Do you ever get tired of playing the good guy? C’mon, admit it.
Half the time when you’re sitting at the computer battling the dragon to rescue the lady fair, you’re really wishing you were the dragon, aren’t you?
At least, that’s what Bullfrog, an Electronic Arts Company was counting on when it came up with Dungeon Keeper.
In Dungeon Keeper, you get to put away your suit of pristine white armor and be the baddie for a change.
Inspire the creatures under your command? Ha! If they don’t do what you want, just slap ‘em around a little.
And forget about making the world a better place—your goal is to bring it to its knees.
Still with me? Good. We’re gonna make you a king…
Home is Where the Dungeon Heart Is
Your first goal in Dungeon Keeper is to build a dungeon so magnificently awful that the great Sir Lancelot himself would turn away from it in horror.
Every dungeon has a few common elements. For instance, your cause will be lost without a huge, well-stocked treasure room. (You didn’t think your minions would work for free, did you? Only the good guys inspire that kind of loyalty.)
You’ll also want a lair where your creatures can rest and lick their wounds after a battle, and a hatchery where cute little chickens become food for your beasts.
Next, you’ll need a training room so your monsters can build their strength, a library to attract wizards who will research ominous spells to terrorize your enemies, and a workshop to manufacture doors, locks, and traps to protect the heart of your dungeon.
If you want to be ambitious, you can also build prisons and torture chambers to deal with pesky foes, a graveyard to bury your dead, a temple where the ghosts in your domain can gather, and several other equally charming Martha Stewart-esque type chambers.
The Cast
The types of creatures who frequent your dungeon will depend on the variety and size of the rooms you create. Normally, you’ll start out with a certain number of Imps, monkey-like creatures who do your dirty jobs like tunneling through walls and whisking away dead bodies.
But any wuss of a Keeper can attract Imps. If you want to be taken seriously in your quest for evil, you must lure the more prestigious monsters. Here are a few of the creatures you may encounter along the way. Flies are easy to attract and make effective, if weak, spies. Beetles and spiders are also not-too-picky, low-maintenance fighters. Just don’t be surprised if your spiders attack and eat your flies.
Wizards, naturally curious souls, will most likely appear in your dungeon as soon as you have built a decent library, and Demon Spawn can’t resist a training room and will work out tirelessly. The Bile Demon, a repulsive yet formidable warrior, requires a food bribe before he’ll show his ugly face—no self respecting Bile would be caught dead in a dungeon with a small hatchery. The Mistress will no doubt materialize shortly after you build a respectable torture chamber. She’s a fighter through and through…but on her time off, don’t be surprised if she sneaks onto the wrack for some heavy-handed discipline from your chief inquisitor (no, I am not making that up). Finally, if you have a graveyard and enough bodies to fill it, you may be lucky enough to have a Vampire rise up to support your cause. Vampires are touchy creatures who will abandon your dungeon if their feelings become ruffled. Treat them with kid gloves—no, not the ones you use to slap the Imps—and keep them away from Wizards. Vampires and Wizards are old, old enemies.
Depending on your dungeon, you may also see Trolls, Skeletons, Ghosts, Orcs, Dragons, or perhaps, if you are very lucky and evil, a two-headed Hell Hound.
Monster Rally
Once you have all these creatures together, you can’t just sit back and admire them. You have to do something with them.
That something, of course, is fight. Sometimes you’ll be fighting another bad guy, with creatures similar to yours. Other times, you’ll find yourself pitted against the forces of light and battling good fairies, square-jawed heroes, or even the proverbial knight in white armor. Remember, show no mercy!
Dungeon Keeper offers several different battle scenarios. In some, your precious dungeon will be attacked and you must destroy all of the invaders. In others, your forces must advance and capture another Keeper’s dungeon. Each scenario grows slightly harder, so keep your monsters fit and well-trained!
Controls
You control the action with your mouse.
Click directly on a creature to lift him or her off the ground (complete with sound effects of indignant grunts and squeals), or click on the control panels to get information about your dungeon. (e.g., Which spells have been researched? How many creatures do you have and what are they up to? How many rooms have you created? How much gold do you have in your treasury?)
In battles, there are several ways to get characters into the heat of the action. One way is to “possess” a creature (assume that creature’s point of view) and lead the rest of your minions into the fray. This method never works for me, as I invariably get lost in my own dungeon. Another method is to cast a “Call to Arms” spell, which will summon your creatures to the scene of the battle. Finally, you can also pick up creatures (up to six at a time) and drop them near the battle site. This is my favorite method, since it allows you to direct the type and number of creatures that respond to an emergency.
The controls may seem complex at first, but Dungeon Keeper starts with several learning scenarios, giving you time to familiarize yourself with manipulating your creatures and reading the control panel before you find yourself in the midst of a full-scale war.
In fact, once you've become accustomed to the controls and won a few battles, the game will start to lose some of its novelty. After all, battles are battles, and if you've seen one Bile Demon, you've seen 'em all.
Graphics
The graphics aren’t spectacular, but they are cute (sort of) and have a high novelty factor. You can tell that some imaginative (and highly disturbed) soul had a great time creating all the different creatures.
The dungeon itself is fairly murky—peering into the darkness can be hard on your eyes during longer game playing sessions.
Family Entertainment?
Dungeon Keeper is rated “M” for mature audiences, age 17+. Although this is the type of game I think some teenagers would really enjoy, I reluctantly have to agree with this rating.
Maybe I’m the biggest chicken in the world, but I really do not want to be the one to explain to my nephews why the Mistress character takes off for the torture chamber every time she gets a spare minute.
Aside from the sexual/S&M innuendo, the game is not horribly disturbing. The battle scenes are fast and furious but they are also, for the most part, bloodless. And aside from the Mistress and her fondness for whips, most of the torture scenes are more silly than explicit.
The game is probably not a good bet for younger players who might have trouble understanding the irony/humor of taking on a bad guy role.
Final Recommendation
Frankly, I’m a little lukewarm on the whole torture chamber concept. It’s the most mean-spirited element in the game, and not really necessary to successful play. Since it’s not a “mandatory” room, I generally don’t bother to build one when I’m gaming. I know, I know, I’ll never win the Keeper of the Year Award with an attitude like that.
But overall, I do enjoy Dungeon Keeper. While it's not the sort of game that will keep you fascinated for weeks on end, its clever twist on strategy/war games will allow your inner bad boy (or girl) to escape for an hour or two of harmless, hair-raising fun. It’s perfect for those days when you just don’t feel like playing by the rules anymore.
And with its assorted monsters and demons, it’s also a nice treat for Halloween.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.