Dungeon Keeper 2
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| Dungeon Keeper 2 | |
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 Dungeon Keeper 2 box cover |
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| Developer(s) | Bullfrog Productions |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Designer(s) | Colin Robinson |
| Series | Dungeon Keeper series |
| Latest version | 1.7 (Final) |
| Release date(s) | NA June 30, 1999[1] |
| Genre(s) | RTS/God |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer (2-4 Players) |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: M (Mature) |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Media | 1 CD-ROM |
| System requirements | P2 166MHz, 32MB RAM, 2MB VRAM, 300MB HD Space, Direct3D 6 |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
Dungeon Keeper 2 is an IBM PC strategy game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1999[1] for Microsoft Windows. It was released in North America in June 1999 and in Europe over a year later in September 2000. It was the sequel to Peter Molyneux's Dungeon Keeper and predecessor to the cancelled Dungeon Keeper 3. Molyneux did not have an active role in the creation of the Dungeon Keeper 2, though many of his ideas lived on from the previous game. Like its predecessor, players take the role of a dungeon keeper, building and defending an underground dungeon from the would-be heroes that invade it, as well as from other keepers. In the game's campaign mode, the player is charged with recovering the portal gems from each area in order to open a portal to the surface. This was charged as a setup for the sequel, where the gems would be used to invade the surface world and defeat the faction of goodly heroes.
The most immediate change from Dungeon Keeper is in its graphics; the world is now fully 3D. Where monsters were previously sprites, they are now 3D models. Several rooms, spells, and monsters were changed, added or removed, as were many game mechanics. For example, if a creature is dropped into the middle of a melee, it is stunned and vulnerable for a few seconds before getting up to fight. One major feature of the game is its "My Pet Dungeon" mode, which features sandbox-style play where players have a nearly unlimited amount of time to construct a dungeon uninterrupted. Heroes would only invade the dungeon if the player chose to allow it.
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[edit] Major changes from Dungeon Keeper
- The dungeon heart now stores a limited amount of gold; in Dungeon Keeper (particularly the Deeper Dungeons expansion), if the player ran out of gold before building a treasury, no additional gold could be mined and stored.
- Spells are now cast using mana, which is automatically replenished over turns, based on the amount of land or mana vaults a player owns. Previously, they were cast using gold.
- Creatures no longer automatically die if defeated in battle: the creatures may, for a short time, be rescued by the player's imps and returned to the lair or captured by enemy imps and taken to the prison.
- Dropping creatures onto the ground stuns them for a while, unlike in Dungeon Keeper, where they could immediately begin to move again. Imps are not stunned when dropped.
- Imps no longer require training to gain levels; they gain experience from performing their duties in the dungeon.
- The training room only trains creatures for the first four levels; further levels can be attained in the combat pit (to level 8) or through combat.
- The scavenger room was removed, and several rooms were added:
- a casino that can be used to improve morale or funding,
- a guard room where creatures can be stationed for defense, and
- a combat pit, for training beyond what the training room offers.
- The horned reaper is no longer a typical creature: it may instead be summoned for a very large amount of mana. Horny will then go on a rampage, destroying anything in its path for a short time.
- Many creatures were removed, and many were added. Notably absent are the dragons, replaced by a relatively weaker salamander.
- Many of the spells were redone, and can be upgraded after all basic spells have been researched.
[edit] Gameplay
The game plays quite similarly to its predecessor, however gameplay is more streamlined with less micromanaging and elimination of unnecessary information. Examples include the removal of the "kill enemies"/"beat them unconcious" switch [Creatures are always knocked unconcious, the behaviour can't be changed] and the creature statistics panel which provided all sorts of generally irrelevant information like blood type and luck. The creature combat experience was also moved to display as a circular 'progressbar' in the creatures 'health flower' over their heads removing the need to find the information in the panels. The colors, music and sound in Dungeon Keeper 2 also tends to be brighter and more vibrant, the original Dungeon Keeper was generally darker and 'grimier' with more serious overtones [granted Bullfrog had less room to manoeuver technology-wise though]. Dungeon Keeper 2 tends to be much more tongue in cheek with various 4th wall violating jokes but is balanced so that it doesn't break the player's immersion in the world.
Like the original, Dungeon Keeper 2 places the player in the role of a "malignant overlord" bent on world domination. The main story of the game is simple enough, the player must go and conquer all the underground lands in the kingdom to recover the 'portal gems' which can be used to open a portal to the surface world so that it can be invaded by evil, each individual level extends the main story with a specific substory for each region. The kingdom itself takes the form of a large table containing a 3-Dimensional map where the player clicks where to attack next from the highlighted regions, this is quite similar to Dungeon Keeper's world map with mainly graphical improvements. There are 20 main levels in the campaign, some levels have multiple methods of attack allowing the player to choose which method and subregion they prefer.
As in the original, the player takes on the enigmatic form of a large floating green hand which moves around the map picking things up, dropping them and interacting with specific items. The game interface is blended between a large panel at the bottom of the screen and interactive items in the world, for example, the buttons to select which room, door or trap to build or spell to cast are in tabs on the panel and are then dropped into position in the world, locking/unlocking doors or activating items is done by clicking on the item in the world, for example, disabling imprisionment of enemy creatures is done by clicking a metal bar next to the prison door barricading it closed.
Gameplay is overseen by "the Mentor" (an anonymous evil sounding male voice) just as in the original Dungeon Keeper who tutors the player in the early levels and provides hints and advice throughout the game as well as general notices such as "It's payday" or "Your dungeon heart is under attack!". The Mentor also provides a sometimes humourous monologue at the 'objectives screen' for each level about the level goals and the characters involved as well as pointing out the movements of rival keepers and the king on the world map.
After completing a campaign level the player recieves a short movie before the debriefing screen which contains a joke based on the game, for example, a bile demon showing off to a couple of imps by hitting a training dummy behind him without looking, he is then distracted by a dark mistress and the maces on the training dummy's arms hit him in the head knocking him out.
Other than the campaign, the game also includes multiplayer and skirmish modes as well as a sandbox mode called "My Pet Dungeon". My Pet Dungeon levels assign the player a goal such as "gain 10000 points" where points are gained by building, casting, claiming, slapping and just generally managing the dungeon. Once the player completes the objective they are then allowed to choose to keep playing on for as long as they like. The sandbox mode includes a 'Hero toolbox' where the player can grab Hero characters and drop them in their dungeon for their minions to kill, the toolbox also includes a slot machine like device for changing the skill level of the characters in the toolbox. The interface panel also gains a 'force an invasion' button that causes a team of heroes to emerge from a Hero gate and attack the player's dungeon.
The skirmish mode enables the player to fight against computer bots however the difficulty of the bots is not particularly high as the AI tends to have limited decision making and contingency planning abilities but are still generally challenging under favourable conditions.
[edit] Reviews and Reception
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Though not as highly rated as its landmark original, Dungeon Keeper 2 successfully transformed the series into true 3D. Reviews varied highly, with some criticism about the lack of new features compared to its predecessor, Dungeon Keeper. IGN was among the highest raters of the game, awarding a score of 8.9 and the editor's choice award [2]. Many reviews cited the lack of a fully supported multiplayer mode. Whilst the CD-ROM release of the game contained only four multiplayer maps, this problem was later rectified in an online patch increasing the number of maps to a dozen. One of the most praised aspects of the game was the variety of game types included. A freeform sandbox mode entitled My Pet Dungeon, a linear campaign mode, a somewhat limited skirmish mode and the previously mentioned multiplayer mode. Though overall, the reception was very good, the low sales volume contributed to the cancellation of a sequel.
[edit] Major Patch Updates
After installing patch v1.61, it is possible attract "elite" versions of creatures which are more powerful than the standard creatures. In order to attract them to a dungeon, a player must build rooms in a certain layout. Patch v1.7 introduced a new creature and a new trap, the Maiden and the Jack-In-The-Box, respectively. The Maiden has the upper body of a woman, the lower body of a spider and shoots webbing. The Jack-In-The-Box trap serves as a ward against enemy Imps, who die upon triggering the trap. The game has had many known issues, some minor ones of which still exist in patch 1.7 such as mislabeling on some items and glitches such as creatures occassionally getting stuck in the entrance portal or temple sacrifice pool, unfortunately new patches are unlikely given the age of the game.
[edit] Dungeon Keeper 3
- Main article: Dungeon Keeper 3
Bullfrog Productions, the UK-based EA division known for its offbeat strategy games, has revealed that it has decided to end work on Dungeon Keeper 3 so as to work on other games. The site explains that "opportunities to develop new intellectual properties on new platforms such as PlayStation 2 have meant that DK3 has been put on hold." Though there are no plans for developing any new Dungeon Keeper games at the moment, the Bullfrog statement points out that this is always a possibility for the future.
The Dungeon Keeper titles were real-time strategy games that put players in the role of a dungeon overseer charged with managing an underground realm and protecting it against the goodly adventurers that conventionally appear in roleplaying games. The series won praise from reviewers for its innovative design and devilish humor.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/dungeonkeeper2/news_2610618.html
[edit] References
- ^ a b GameFAQs Data Page [1] Retrieved October 3, 2006
- ^ a b IGN.com Review [2] Retrieved on October 3, 2006.
- ^ GameSpot Review [3] Retrieved on October 3, 2006.
- ^ Edge Rating [4] Retrieved on October 3, 2006.
- ^ PC Gamer Review [5] Retrieved on October 3, 2006.
- ^ Game Rankings review compilation [6] Retrieved on October 3, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Dungeon Keeper 2 at MobyGames
- Dungeon Keeper 2 at GameFAQs
- Dungeon Keeper 2 at GameSpot
- Dungeon Keeper 2 at the Internet Movie Database
- Keeper Klan Dungeon Keeper 2 clan and community.
- Dungeon-Keeper.net : Ultimate Keeper's Portal French Dungeon Keeper Community
- Mark Knight's Gamesounds The Dungeon Keeper Audio Composer's Download Section
- Evil_Union Dungeons A newly started forum about all dungeon games, But primarily dungeon keeper 1 and 2.
