The Dungeon Keeper creeps

Dungeon Keeper 2
****

PC

Bullfrog

$99.95 M15

Reviewer: Peter Eley

Dungeon Keeper 2 is fiendish fun, a visual feast with a rich seam of dark humour running through its subterranean setting.

At the black heart of the game is a god sim - like Sim City except that your subjects are creatures of the underworld such as imps, goblins and trolls rather than lawabiding citizens.

You have to build an empire based around your dungeon.

The eventual aim is to defeat your supernatural enemies, make it to the world above and create plenty of havoc.

There's a lot of real-time strategy stuff in the game.

You need to build up a team of imps who will mine gold, which is used to buy better units, buildings and spells.

None of that's particularly original - although Dungeon Keeper 2 is at least as good as anything in its category.

What really sets it apart is its delicious dark humour. For example, scrolling through the list of spells gives you fireball, lightning ... and fart, "a toxic and potent combination of unholy vapours."

And staying on a scatalogical theme, one of the most effective weapons is spit - "burning saliva which causes all but the most fearless creatures to wince in disgust, then pain."

The buildings also raise a laugh - try the torture chamber which is inhabited by black leather-clad mistresses. The manual describes them as "leather-clad vixens who revel in pain and are partial to a bit of it themselves." Indeed!

Then there's the casino. Here you can make it easier for your subjects to win, raising their happiness level at a cost to your profits, or cheat them, becoming rich while they become miserable.

Even the humble mouse pointer doesn't escape. It becomes the Hand of Evil and is used to control much of the game, including giving errant imps a bit of a hurry-up.

I could go on and on about Dungeon Keeper 2's features. It's a huge game with lots of characters, weapons, buildings and spells - all of which come into play.

And, last but not least, the graphics are stunning.

It might be black humour and dark deeds, but your dungeon fires glow brightly with gloriously rendered 3D effects. Wicked stuff!

Required: Pentium 166, 32Mb Ram. A Pentium 266 with 64Mb Ram is recommended. While 3D acceleration is supported, the game works with a 2Mb video card.