“It’s good to be bad!”

Bullfrog did it again – and in this case, they set the bar higher then ever before. Bored of endless “fight evil, save the land, be the hero” rubbish? Fed up of the boring, predictable, unrealistic scenarios of good triumphing over evil? Then the violent, horrific and down-right gloriously evil solution: Dungeon Keeper!

Ever since the dawn of the first game, it has always been about saving, building, and protecting the innocent for the greater good. Dungeon keeper offers the other side – ever wondered where all these endless hordes of evil minions came from? In DK (dungeon keeper) you play the ultimate scythe-welding red horned ghoul intent to break free from the underworld and into the land of the green and happiness above!

An RTS to the fullest extent, this game has the whole resource management, base building and unit training aspects that are core to any decent RTS at its heart. It even dips ever so slightly into a first person mode where you can “possess” and control the simple minds of your own minions.

The game does a brilliant job of getting the gamer hooker from level 1, as every new map and level unlocks one or two new rooms/spells and possibly a new race of minion, so gives a strong feeling that is always advancing closer to the ultimate goal - to get rid of those “goodies” once and for all and to bring the underworld to the surface!

What first struck me about the game was how much thought and detail the designers put into it. Warlocks, when run out of things to research in the library, get bored and set fire to chickens from the hatchery, racial hatreds brake out between rivals, fed up minions start riots, minions looking for a laugh use prisoners as target practice. The feeling and personality of this society has been captured beautifully, and lets you know that just because your inhabitants are alike in there hatred for good, doesn’t mean that they are willing to put there petty squabbles aside!

The game also features a subtle yet great sense of humour. the dialogue by the (what i can only call) narrator describing each new level before you start it is constantly telling of his disgust at the “lovely green round hills” and the “happy peasants without a worry in the world”, and how he cant wait to “wipe the smile of there happy little faces”.

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The game interface is simple, easy to understand yet also efficient, and gives you an almost “godlike” power and a “evil hand” to move creatures, cast spells, plan new digging sites or slap dawdling minions. the whole way through the game i never felt lost, or felt restricted in what i needed to do. The whole atmosphere of the game also captured the true sense of evil and horror: random game sounds include echoing dripping noises, deep-voiced chants and screaming, and a simply awesome game sound track. Being a fan of horror myself, this game delivers in all aspects.

Dungeon Keeper does suffer from its share of problems. Combat is a little bit too simple, and basically revolves around you picking up a load of monsters and dropping them in front of your enemies – probably not exactly what tactics and strategy experts are looking for. Much like bullfrogs previous game Theme Hospital, minions can get unhappy for no apparent reason (with the exception of the “horned reaper” race, in which everything from heart beats to dust pisses them off!) and also the “barracks” room seems to have little or no actual use.

However, these simple and small flaws did not bother me, and in my opinion, Dungeon Keeper is a true masterpiece, and really set the standard for RTS gaming. It is evidence that old games can never be replaced!

10/10

Pros:
Gloriously evil, humorous, addicting, a completely unique and original game!
Cons:
you will glance at your clock and see that 3 weeks of your life have disappeared by the time your finished with it.