(Just thought to give this a whack, and came to a game I'd played the most and could remember a lot about too. So, enjoy if you like.)
To begin, Dungeon Keeper was an RTS/God Game made by Bullfrog Productions and released back in 1997. As for myself, I didn't have the privilege to play it till a year later at the age of eleven. And since then, I've had it on and off my PC several times over the past few years, though I've only ever finished it twice.
You the player, control the overarching hand of the Dungeon Keeper. Your goal is to ravage across the underworld and bring ruin and chaos to the painfully idyllic above lands. You'll need to build up your dungeon, raise your troops, and overcome the heroes from upstairs who seek to destroy your home a steal your riches. To this end, you may recruit a number of useful minions and creatures to your cause. Provide them a place to live, relax and work, and they'll do your bidding, for gold of course.
The game is set up mainly like your standard RTS, you've got your control panel on one side, your minimap in the corner, and a tip box that tells you important information about what's happening in your dungeon. The maps are isometric set up on a squared grid, although there is a setting that 'flattens' the whole map. I use the isometric view for preference. You can also set the amount of shadows, and wall height using the ingame menu, this is useful if you find yourself zoomed in a lot. The camera can also be rotated. Graphically, Dungeon Keeper is a little dusty by today's standards. This I think doesn't detract from the game itself, as I tend to prefer aesthetics over graphics, and DK has lots of fun things to look at. However the low resolution may be hard to look at for some people, particularly if it's your first time playing.
Anyway! On to gameplay! First off you've got your ever-present 'Dungeon Heart'. This is essentially your lifeforce in the game. It can take a fair few whacks, but once it's had enough, boom! Game over. This is also true on maps with enemy Dungeon Keepers, and is often how you win such maps, by destroying their heart. The Dungeon Heart is static and confined to it's own room, so be careful when building around it, you don't want to give your enemies clear access! Next, we've got your hand. This clawed member is what you'll be using to manipulate your dungeon, control your creatures and place rooms. It can also be used to prematurely set off some traps and give a healthy slab to your minions which will make them work faster for a few moments. Slapping your creatures also makes a lot of them angry.
Imps. These little guys are the workmen of the underground. They build your tunnels and mine your gold. When tunneling and making rooms, fresh soil is left behind, you can't build on soil, but your imps will 'claim' it and turn the floor into stone tiles which you can then place structures on. They will also do the same to enemy Keeper's tiles although the process is slower there and the enemy Keeper will be alerted to your presence, enemy buildings are captured in this way aswell, watch your dungeon carefully too as the enemy Keeper won't give a second thought to doing the same to your rooms! Imps may also fortify your walls, this means that enemies can no longer tunnel through them. However there are spells to bypass this...
Next, the creatures, monsters and other hell spawned miscellany. First, a Keeper needs a portal. This is a neutral room on most maps that must be captured by your Imps in order to allow the forces of evil to join your ranks. Sometimes the portal room is fairly near your heart, other times you really have to go digging for one. Some maps don't even have one and you are usually forced to subsist with what minions the level starts you off with. Your new minions will also need food, in the form of a Hatchery, bed in the Lairs, and a Treasure Room to store the gold with which you pay them. Size is a consideration for some creatures and you'll have to satisfy these needs before they'll set foot in your dungeon. e.g. the Bile Demon needs a fairly large Lair space and Hatchery.
Although it's been said that the ecology in this game is 'fleshed out', it's actually quite simple:
Spiders hate flies because...duh. Bile Demons hate Skeletons because Bile Demons are fat sacks of crap and are reminded of this fact by something with no skin. Or flesh for that matter. Mistresses hate Samurai...I actually don't know this one, Mistresses are sado-masochists who dress in bondage gear. And Samurai are...samurai...yeah. And Horny...I'm sorry, The Horned Reaper, well, he just hates everyone. But yeah, it's kind of fun/a pain finding out which creatures hate each other and either choosing which to 'fire' or trying to keep them apart. However there are a number of rather neat touches too, Hellhounds will urinate on corpses in your Graveyard to help Vampires arise faster, and Warlocks get pissed at anything that dares to interrupt their research. Speaking of which...
Research! Traps! Buildings! And the end! What RTS is done without the tech tree? Well...Dungeon Keeper doesn't have one as such. All research in this game is done in your library, and more often then not by your studious Warlocks. They will mill about for a few minutes amongst the dusty tomes until they make a breakthrough. This will come in the form of a building, spell or trap. Buildings can be purchased and placed as soon as they are researched. Spells can be cast provided you've got the gold. Traps however need to be built in your Workshop first before they can be placed. If you capture an enemy library you will also gain whatever they have researched, this applies to yours being captured to.
Overall, Dungeon Keeper isn't a 'hard' game per say. Provided you have 'claimed' land you may pick up and place your minions anywhere on the map (Only on the claimed land of course). As long as you've got a good and working dungeon you'll rarely have to worry about your minions going off to join an enemy keeper as they are wont to do on occasion if they feel mistreated. Some difficulty arises from the 'puzzle' maps, where the focus is less on building a dungeon and more or either surviving an all out attack with limited resources, or defeating an enemy on mazelike maps riddled with traps. But I'd recommend this to anyone who's into RTSes or 'Tycoon' style games for that matter, or even if you generally like a humorously macabre mood in your games, of which Dungeon Keeper had got in droves.
In conclusion, here's the opening trailer and some footage of the game itself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N5ODEGR1KQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5tU3SHsuNE&feature=related
(Whew...think I missed some things, but, thoughts are welcome of course
)
To begin, Dungeon Keeper was an RTS/God Game made by Bullfrog Productions and released back in 1997. As for myself, I didn't have the privilege to play it till a year later at the age of eleven. And since then, I've had it on and off my PC several times over the past few years, though I've only ever finished it twice.
You the player, control the overarching hand of the Dungeon Keeper. Your goal is to ravage across the underworld and bring ruin and chaos to the painfully idyllic above lands. You'll need to build up your dungeon, raise your troops, and overcome the heroes from upstairs who seek to destroy your home a steal your riches. To this end, you may recruit a number of useful minions and creatures to your cause. Provide them a place to live, relax and work, and they'll do your bidding, for gold of course.
The game is set up mainly like your standard RTS, you've got your control panel on one side, your minimap in the corner, and a tip box that tells you important information about what's happening in your dungeon. The maps are isometric set up on a squared grid, although there is a setting that 'flattens' the whole map. I use the isometric view for preference. You can also set the amount of shadows, and wall height using the ingame menu, this is useful if you find yourself zoomed in a lot. The camera can also be rotated. Graphically, Dungeon Keeper is a little dusty by today's standards. This I think doesn't detract from the game itself, as I tend to prefer aesthetics over graphics, and DK has lots of fun things to look at. However the low resolution may be hard to look at for some people, particularly if it's your first time playing.
Anyway! On to gameplay! First off you've got your ever-present 'Dungeon Heart'. This is essentially your lifeforce in the game. It can take a fair few whacks, but once it's had enough, boom! Game over. This is also true on maps with enemy Dungeon Keepers, and is often how you win such maps, by destroying their heart. The Dungeon Heart is static and confined to it's own room, so be careful when building around it, you don't want to give your enemies clear access! Next, we've got your hand. This clawed member is what you'll be using to manipulate your dungeon, control your creatures and place rooms. It can also be used to prematurely set off some traps and give a healthy slab to your minions which will make them work faster for a few moments. Slapping your creatures also makes a lot of them angry.
Imps. These little guys are the workmen of the underground. They build your tunnels and mine your gold. When tunneling and making rooms, fresh soil is left behind, you can't build on soil, but your imps will 'claim' it and turn the floor into stone tiles which you can then place structures on. They will also do the same to enemy Keeper's tiles although the process is slower there and the enemy Keeper will be alerted to your presence, enemy buildings are captured in this way aswell, watch your dungeon carefully too as the enemy Keeper won't give a second thought to doing the same to your rooms! Imps may also fortify your walls, this means that enemies can no longer tunnel through them. However there are spells to bypass this...
Next, the creatures, monsters and other hell spawned miscellany. First, a Keeper needs a portal. This is a neutral room on most maps that must be captured by your Imps in order to allow the forces of evil to join your ranks. Sometimes the portal room is fairly near your heart, other times you really have to go digging for one. Some maps don't even have one and you are usually forced to subsist with what minions the level starts you off with. Your new minions will also need food, in the form of a Hatchery, bed in the Lairs, and a Treasure Room to store the gold with which you pay them. Size is a consideration for some creatures and you'll have to satisfy these needs before they'll set foot in your dungeon. e.g. the Bile Demon needs a fairly large Lair space and Hatchery.
Although it's been said that the ecology in this game is 'fleshed out', it's actually quite simple:
Spiders hate flies because...duh. Bile Demons hate Skeletons because Bile Demons are fat sacks of crap and are reminded of this fact by something with no skin. Or flesh for that matter. Mistresses hate Samurai...I actually don't know this one, Mistresses are sado-masochists who dress in bondage gear. And Samurai are...samurai...yeah. And Horny...I'm sorry, The Horned Reaper, well, he just hates everyone. But yeah, it's kind of fun/a pain finding out which creatures hate each other and either choosing which to 'fire' or trying to keep them apart. However there are a number of rather neat touches too, Hellhounds will urinate on corpses in your Graveyard to help Vampires arise faster, and Warlocks get pissed at anything that dares to interrupt their research. Speaking of which...
Research! Traps! Buildings! And the end! What RTS is done without the tech tree? Well...Dungeon Keeper doesn't have one as such. All research in this game is done in your library, and more often then not by your studious Warlocks. They will mill about for a few minutes amongst the dusty tomes until they make a breakthrough. This will come in the form of a building, spell or trap. Buildings can be purchased and placed as soon as they are researched. Spells can be cast provided you've got the gold. Traps however need to be built in your Workshop first before they can be placed. If you capture an enemy library you will also gain whatever they have researched, this applies to yours being captured to.
Overall, Dungeon Keeper isn't a 'hard' game per say. Provided you have 'claimed' land you may pick up and place your minions anywhere on the map (Only on the claimed land of course). As long as you've got a good and working dungeon you'll rarely have to worry about your minions going off to join an enemy keeper as they are wont to do on occasion if they feel mistreated. Some difficulty arises from the 'puzzle' maps, where the focus is less on building a dungeon and more or either surviving an all out attack with limited resources, or defeating an enemy on mazelike maps riddled with traps. But I'd recommend this to anyone who's into RTSes or 'Tycoon' style games for that matter, or even if you generally like a humorously macabre mood in your games, of which Dungeon Keeper had got in droves.
In conclusion, here's the opening trailer and some footage of the game itself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N5ODEGR1KQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5tU3SHsuNE&feature=related
(Whew...think I missed some things, but, thoughts are welcome of course
)