Dungeon Keeper 2

"Dungeon Keeper 2 - a game with a difference"

Dungeon Keeper 2, the long awaited sequel to Dungeon Keeper, is one of the first strategy games to actually be in true 3D. The graphics are nearly perfect and I still play on it, sometimes, even now. It is a game where you are actually the ‘baddie’ and have to wipe out all the signs of good in the underworld, the place where all your creatures labour away to earn money, only to spend it again in your very own casino.

The whole game has been re-vamped, the interface is much better, the graphics are perfect for the type of game it is, your minions actually labour away and get tired so they have to go back to their lair to regenerate their health (they also do this after they have been in battle with your enemies), these are sometimes other ‘keepers’ or are ‘heroes’ (the good ones your job is to eliminate).

Basically the aim of the game is to claim all of the portal gems, these are crystal-like, purple-coloured gems. When you kill the lord of the land (this is usually a knight, a hero who has amazing attack and defensive skills) ‘Horny’ is summoned (a invincible demon who also happens to be the lord of the under-world) and he comes out of the ground, out of the fire, and holds up the portal gem over the dead body of the lord of the land.

The types of games you can play on Dungeon Keeper are, My Pet Dungeon (meaning you start off in an ideal base location and have to raise a certain amount of points to proceed to the next level), Skirmish (meaning you start off at the opposite side off the map to your opponent (a keeper) and have to completely eliminate him), Campaign (meaning you must complete the missions in a story campaign type thing) or Internet (where you can play a skirmish game over the internet or over a network).

To attract certain creatures into your dungeon you must build certain types of rooms of a certain size, and every creature also has an elite form where you must mix up your rooms and make them certain shapes to attract creatures with twice the power of normal creatures. You can sacrifice your creatures in temples and get different creatures back or money from the gods of the underworld and you can torture enemies making them convert to your evil cause.

Most creatures have one or two special skills, for example, the Dark Angel has the spells: disruption, hailstorm and skeleton army. Each of these spells has a different graphical representation and each of them take some time to regenerate before you can use them again. The only way to get skeletons in your dungeon is either to kill an enemy creature in your prison or to find a neutral one that will turn to your side.

Each creature can be trained to level 10 and on the way they get new spells and get stronger. You can train your creatures slowly in the Training Room, or, if you wish, train them in a Combat Pit, but if you do train them in a combat pit you do run the risk of killing them completely. This is true especially so for skeletons that do not have any true form, do not eat and do not have a lair to heal themselves in.

Every creature has his or her own unique attributes, for example the Dark Angel spends half his time in the Temple praying, and the Mistress like torturing herself or other creatures while screaming out in joy. One of the best examples of this is the Rogue he likes to steal money from your treasury to spend in the casino. Vampires can only be summoned by a number of dead bodies rotting in your graveyard and can only be killed by monks or killed when they are at level 1, if they are killed by anything else or at a level higher than level 1; they just rise again in your graveyard.

If your creatures are not at a high enough level to learn spells, don’t worry; you can use your very own keeper spells that must be researched at the Library by Warlocks or captured Wizards. You can also build traps to kill your opponents with; these do come at a small cost but can keep out enemies for enough time for you to assemble forces where the problem is.

Overall I would give Dungeon Keeper 2 9/10 because it has such amazing graphics. I took away half a mark because the skirmish mode needs a lot of improvement and half a mark because some of the campaign missions are harder than the ones that come after them. Dungeon Keeper 2 is a strategy game with a difference.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/01, Updated 10/08/02