Moby ID: 1535
- Overview
- Credits
- Reviews
- Covers
- Screenshots
- Videos
- Promos
- Trivia
- Specs
- Releases
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- Contribute
- Released
- 1997 on Windows
- Credits
- 503 people
- Publishers
-
- Activision, Inc.
- Learning Company, Inc., The
- Developers
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- Auran Games Pty Ltd.
- Moby Score
-
7.6
#5,467 of 24.6K - Critics
- 85% (23)
- Players
- (32)
- Review Ranking
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- #2,088 on Windows
- Collected By
- 85 players
- Genre
- Strategy / tactics
- Perspective
- Diagonal-down
- Visual
- Free camera
- Pacing
- Real-time
- Gameplay
- Real-time strategy (RTS)
- Interface
- Multiple units/characters control
Point and select - Setting
- Sci-fi / futuristic
- Narrative
- War
- ESRB Rating
- Kids to Adults
- Business Model
- Commercial
- Media Type
- CD-ROM, Download
- Input Devices Supported/Optional
- Keyboard, Mouse
- Multiplayer Options
- Internet, LAN, Modem, Null-modem cable
- Number of Offline Players
- 1 Player
- Number of Online Players
- 2-8 Players [ view all 16 specs ]
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 7/12 11:08 PM )
Add-on (official)
- Dark Reign: Rise of the Shadowhand (1998)
Add-on (unofficial)
- Battles of the Outer Rim (1998)
Included in
- Dark Reign + Expansion (2001)
Description official descriptions
Dark Reign narrowly beat Total Annihilation as the first RTS to incorporate 3D movement and positioning. This increases the strategic advantage of hills and mountains.
Each mission puts you in the role of the commander of either the Imperial army or the Freedom fighters in a campaign to undermine and eventually destroy the opposing force.
This game has many unusual features for the RTS genre. AI patterns allow you to simply give a unit the order "Search and Destroy" and it will drive off towards the enemy's last known location, in search for something to kill. There is also an "explore" mode which lets your units do all the map exploration for you. A mission/campaign editor is also provided.
Groups +
- Dark Reign series
- Gameplay feature: Fog of war
- Middleware: Smacker Video
Screenshots
Promos
Videos
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Credits (Windows version)
503 People (437 developers, 66 thanks) · View all
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[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 85% (based on 23 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 32 ratings with 7 reviews)
A great game technically, but lacking in gameplay.
The Good
There's much to like about Dark Reign. In first site it seems like a terrific RTS game, and while I'm not particularly fond of the genre, I can still appreciate a good game (Dune 2 and Starcraft are my favorites).
Dark Reign brought a lot of exciting features to RTS, and unprecedented control over what's happening in the game. Along with this, Dark Reign has an awefully cool name and box :-) The graphics in the game are not spectacular, but decent none-the-less and deserve some merit. The music is fairly good and so is the sound. The interface is terrific, comfortable and allows control over every aspect of the game. Something that I think should be in every game is the "move formation" option, which is completely unique to Dark Reign. There's also a lot of options for every unit regarding behaviour, and just about every other aspect of Dark Reign's interface is either perfect or almost so.
The Bad
Unfortunately, Dark Reign fails where it's most important - gameplay. Gameplay-wise the game just isn't very satisfying. The built-in missions lack interest and innovasion and are mostly just variations on standard RTS missions (the ones commonly found in the series of games), which is unfortunate. The game itself, even when running scenarios and such, is plain and uninteresting, and I would go as far as to say that the whole production is unimaginitive.
A shame considering the immense potential the game engine has.
The Bottom Line
The best RTS to date technically, completely lacking in gameplay and ultimately plain boring.
Windows · by Tomer Gabel (4535) · 2000
The best, most difficult game I own.
The Good
Everything, including the game play, the missions, the instant action feature, the units, the buildings, the realism and the graphics. The storyline is good as well. I love stories about conflicts between different forces.
The Bad
I hate the construction kit because I can't write my own mission briefings or set the end conditions, and not being able to access the communications menu in a single player mission really pee's me off.
The Bottom Line
A definite must have. It's the best game you can get!
Windows · by Nick Johnston (3) · 2002
A game that seems cool when you first get it, but becomes boring after a while.
The Good
Nothing in particular. The graphics are bland and the story is decent at best.
The Bad
Quite a bit. First, the game moves to fast. It suffers from a serious speed issue. A lot of the units are stupid. Take the Water Contaminator.... PLEASE! (heh heh)It moves really slow,(for this game anyway) and is real expensive. It's able to make the water of any pool(that's what the places where you get you're water look like) unusable. Sounds great, huh?? WRONG!!!!!!! Since it's so slow, you can't just waltz it in and contaminate your enemies water supply, you have to be able to have enough protection to eliminate any enemy units and turrets that get in your way. So, if you have enough power to destroy all enemy forces and turrets, why not just get the water for yourself??? A.I. is nearly braindead. You get a big force of strong slow units and fast weak ones and tell them all to go to your enemies base and the fast ones will get there first and get blown up. The resource gathering trucks (RGT's for short) will crowd each other, get lost and generally get in the way. The shredder is another failed unit. It shreds infantry and does it well, but it is totally useless. Why?? Because the sniper, along with the majority of other tanks wipe out infantry nearly as easily. Infantry are the most pitiful units in the game. They're just fodder for nearly every other unit. Stealth is another useless part of the game. Units like the sniper and sabatouer can transform into trees and bushes(??) so as to blend in with their surroundings. Not only does it never work with the computer, but how many times would you be fooled by a moving bush or tree?? It's insanely tough. The first couple of levels are ok, but after level 3 or 4 it becomes ridiculously hard. You'll spend days on a single mission then give up in disgust. Finally, the sound "effects" could be recorded better by you making laser noises in a microphone and the music is just plain bad. In the end, this is just another poor rts game released in the pre age of empires period.
The Bottom Line
Go play Age of Empires instead.
Windows · by James Kirk (150) · 2003
[ View all 7 player reviews ]
Trivia
German version
In the German versions the death animation was removed.
Awards
- PC Player (Germany)
- Issue 01/1998 - Best Real-Time Strategy Game in 1997
Analytics
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Related Games
Dark Reign + Expansion
Released 2001 on Windows
Dark Reign 2
Released 2000 on Windows
Dark Reign: Rise of the Shadowhand
Released 1998 on Windows
Reign of Amira
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Reign of Darkness
Released 2019 on Windows
Reign of Fire
Released 2002 on Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2
Reign of Fire
Released 2002 on Game Boy Advance
Reign of Kings
Released 2015 on Windows
Reign of Pirates
Released 2015 on Browser
Related Sites +
- Dark Reign.ws - Home of Dark Reign!
Excellent site dedicated to the game and its expansion pack. Also offers patches, maps, mods, new units, you name it. They've got a server running for multi-player games and there's an active community forum. - Dark Reign: The Future of War at Wikipedia
Article on Dark Reign in the open encyclopedia.
Identifiers +
- MobyGames ID: 1535 [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Zhentarim7.
Additional contributors: Jony Shahar, Zeikman, Patrick Bregger.
Game added May 31, 2000. Last modified March 31, 2024.