Dungeon Keeper 2 (PC CD)

Following as it did on from the original Dungeon Keeper, DK2 didn't really break new ground (though the DK franchise certainly did) but it was more polished, more atmospheric, and more fun.

In some ways, it's a typical resource-management game, but with the twist that you take the role of an evil subterranean overlord, with the troops and structures you'll have available reflecting that fact. For example, you'll be building torture chambers and prisons, and recruiting the likes of goblins, trolls and evil wizards to do your bidding.

The game feels slightly dated now, but the graphics were gorgeous at the time and your traps and canons still gleam as brightly as ever they did -- as you'll see the first time you possess one of your creatures and wander around your dungeon looking through their eyes :-)

The music is a perfect match of the gameplay, and the in-game narrator's darkly honeyed tones are both atmospheric and amusing -- as are the cut-scene "films".

In fact, humour and atmosphere are where the game really shines: unlike many modern "commercially-driven" games, this was clearly a labour of love. It's a real shame the affair never continued with the promised Dungeon Keeper 3.

Afraid no, but nearly as good. You have to do everything that you did in the original, you are a Keeper and have to train creatures into an army and research more rooms so you can expand you Dungeon into an underground Kingdom; so that got full marks. Graphics are are MUCH better than the first and that has boosted the game. But sadly the gameplay took it down to 4 stars, in my opinion the gameplay is not as good as original DK. Most of the time on the game it's just watching your creatures walk around, train and research, on the orignal you had something to do all the time. You don't get to engage in battle as much because on the game the people who are trying to destroy your Dungeon don't seem to want to break in. You'll proberly understand fully if you have both games.

I'm not saying that this is a bad game, i'm just saying it's not as good as the original. Still a BRILLIANT game and highly recommend anyone to buy it boxed if they can, if not than just DVD cased.

Much better graphics than the original, but less challenging to complete and somehwhat less compelling - although still streets ahead of most other games

In essence, the game follows a basic RTS game format - collect resources, build armies, explore terrain, crush your enemy's base...

But it is in the finer points of detail in the gameplay that set it apart from anything else on the market - units are not trained in barracks, but have to be attracted to your cause: Warlocks want libraries to research spells, Bile Demons like a decent supply of chickens, and the Mistress demands a fully functioning torture chamber in which to indulge her, err, more personal pleasures. The whole action of the game takes place under the earth, and your Imps burrow through the ground to reach new areas; if they don't work quickly enough for you, just give them a slap and they will soon jump to it.

The defining aspect of the game is the gorgeous, dark humour. There are few things funnier in a PC game that seeing your Goblins, Skeletons and Dark Angels boogey on down to the beats of 'Disco Inferno', played whenever one of your minions is lucky enough to hit the jackpot in the casino.