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Product:
Dungeon Keeper 2 The Story & The Features Dungeon Keeper 2 has been in works for a year now. Is it a completely revamped game, or is it just a prettier version of Dungeon Keeper 1? Read on to find out more. The Heroes have returned, determined to thwart your plans of reaching their sunlit world. Can a pact with the mighty Horned Reaper finally enable you to realize those dreams of desecration? Only by satisfying the cruel needs of your dungeon minions, while striving to crush the foolish adventurers plundering your domain, will you prove yourself a worthy Keeper. Dungeon Keeper™ 2 introduces deliciously wicked new traps and original rooms, inhabited by a bestiary of creatures with unique talents and devastating spells.
Installation & Settings Once I had took the CD out of the box and read through the Reference card explaining on how to set up the game, I put the CD in the drive and Autoplay kicked in. You are presented with a variety of options which include Install, Read the Readme file, and Quit to desktop. The installation program ran smoothly without any problems, Dungeon Keeper 2 installs just over 250 MB of data onto your hard drive. Once installed you are given the option to have a shortcut placed on the desktop.
Once the installation had been completed, you are ready to dive into the game. Just click on the icon on the desktop and you are ready for the intro. The intro lasts around 3 minutes and is well animated. Once the intro has finished you are presented with a nicely animated options menu all in 3D. First thing we did was to check that the correct 3D card was being used by the game. Thankfully DK2 had already selected the Voodoo 2 card and had also selected the 800*600 resolution to play the game. Here are a list of menu options that you are presented with:\ Single
Player game - Lets you go on a campaign in Single Player mode Gameplay To say that if you played Dungeon Keeper you have pretty much played Dungeon Keeper 2 is pretty much close to the truth, but there are a number of new features that manages to make it an even better game than before. If you haven't played Dungeon Keeper then here are the basics. You control the dungeon and all the aspects behind it such as choosing where you want to build rooms, building the rooms for your minions, rooms to hold the gold your imps collect from digging, training up your creatures, building a library so your warlocks can study new spells and slap the imps to make them work harder. The main objective behind the game is to attract as many creatures to your dungeon as possible, crush any rival dungeon keepers and expand your empire in a quest to reach the daylight and invade the world above. During the game enemy knights, other dungeon keepers, creatures, walls, lava and water can block your way and it is your task to find a way to overcome these obstacles. While you are playing the mentor guides you through the first few levels teaching how to use the new tools at your disposal such as creatures, rooms, skills and spells. The mentor in Dungeon Keeper 2 is far better than in the previous game, mainly down to the fact that he gives a lot more information and advice on the first few levels.
At the bottom of the screen there is a creatures panel which features information about the various creatures at your disposal. It allows you to buy new creatures, pick creatures up, tells you what mood the creatures are in, such as happy (Make them happy by creating casinos or dropping gold on their head), unhappy and angry. These moods can be affected by slapping creatures to make them work harder, although if you work them to hard they will be on their way back to the portal to leave you. Also on the panel is information about jobs, fighting, training and miscellaneous. The panel can also be changed to show room information (buying and selling rooms), spell section (explains when new spells have been revealed) a message window and objectives. At the top of the screen is an information bar which not only contains the amounts of gold, mana, and the Dungeon Heart rate, but also contains a ticker bar which scrolls along information about Dungeon creatures when you put the hand over them. Once you have completed a level Horny (Horned Reaper) collects the Portal Gem left behind by the recently killed foe letting you continue on in the game. After that you are treated by a small cut scene which uses the 3D engine. Next up you get to select a different map area to continue your quest. Graphics This is where Dungeon Keeper 2 has really had an overhaul. Gone are the 2D features that previously inhibited the first incarnation of the game. Now the game is fully 3D accelerated for a mass of different 3D cards. The most notable change in the graphical department is the large range of new special effects such as fire, spells, water reflections and wall rubble. The animation of every creature and character in the game is far and away greater than in the original game.
One noticeable difference in DK2 over the first game is the appearance of in-game cut scenes. While some of these are excellent quality and use the 3D game engine, others can slightly blocky in appearance. Also despite having cut scenes using the engine, certain scenes also use video animation which makes it feel a little disjointed as we would rather see one or the other throughout the game. The 3D accelerated engine really makes a difference over the first game, I remember when Dungeon Keeper got a Direct3D patch released and many people were left disappointed with the quality, well we can safely say that Bullfrog have redeemed themselves with the graphics in Dungeon Keeper 2. Sound & Music The sound hasn't really changed a great deal over the first game, although the sound effects are much clearer, they seem to have used the same actual sounds from the first game for Dungeon Keeper 2. The music is also a little disjointed for our liking, while some pieces of music really reflect well on the dark mood of the game, other more rock like tracks seem really out of place. We are also a little worried because it seems that the musical track "Disco Inferno" appears in the game. There is though some excellent speech throughout the game from your mentor. Final Comments
While the graphics engine is a major improvement over the first game there is very little in the way of new features, but the new features that have been put into this already excellent game do improve the gameplay a whole lot. If you are already a fan of the original then you will love the new graphics, but if you didn't like the first game, you won't like the second either. It is that simple...but we still recommend it to all you dark trainee dungeon keepers out there.
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