Cue dramatic fanfare. “Set in the world forged by the God of Light, two races fight for their survival in Dimensity.” You’ve got your “noble humans” and your evil Firbolg. As usual, chaos ensues and it’s swords and arrows time. Dimensity takes the typical fantasy storyline and inserts its names where necessary. It’s been seen thousands of times before and it’ll take a very young gamer to not feel a severe case of déjà vu. It’s akin to watching Lord of the Rings, but with all the fun and exciting parts removed. We mustn’t be too harsh, after all Dimensity’s story is confluent and has a beginning, middle and end, but it won’t be winning Oscars or even any mental notice. The cut scenes will be skipped and the dialogue avoided. It’s perfectly acceptable to play Dimensity as a collection of linked missions without any of the hogwash in between.
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Bland narrative aside, Dimensity does provide a playable game experience. It takes two staple genres, (the Real Time Strategy and the Role Playing Game) and mixes them together to produce a quirky lovechild. The game’s design choices are founded in logic, with the merger seeming to work. Once you’ve chosen your campaign (i.e. Human or Firbolg), you’ll spend the majority of your time behind a hero. Like any other hack and slash RPG, Dimensity contains the usual mix of point and click combat, upgradeable skill / attribute points, increasingly powerful loot and the feeling that one man can make a difference. Movement involves clicking; combat involves clicking on a target; activating your skills, and menu navigation requires the same action. It’s all a bit 1990s. As you gain (shock, horror!) experience points, you’ll gradually level up allowing for quicker killing and uber weapons. To do so, you’ll come across various NPC’s that dish out “kill this, go there” quests that gift you gold, XP and items. You’re sent along a linear path, through hordes of identical enemies, with the only motivator being the game’s story.
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Then Dimensity tries to do something a little interesting. Over the years there have been many games that attempted to cross genres, each with a certain outcome. Dimensity ends up sitting somewhere in the middle. It hasn’t failed in its experimentation, but neither has it created a breathtakingly fresh experience. As with the bulk of RTS’, you create carious buildings to produce units, fortify defences and expand your empire. Dimensity waters it down so you have your main building to provide you with grunts; an advanced form which trains “strategic” troops and finally towers for protection. Controlling multiple troops does require a brain keen on multitasking, especially when you factor in numerous targets and a selection of skills. It generally works, but on occasion can seem cumbersome and frustrating. Even so, it’s a notable effort of genre cementation.
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It’s a shame that Dimensity falters in its looks. We’re firm believers that gameplay makes a game, not its beauty, but one comes to expect a certain standard. It is obvious that the game’s been developed somewhere where development is a new concept. This hasn’t been funded by the giant EA or produced at the offices of Rockstar. It is a game conceived in a small studio in the heart of Bulgaria. As a result, you have to show slight leniency. Even with a softer eye on things, Dimensity really struggles to show off. Bland environments, blurry textures, fuzzy character models, boring vegetation, cloned units, a distinct feeling that we’ve been here before, only ten years ago. The game seems to have an unholy obsession with loading screens and it’s not the most stable of engines. There is the advantage of the game running on any modern machine, but you should be looking elsewhere for your fantasy RPG / RTS fix.
You’re better off sticking with Warcraft 3. It does everything that Dimensity does, but to a better standard. There are plenty of mods available for Blizzard’s classic, many of which cover the uniqueness of Dimensity. There’s obvious some talent in the development studio, yet the game choice is completely the wrong one if you’re attempting to shine. Been there, done it, bought the t-shirt.
DIMENSITY VERDICT
You’re better off sticking with Warcraft 3. It does everything that Dimensity does, but to a better standard. There are plenty of mods available for Blizzard’s classic, many of which cover the uniqueness of Dimensity. There’s obvious some talent in the development studio, yet the game choice is completely the wrong one if you’re attempting to shine. Been there, done it, bought the t-shirt.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Pressing the un-install button.
