Dungeon Keeper- The Once Over
                         (Strategy)
                   Bullfrog (1997) œ29.99

                      Reviewed by MerC

         PC Pentium 166   32Mb RAM  GraphicStar 600

                         Rating 76%

I seem to remember this game won an award for Game of the Month
not long ago. Some players will like it - a lot. Adventurers
won't. In spite of its material, this game is not about RP. It may
have something going for it, but not for dyed-in-the-wool SynTax
subscribers. Yes, we like a change now and again, - and this could
just be it. Personally it left me cold, whereas Diablo has its
appeal. On the other hand my daughter likes it almost as much a
Screamer 2, and far more than Tomb Raider. I suppose it's really a
matter of what you were expecting, and I was expecting a rather
different type of playing style.  It plays like an indoor version
of Civilization, or any of the myriad resources management games
around. If you have a penchant for the wicked-and-arbitrary-god
role, then this is for you.

You are in charge of the exploration and exploitation of an
underground space. You need to build various rooms in it of
increasing complexity, using the hired help, and attract divers
nasties to populate it. Eventually an army of minions and a
workforce is built up and properly prepared to fortify your area
you can advance to find the enemy, if they have not already come
looking for you and yours. To this end you are able to choose the
level of computer assistance, from the Hussein/Gadaffi roller
coaster down to the Buddhist monk i.e.  from naked-aggression-
with-blades-on the-wheel-hubs to naked-apart-from-the-saffron-
habit.

This is highly simplified, and there is quite a technique to doing
well. There are always other Dungeon Keepers beavering away
somewhere in your Universe and eventually you will need to
confront them. A macabre, if rather contrived, twist is that you
are the evil side, dedicated to destroying the peace and harmony
of the country and murdering sundry sturdy hero types along the
way. Mind you, if a town has a name like Flowerhat, it deserves
all it gets from the spawn of Satan.

Graphically and phonically DK is brilliant, and there is so much
going on that it takes a high-end Pentium to do it justice and
lend a helping hand. It can be played over the Net in multiplayer
mode, though I have not tried this. (I did try it with Diablo on
BattleNet and this opens up a whole new dimension.  Brilliant!)
The graphics requirements can be moderated, and you have various
choices of how your place will look. (High or low walls, shadows
from 1 to 4, flat or isometric perspective etc.) One thing I did
find odd - if I changed to the "straight on" appearance, I could
not get back to the perspective view.  During play a voice
constantly informs you of how your minions are doing, and being of
a bent bent you are expected to slap them around for not working
hard enough.


Not for the squeamish, you breed live chickens for food and you
can drop them into the prison for instance, when you've built and
occupied one. Chickens should not be slapped. If you do they
disappear with a squawk in a flurry of feathers - fun, if you like
that sort of thing, but expensive. At some point you are able to
build a torture chamber. Quite looking forward to that. You start
off with imps (not for use in battle) and progress to a plethora
of invertebrates, naturally keeping things like spiders and flies
well apart. The video intro suggests that eventually you might get
a Large Red Thing With Enormous Arms and Malicious to Boot, but
the best I've had is beetles.  (Why is it that games never look as
good in play as these essentially one-off FMV intro sequences?
Why can't I hack a fully rendered solid-looking troll that gives
me a 360 degree run-around and spills blood (its, not mine) all
over my armour - or buy it a mug of mead for that matter?)

So I have to give this the thumbs down or, (if you're a Classics
scholar and really know your Roman leisure pursuits) the thumbs
up. Feel free to disagree, but don't flame or blame.  James Judge
admitted to a feeling of money hurtling drainwards when he got
Diablo. That's the feeling I get with Dungeon Keeper. Rather like
basketball , there's something appealing about it, or it wouldn't
have spectators, but for the life of me I can't see where it lies.
Now take Rugby League. There's a game worth watching.........  :)















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