Dungeons Review
http://tinyurl.com/4ckerm5
by Ian M. Jones
Published on 02-08-2011 12:01 AM
For anyone who played Dungeon Keeper 1 or 2, Dungeons will instantly feel familiar. The game is already being pegged as copycat by many individuals in the online community, but even if the inspiration for Dungeons obviously stems from the Dungeon Keeper Series, Kalypso has changed enough in the dungeon micro-management formula to make Dungeons a somewhat new and unique experience, despite a few drawbacks.
At the start of the game you take control of a little green goblin-like character who calls himself “Mr. Sidekick.†Mr. Sidekick leads you to the character you'll be controlling for the remainder of the campaign, the Prince of the Underworld. You're only the Prince for a moment however, as your girlfriend "Calypso" (ha ha) betrays you and takes your kingdom for herself. You then spend the next few levels listening to Mr. Sidekick tell you how to get your throne and title back from your evil ex. Mr. Sidekick obviously takes the place of a standard tutorial here, and while the information he gives you is crucial to your success, it's not always easy to listen to. Mr. Sidekick has a lot to say, he takes a long time to say it, and his voice isn't very easy on the ears. In other words, getting through the first couple tutorial levels is slightly hindered by an annoying green man who doesn't always make sense. This sometimes convoluted tutorial system is one of the major problems with the game. You can usually skip through what your faithful servant has to say, but figuring the system out on your own would be pretty challenging, especially if you're new to this type of game. Once you get into the later levels he talks less and starts cracking better jokes, which helps make the game a much more enjoyable experience.
What immediately sets Dungeons apart from the Dungeon Keeper series is that this time around your primary objective is Hero Farming. You will spend all of your time and resources making sure Heroes come into your Dungeon, get their fill of Gold, Armor, Knowledge, and the blood of your monsters, and then killing them and harvesting their soul energy. The more satisfied the Hero, the more soul energy and gold he will yield, and this is indicated by a green bar under the heroes health that gradually fills as he plunders your dungeon. The more gold and soul energy you have, the more items you can add to your dungeon to keep the process going. The placing of loot, armor, books, and gimmicks (items that attract heroes for a certain amount of time. Basically attention holders), all cost gold and soul energy, but are all necessary for keeping the heroes Satisfied. This basic "spend soul energy to make soul energy" formula is where Dungeons really shines. It's the most fun you'll have in the game and it's a very addictive quality. There are elements in each Dungeon that will try to hinder your progress. For example, in one level there's a fountain that heals heroes and serves as somewhat of a water cooler, where heroes can get together and talk trash about your Dungeon. These instances can make for a very fun and interesting experience at times, though it's not always a necessary feature and can feel a bit tacked on, as the hindering never gets serious enough to bar your progress in the game.
Another unique feature the game offers up is that you are always in direct control of your character, the Prince of the Underworld. You don't get much background on the Prince other the initial unpleasantness with his girlfriend, but it is immediately obvious that he is the primary tool used to harvest heroes. The Prince deals a lot more damage then your monsters can, and as he levels up he learns spells and talents that strengthen his combat abilities. Anyone who ever played Diablo, Diablo II, or virtually level based RPG after that should be comfortable with the "spells and skills" tree here, and while it's nothing new to the RPG world, it's a welcome addition to Dungeons. The only drawback to this fun element is the combat itself. The controls for the Prince sometimes feel clunky and unresponsive, and while your attacks do far more damage then the attacks of your monsters, they don't feel any more significant. The system isn't completely shallow however: cutting down heroes who have been completely satisfied by your Dungeon is still a lot of fun. Adding to the fun as the game progresses is the amount of micro management involved. This is an area where the game excels and if you don't pay attention, your dungeon can easily be overrun by increasingly more and more skilled heroes and bosses. The game also throws random objectives at you in the form of errands sent by your boss, the Zombie King. Every so often the King will communicate with you through your Dungeon Heart, and his demands range from watering flowers to handing over a large sums of gold or soul energy. It's a fun twist that makes the management of your dungeon that much faster and hectic.
Dungeons has a lot of good things going for it, but the experience isn't perfect. Aside from the long and convoluted tutorial there are some visual quirks and performance issues that really mar an otherwise well crafted homage to the Dungeon Keeper Series. The campaign is pretty lengthy and should take you upwards of 12 hours to complete, and after you're finished with it you can always set up custom games. There's no online play in Dungeons but the campaign and the custom matches should keep your attention for several hours of entertainment. All in all Dungeons is a good game. It's fun and it should keep you entertained for a while despite its bugs and annoyances, and it's the closest thing to a Dungeon Keeper 3 anyone's going to get. Thanks for checking out this review from Intense Gaming TV. If you liked the video edition be sure to like and subscribe on the youtube page, as it really does help us out. Once again we're very happy to inform you that upon reaching 250 subscribers on the youtube channel we will be doing our first contest to show our appreciation of your continued support.
