Dungeon Keeper 2

"There are better games to play, but it was still fun."

Dungeon Keeper was a pretty good game, I'll admit. But, does Dungeon Keeper 2 live up to the original? In my opinion, yes, and no.

Sound/Music ... 7/10

This is not a category I'm particularly fond of when I play DK2. There's nothing you'll remember distinctly, or be humming to afterwards. Although, it was nice to hear some of the weird sounds the creatures was nice the first few times, you kind of forget about it after awhile. I thought the narrator's sexy deep male voice was great! ^_^

Controls ... 8.5

I have no real big complaints in this department, as nearly everything is the same as the original, and the original was quite simple. However, I do have a few minor complaints. For one, each room in the dungeon has a specific ''quick'' key (i.e. the L key would bring you to the library). Of course, there are quite a few rooms, so which key does which can be confusing. When you hear the ''your lair is under attack'' you have a natural instinct to go immediately to your lair. But, ah man, which button is the lair one? I think it's *this* one ... No, that's the treasury! Ah man, they took it! As you can see, it's a minor complaint, but it did get on my nerves.

Gameplay ... 9/10

The game itself was pretty amazing, I have to admit. You begin with a dungeon heart and some imps, which are used for building rooms and digging. You use them to obtain a portal, from which creatures appear. Once you've done that, the madness begins. You have to build your rooms, to train and take care of your creatures, while at the same time you are duking it out with the enemy, which is either the heroes (good guys) or another dungeon keeper. The rooms range from a hatchery to feed your evil-as-hell creatures, to a torture chamber, to interrogate prisoners, to a training room. Your creatures have levels, which increase once you've trained or fought a certain amount. Once they level up, they gain new spells, and become stronger. The creatures themselves are about as diverse as the rainforest. They range from the leather-clad human female, the Mistress, to the fat and bulky Bile Demon. Each creature has an inclination to work in one room. For example, the troll prefers to work in the workshop, while the warlock likes to stay in the Library. Every once in awhile, your creatures will have a ''payday'' where they basically loot your treasury. This adds to the challenge, because many times you will not have enough gold to support them, and they will become angry at you!

Replay Value ... 9.5/10

With a skirmish mode, multi-player, single player, and more, you won't get bored any time soon ...

Buy? Rent? Smash?

I'd buy it, since it's unlikely you can rent it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/02, Updated 04/02/02