Dungeon Keeper 2. Dungeon Keeper 2 is an PC strategy game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1999 for Microsoft Windows. It was released in Europe and North America in June 1999. It was the sequel to Peter Molyneux's Dungeon Keeper and predecessor to the cancelled Dungeon Keeper 3. Carve out a living, breathing world and attract a host of devilish creatures to swell the ranks of your dark hordes. Form an alliance with the Horned Reaper to expand your empire and invade the realms above. In this dungeon-building, treasure-defending, hero-destroying adventure, it feels good to be bad - and the badder the better!

Dungeon Keeper 2 Update 1.7 WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT SAVEGAMES FROM EARLIER VERSIONS OF DK2 WILL WORK WITH THIS VERSION OF DUNGEON KEEPER 2. This version adds the Maiden and the Jack-In-The-Box Trap to Dungeon Keeper 2. The Maiden is an awesome creature that spits webs and slays enemies. The Maiden can be used in Skirmish and Multiplayer.

There are only a few developers that have the ability to make the entire staff of PC go all gooey whenever they demo a new product. Obviously iD has an uncanny ability to do clever things from time to time, but Bullfrog has developed this ludicrous knack of making any new project a damn sight more impressive than anything they've done before. In the past we've obviously gone bananas over the likes of Theme Park and Magic Carpet, and only last month, dearest Macca spooged all over Magic Carpet 2:Hidden Worlds and gave it 92 per cent. To say that Dungeon Keeper looks a bit smart would be something of an understatement. When we originally had the thing demo'd to us a couple of months ago there was a seriously sad situation where three of us sat in front of a pc watching Peter Molyneux playing the game -and we all looked as though we were about to start dribbling.

Sim Dungeon

Unlike many titles that we look at these days, this is one of the few occasions where we can honestly say that this game is totally unlike any other. Wow. Doesn't happen often. This is great for you as games players but for me, to write a preview about it, means I can't really compare it to anything else. So I'll just describe it.

Okay... so you've got this dungeon right. And you happen to be the dungeon keeper, the boss-man, the head honcho, the top-dog, the man with a plan, the... you get the picture. Now the basic idea of the game is that you have to run this dungeon as a practical and on-going business. As you'd expect in mythical fantasy land, or wherever it is that all this takes place, the existence of a dungeon attracts all manner of heroes to have a crack at nicking the treasure that's inevitably hidden at the centre. So, as well as running your dungeon, you also have to make sure that all the heroes get killed off in the most horrible way possible so that you can hang onto your goodies.

The game starts with you looking at a very simple map of the catacombs. You have a room where all your mana (like the stuff in Magic Carpet) is stored (this is your 'treasure'), a room where magical monsties can be formed, a library where the more intelligent creatures can go and study new spells and stuff, and finally you have a door. Pretty important this, as it's here that the heroes enter the dungeon and it's also where the creatures that you hire from Monsties 'R' Us will trundle in from.

Okay, that's the physical stuff out of the way, but there's more. The whole thing doesn't just stay like this you see. Although you only start off with a petite and bijou dungeonette you can add new rooms and corridors to the map by employing the services of imps who act as construction workers. Obviously though, you can only add rooms if you have enough money - and this is where the resource management aspect of the game comes in.At the beginning of the game you have a predetermined amount of money and mana to 'spend' in order to make your dungeon as nasty and 'orrible as possible. Mana points determine the ambient magical temperature of your dungeon and this determines what kinds of weird and wonderful creatures you can summon to defend the place.

Although things start off with fairly boring and mundane impy, demony monsties, you soon find that you can summon some nasty bastards. By collecting the souls of dead heroes you'll soon have enough loopy juice to summon up wizards, vampires, ghouls, ghosts and weird horrible fat, slobby, sweaty things.

The aim of the game is basically to keep your dungeon running while expanding and earning more money and mana. Bog standard trolls and goblins need to be kept happy by allowing them to feed and sleep (as well as paying them a wage) while magical creatures need to be sustained in other ways. And that's it... it's sort of a bit like being the dungeon master in the old tabletop D&D games but with lots of fancy bits thrown in as well.

Flashy bits from Bullfrog

Okay, so in theory it's all hunky-dory and wonderful. It's a nice twist on the old tabletop D&D thang, but it is all rather flash. Rather than a boring and completely mundane top-down scrolling map layout. Dungeon Keeper makes use of one of the flashiest, and yes, downright sexy graphics engines you've ever seen.

Based loosely on the forthcoming Syndicate Wars graphics system, the main part of Dungeon Keeper comprises a scrolling texture-mapped polygon environment that can be rotated and twisted around in order to be viewed from any angle. For added flashiness the system makes use of Bullfrog's impressive light-sourcing system which not only gives damn spectacular looking 'glowy bits' wherever there's a burning torch, but also casts 'real' shadows. Coo.

That's not all though. Oh no. Not satisfied with just having one really smart looking graphics engine, the team has put another one in as well. You see, if you don't think that one of your creatures is doing a particularly good job of looking after itself you can actually enter its body and view the world from its eyes. The resulting view makes use of one of the most impressive 3D graphics engines you've ever seen. Imagine Magic Carpet, but better, and with a lid on the top so that it's all enclosed and dungeon-like (odd that, innit?). Every creature is 'simulated' effectively so if you're 'in' a dirty great big stonking monster your view of the world changes accordingly.

If you possess a spider you crawl along the ground, if you possess a fly you nip around just like you do in Magic Carpet. Cool-ola or what?

Beyond clever

As we go to press there is still a lot of work being done on Dungeon Keeper. The bulk of the graphics work is virtually complete but there are a lot of features under discussion that are yet to be implemented. While speaking to both Simon Carter (the lead programmer on the project) and Peter Molyneux (the producer, and top-dog at Bullfrog) we learnt that the multiplayer features of the game WL are still under development. It seems that the final version of the game will be able to be played as both a network game and as an Internet-based game. Fine, fair enough... so what?

Ah, well there's a clever bit, you see. Not only can you play as either a hero or a dungeon keeper in the multi-player version, but you can also allow your pc to 'learn' how you play. This means that if you are playing with a group on the Internet and, say, your mum/partner screams bloody murder about how your tea has been ready for several days now and is still going cold on the table, you can log-off but actually leave your dungeonup and running. However, rather than just sitting there as a big empty dungeon, the ai will be smart enough to continue to play the game, just like you would. Wow. Think about it. It's scary. If you tend to summon up lots of wizards and then protect them with goblins, the computer will continue to play in this way until you take over again at a later date. Is that just way beyond clever or what?

Despite the fact that Dungeon Keeper is not actually finished yet, Bullfrog has high hopes for the next few weeks of production and is aiming to get the game in the shops before Christmas.As long as all goes according to plan we'll be able to bring you a full review of this new title next month along with an extremely special, unmissable Bullfrog competition. Rest assured, you want to buy next month's mag because we're going to be giving away a prize unlike anything you've ever seen before.

When it comes to strategy games, Dungeon Keeper 2 is one of the most interesting and fun strategy games I have had the pleasure to play. This is a game where you are the bad guy! That premise to me has always been very appealing. Many strategy games take themselves way too seriously, but this game is very much not meant to be taken seriously! So, grab your pitchfork, prepare to cast some spells, and cause all kinds of pain and suffering.

Horny Needs Your Help

The premise of Dungeon Keeper 2 is fantastic. Basically, good has managed to triumph over evil and has sealed away the evil all the while still allowing noble heroes to enter the underworld to take what they want! A big evil called Horny has called in the help of you in order to try and get these portal gems that are keeping the underworld locked away! It is pretty interesting stuff and while violent, gory and over the top, it is very tongue in cheek.

Glorious 3D

The presentation of the game is fantastic. It is fully 3D, this means that you can rotate the camera around and see action from any angle you want. The different creatures look great and there is some amazing imagination at play here. Even cooler is the fact that this game while it is a strategy game, is also part first person shooter.

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I know that sounds strange, but you can “possess” your minions in Dungeon Keeper 2 and when you do this you take direct control of them in a first-person point of view. This is a great deal of fun and adds a bit more action to the strategy element of the game. It is very well done and the characters show even more personality when you do this. My only gripe with the presentation is that all of the dungeons kind of look the same.

Keeping The Good Guys Out!

Each level of the game requires that you set up your dungeon and fight off the heroes. There are many things that Dungeon Keeper 2 requires you to do. Mana is your life source so you need to keep that protected. You also need to “hire” minions to come and fight the bad fight for you. These are your “units” and there is a great selection of them. The thing is, your units need to be looked after.

They will fight to the death for you, but you need to help out. This means you need to have an area where they can train, beds for them to sleep and places for them to relax… like a casino. That is right your minions need to have a casino so that they can blow off a little steam. If one wins big, they all celebrate. It is very interesting stuff and the game is the perfect blend of being challenging, but not so much that you will get sick of it and want to turn it off.

I have always had a great time with Dungeon Keeper 2. It is a strategy game that is more about being fun than being super realistic like many of them do. I love the way that your minions have so much personality and being able to torture folks is amusing as well. If you want to play a strategy game that is very different from what is considered “normal” you will have a hard time beating this one here.

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Final Score

Pros:

• Lots of minions to use
• I liked how you played as the bad guy
• You can go into first-person which is fun
• The game has a ton of personality
• A very unique take of the strategy genre

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Cons:

• The dungeons do all kind of look the same
• I feel it should have a more rocking soundtrack