Dungeon Keeper 2 Demo

Have you ever found yourself playing one of the SimCity games wishing that you were ruler of something with a little more bite than a dozen ice cream stores? Or, in Warcraft II, did you ever think about how nice it would be to motivate your peons through the subtle use of pain? If you answered yes to either one of those questions than do I have a game for you! The game is Dungeon Keeper 2, a fun little romp into the dark side of all those RPGs you like to play.

The premise of the game, along with the actual gameplay, hasn't radically changed from the original game. You must travel region to region in a land full of the good and righteous, building dungeons to subvert their rule, and slaying the heroes who dare enter your domain. For the sequel a little more of a story was added, with each region's ruler holding a special gem that you must collect. The second game features hardware accelerated graphics straight out of the box. It even comes with support all the way up to 32 bit color. If you don't have a 3D card (Hello??) you can play in software mode, but then again you can also stick a finger into a light socket. In other words, just because you can doesn't mean it's a proper course of action.

Regardless of whether you play in 16 bit or 32 bit color, Dungeon Keeper 2 features some fairly nice looking graphics. The only real complaint about them is the low polygon count character models, but more than likely that's the price paid for the number of characters in a scenario. Even with the low poly count the animation is nice, and after a few scenarios the simple models are easily accepted.

Gameplay, as mentioned, hasn't changed a whole lot. You begin a scenario with a certain amount of mana used in casting spells, a pile of gold for construction and paying your dungeon dwellers, a pack of imps, and the dungeon heart. The dungeon heart isn't merely symbolic, it's a physical place in the dungeon that when captured signals the end of your reign as Keeper. Your alien looking imps are your loyal workers and a manager's ultimate fantasy - magically constructed beings who require no food, no rest, and most importantly no money!

PATCHES	size	date
v1.70 patch	28MB	Nov 19, 99