longevity, but they couldn’t overcome the core gameplay frustrations.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Dominant Species presents a world that is a curious mix of the ambitious and the underwhelming.

Visual Direction & Art: The art direction, led by Dorje Bellbrook, aimed for a unique, almost whimsical sci-fi aesthetic. The alien units are described as “hopsenden, quiekenden Mur-Bewohner” (hopping, squeaking Mur inhabitants) by Power Play, who found them an “entertaining spectacle.” The designs were original and strayed far from the militaristic or gothic tones of its competitors. The true technical showcase was the 3D engine itself. Power Play even claimed it “casts a shadow over even Myth 2” with its “excessive” use of 3D, featuring “carefully three-dimensionally animated” units and buildings. Effects like dynamic day/night cycles and lighting were noted, particularly by PC Joker.

However, this technical ambition came at a cost. The landscapes, while geometrically complex, were often criticized as “kargen” (barren) and lacking detail (GameStar). The focus on terrain deformation seems to have left the textures and environmental art feeling sparse and uninteresting. The game achieved a novel 3D look but failed to create a world that felt truly alive or visually captivating compared to the lush, detailed 2D pre-rendered backgrounds of Age of Empires or StarCraft.

Sound Design & Music: This is where the game received its most consistent criticism. The audio, handled by Soundelux Media Labs under Scott Gershin, was routinely panned. Strategy Gaming Online flatly stated “sound and music really are the game’s only real weak points.” PC Joker called the accompaniment “very mediocre.” While composers like Bill Brown (Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six) contributed, the score failed to leave an impression. The sound effects for the quirky units were apparently as forgettable as the music, doing little to enhance the atmosphere or provide crucial audio feedback during gameplay.

Reception & Legacy

Upon its release in late 1998, Dominant Species received a mixed-to-negative critical reception, averaging a 63% rating from critics. The reviews paint a clear picture of a game admired for its concept but rejected for its execution.

Praise was reserved for its originality and innovation. Strategy Gaming Online (82%) hailed it as the future of RTS, citing “solid gameplay, genuine innovation, [and] quality graphics.” Computer Games Strategy Plus (80%) praised its “wonderful balance between graphics, strategy, and humor.” However, more prevalent were reviews like that from Computer Gaming World (40%), which deemed it “one species doomed to quick extinction,” and GameStar (51%), which dismissed it as a “Low-Budget-Produktion” that failed to spark excitement.

Commercially, it vanished without a trace, utterly eclipsed by the titans of its generation. Its legacy is not one of direct influence—few games cite Dominant Species as an inspiration. Instead, its legacy is that of a cautionary tale and a technological stepping stone. It demonstrated the perils of prioritizing ambitious 3D technology over polished, user-friendly design—a lesson the industry would learn repeatedly. It also stood as an early, flawed attempt to make terrain a truly interactive 3D element in strategy games, a concept that would be perfected years later by titles like Company of Heroes and Total War. It is a footnote, but a noteworthy one: a testament to the wild experimentation and high-risk, high-reward environment of the late-’90s PC gaming scene.

Conclusion

Dominant Species is a game of fascinating contradictions. It is a title developed by a studio known for gritty realism that features hopping, squeaking aliens. It boasts a 3D engine technically advanced for its time yet couples it with an interface that feels prehistoric. It presents a brilliantly inverted narrative premise but fails to support it with a compelling story.

The final verdict is that Dominant Species is not a lost classic waiting to be rediscovered. Its core gameplay flaws, particularly its infuriating control scheme, make it difficult to recommend to modern players or even as a historical curiosity. However, it is an important artifact. It represents a road not taken, a bold experiment that stumbled on the limitations of its technology and the unforgiving standards of its era. For the dedicated game historian, it offers a clear window into the ambitions and challenges of game development in the late 1990s. It is a species that, in the harsh ecosystem of video game evolution, was simply not dominant enough to survive.