Evil Genius or Dungeon Keeper?

[Ledan]

So I'm on gog.com looking at old games, and of course I find Dungeon Keeper 2. Then I find Evil genius. I used to play the heck out of Evil Genius, never finished it because I was young and easily distracted. I've never played dungeon keeper, but only heard good things about it.

So: which one do I get? Anyone who's played both and can give me a comparison, or could someone plug dungeon keeper 2?

For those who haven't played Evil genius:

Spoiler

Lovely game. You play as an "Evil Genius" controlling your evil island. You have henchmen and minions. You build your evil lair inside a mountain, place deathtraps to prevent good agents (parodies of James bond and the like) from hindering your evil plans. These plans are carried out on a world map screen, where you can send minions and henchmen to: steal money, plot acts of infamy(special missions that require specific minions to be there, and that can net you new items and advance missions), or hide. What you do on the world map raises heat, which in turn sends good agents to your island. You can also research new technologies, such as new traps or items.
There are a wide variety of room types, many to help your minions or to help your masterplans: break rooms, first aid, lunch room, libraries, your evil lair(piranha trap is available).
I could go on.... if you are interested it's available at gog.com and has more indepth reviews.

 

[DoPo]

could someone plug dungeon keeper 2?

Get this game right now! It is pretty awesome - you control all kinds of evil critters on a quest against those good paladins, wizards and so on. Screw em. Actually, you can do better than that - you can imprison them to rot and turn into skeletons. Or put them in the torture chamber to enjoy their screams. Be cruel - heal them, prolong their suffering. After a while their pathetic little minds snap and they join your unholy hordes. Or just kill them to rise some vampires.

So many ways to be cruel. It is so...satisfying.

Besides, the game is pretty awesome even when you're not being evil - the commentary is really sweet: say, if you play past midnight you get reminded to go to bed and stuff ("Your nocturnal persistence has earned you a hidden gaming tip, GO TO BED!), or there are the occasional nonsensical (but nonetheless funny) notifications, such as "Your dungeon floor is lumpy. Order your minions to jump up and down."

And who can resist a game that is a real party

 

[oplinger]

As much as I love Evil Genius and think it needs an update (updated re-release...or a remake)

I'd suggest dungeon keeper 2, just because of how broken Evil Genius is.

 

[lRookiel]

Dungeon keeper wins any day!

Even the opening movie was enough to make me love it.

 

[Leemaster777]

Gonna throw another recommendation towards Dungeon Keeper 2. It is all of the awesome. Wish I still had my copy, lost it years ago.

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

Defiantly Dungeon Keeper 2 mainly because it still holds up pretty well today. I'm just wondering if they got it to work on windows 7, since it didn't work properly when GOG first released it.

 

[BLAHwhatever]

Dungeon Keeper 2
There really is just this one answer

 

[Ledan]

Awesome, looking forward to some retro gaming this week then.

 

[Frankster]

Most people would/are gonna say dungeon keeper 2 as it is the better designed game.

But I'm gonna reccomend evil genius instead for its flavor and that you'll be working on your islands (first a practice one, then a "proper" island) for the whole game as opposed to doing increasingly difficult levels.

Dk2 is awesome but a lot of the times i do prefer evil genius.
Incidentally if you do get evil genius, feel free to look around the net for some modding tips/mods so you can do things like raise the maximum cap for minions. After all if you've got the means to pay for and accomodate 200-300 minions, why shouldn't you be allowed to?

 

[Blunderboy]

could someone plug dungeon keeper 2?

Get this game right now! It is pretty awesome - you control all kinds of evil critters on a quest against those good paladins, wizards and so on. Screw em. Actually, you can do better than that - you can imprison them to rot and turn into skeletons. Or put them in the torture chamber to enjoy their screams. Be cruel - heal them, prolong their suffering. After a while their pathetic little minds snap and they join your unholy hordes. Or just kill them to rise some vampires.

So many ways to be cruel. It is so...satisfying.

Besides, the game is pretty awesome even when you're not being evil - the commentary is really sweet: say, if you play past midnight you get reminded to go to bed and stuff ("Your nocturnal persistence has earned you a hidden gaming tip, GO TO BED!), or there are the occasional nonsensical (but nonetheless funny) notifications, such as "Your dungeon floor is lumpy. Order your minions to jump up and down."

And who can resist a game that is a real party

This. About a million times. I've never played Evil Genius. But now I really want to play DK2 again.
I've heard that the GoG version is prone to crashing though, does anyone know if that's still the case?

 

[Zirat]

I really gotta say this, while a lot of people will probably say DK, I have to go out of my way to recommend Evil Genius here.

As Frankster above said, Evil Genius lets you stay on your island, improving it to however much you want with only having to move once halfway through. While certainly buggy in some cases, there is nothing really game breaking, and it has a great comedic feel to it. Not to mention a pretty damn good score you get for the menus!

Also, if you ever do get EG, just remember this sage advice... for gods sake keep Ivan out of the base.
Just... do it man. That Rocket Launcher....

 

[Dogstile]

Most people would/are gonna say dungeon keeper 2 as it is the better designed game.

But I'm gonna reccomend evil genius instead for its flavor and that you'll be working on your islands (first a practice one, then a "proper" island) for the whole game as opposed to doing increasingly difficult levels.

Dk2 is awesome but a lot of the times i do prefer evil genius.
Incidentally if you do get evil genius, feel free to look around the net for some modding tips/mods so you can do things like raise the maximum cap for minions. After all if you've got the means to pay for and accomodate 200-300 minions, why shouldn't you be allowed to?

Aside from modding tips, why not download the patch? It fixes a load of the problems.

http://www.evilplanet.com/

 

[Vkmies]

I've never played Evil Genius. Any good?

As for Dungeon Keeper, it's a damn genius game, great fun, great challenge, oozes with originality, super funny... One of the best ever made. Highly recommended.

But you ought to buy the first one. They are both very similar, but I tend to like that one more. No idea if I am in the minority here.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I've never played Evil Genius. Any good?

It's fantastic! It's only real downside is that it lacks a time-forward button. Sometimes you have to wait for something to be constructed but you can't speed up for a moment.

Apart from that though it's fantastic. It's amazingly stylish (especially since I have a soft spot for cheesy spy stuff) and pretty challenging as well. Right up there with Dungeon Keeper if you ask me, I'd recommend both.

And seriously, the music:
This game needs a sequel.

 

[Astoria]

This. About a million times. I've never played Evil Genius. But now I really want to play DK2 again.
I've heard that the GoG version is prone to crashing though, does anyone know if that's still the case?

Running it with compatability for Windows 2000 and setting the resolution to 640x480 seems to stop it crashing. Hasn't crashed on me since I changed it.

OT: I haven't played Evil Genius but you will definitely get your moneys worth with DK. The campaign is fun and the pet dungeons let you be... creative.

 

[Strazdas]

Dungeon Keeper obviuosly. this is way better game.

 

[King of Asgaard]

*looks at other posts*
Yeah, agreed. Dungeon Keeper, all the way.

 

[Kordie]

I would recommend... Both!

Really though, both are great games and deserve a remake/update.

Some of the features why I like each game are here...

Dungeon Keeper; While sandbox style play is nice, I like the level breakup in Dungeon Keeper. You constantly get chances to re-make your dungeon, as well by giving you a new room each level in the early stages it is more user friendly teaching you exactly what each room does as you go. The play style is also a lot simpler, and more conducive to playing a level at a time then taking a break.

Evil Genius; Easily the more complex game. On top of room placement, you have items to be deployed and moved around as well. On top of that, how people interact with the rooms/items is more complex so a good base will have to keep that in mind. Contrary to the main dungeon keeper point, this game is pretty much two giant levels. Personally, I find this as a good point and a bad one as I can get so sucked into a game I find it both hard to stop, and the hard to re start later. I am constantly just starting over.

 

[aeric90]

They're both great entertainment!

Dungeon Keeper is the better "game". It's far more polished and balanced.

Evil Genius is the more engaging experience. It was just too ambitious for it's own good (which is ironic considering we're comparing it to a Peter Molyneux game) and some elements just either don't come together or are broken.

If you had to sit me down and chose one of the two to play for a few hours I'd lead towards Evil Genius.

 

[Verzin]

Evil Genius imo is a 'bit' more fun in the long term than dungeon keeper 2.

Both are super fun games though.