Game Review: Dungeon Keeper 2
Dungeon
Keeper 2 was released in 1999 by Bullfrog Productions ( Now owned by EA
). It is the sequel to Peter Moleneux's Dungeon Keeper, which was
released in 1997.
The game has you, the Dungeon Keeper, creating
a dungeon and fighting the heros who are trying to cleanse hell of
evil. You start off with a dungeon heart ( Which is literally a beating
heart ) and a few imps. These imps are capable of digging out rock and
mining gold, making them very important.
You also find portals,
which basically act as hell super highways and they allow monsters to
get into your dungeon. The monsters you attract into your service
depends on the living conditions of your dungeon. If you have a
workshop, you have a chance to get trolls. All of the creatures you can
command have some sort of room specific demand. Warlocks for example
require a library.
This whole system works very well, and is executed nicely as well.
Graphics
are very nice ( For it's time ). The rooms are all very well modeled
and have a nice ambiance to them thanks to the lighting effects.
Animation is also good.
Sound
is great, mostly because of the narrator / mentor guy's voice. I think
the way he says "Game saved" will be stuck in my mind forever. Other
than that the sounds heros and creatures make are also well done, as is
the background sound ( Screaming and such ).
Gameplay is
fantastic! Dungeon Keeper 2 executes the whole "You are a god" thing
very well. Using your cursor (Which is a hand) you can pick up
creatures and slap them around and do all sorts of cool things. The
dungeon really feels like it is alive with creatures going to and a fro
to perform their duties. Watching your creatures duking it out with
enemies is a joy, and the developers understood that so they put in the
my pet dungeon mode. This mode allows you to create a dungeon from
scratch without any time limits and basically make your masterpiece
dungeon. I spent hours and hours doing this, and it never got old.
Overall,
the atmosphere, the gameplay, everything just makes the game what it
is. It is the total package really, and it is just....fantastic.
Game rating: 5/5
