Galaxy Domination

One of my first Android games was a game called Archipelagos. It was a knockoff of a game I loved on the iPod Touch that was billed at a real time strategy version of Risk, but it fell way short of replicating the experience due to a lack of challenge and depth. I was delighted the other day when Galaxy Domination appeared as it appears to successfully fill this void, and while it too falls short of what is available on the iPod Touch in terms of play options it is certainly a worthwhile challenge.

The premise of the game is that you 'own' a planet in a system of planets. Each planet produces new units for military conquest based on its size... capture a big planet and watch it grow fast... settle for a tiny one and watch it grow at an anemic rate. From there your mission is to conquer the galaxy.

The graphics are basic... textured circles for the planets and dots for ships being sent from one planet to another. There's not much for your ears either... so little that I find it amusing that you can turn sound on/off. The only thing I hear is a little tick sound when invading another planet. The user interface works well, though. Click and drag from one planet to another and release to send half of the units from the source planet on their way to the selected target. Each units kills off the opposition at an even exchange rate until you overwhelm the enemy force.

This game steps ahead of Archipelagos by offering a campaign mode and several levels of difficulty. The game also offers a nice tutorial. A demo version is available so that you can try before you buy, and the full version costs about $1.50 US. Some improvements would be additional options such as fog of war and the usual atmospheric audio and better sound effects. All in all the game is well done and earns 4/5 stars.