Dave’s Good Stuff

I’m still composing my post(s) about the cruise. In the meantime… a little bit about the best game ever. Well… maybe not the best game ever, but certainly one of the top five in my book. Dungeon Keeper II was released WAY back in 1999, and I *still* play it frequently. I haven’t played it non-stop for the last 6 years, mind you, but it is one of those games (in my case, one of the very few games) that always seems to find it’s way back to my hard drive.

DKII isn’t perfect. The main problem I’m having is that under XP, it tends to crash quite frequently. There are times that I can play for hours w/o problem, and other times that it crashes every 5 minutes. In either case, DKII is the only other thing running, so I don’t get it. Aside from the crashing, there are some game mechanics that I would like to see improved. Context menus via right-click, easier grouping of subjects and creatures, the ability to pick up multiple creatures at once (click-drag-selecting), and the like. My irks are small and minor, and aside from the crashing issue, do little to detract from my enjoyment of the game. In terms of graphics and sound, this game just hits me in the right spot. The voices are great, from the Skeletons screaming to the Mistresses moaning in tortured ecstasy, to the narrator talking about my creatures being unable to play marbles b/c my dungeon is on a slant. The sense of humor injected into this game really make it stand out above (again, IMHO) all the rest.

Damn, but I do wish someone somewhere would pony up and make a Dungeon Keeper III. If the same sense of humor were employed, I can see it being a most phenomenal game. They were going to come out with it, but then they weren’t. Molyneux’s Black & White, it seems, took over the resources originally alotted to DKIII (or he split with the company and formed Lionhead which was devoted to B&W - however you want to look at it). It was a poor substitute, IMHO. It had too many issues (wouldn’t work for myself or my SO at the time out of the box), and didn’t have the same sense of humor that made DKII such a joy for me. Graphically, it had a lot of the same feel, and the story/concept was interesting, but it just didn’t have the same charm for me. Perhaps the sequel will be better? It certainly looks good , but I tend to prefer the more cartoony feel of Worlds of Warcraft and even the ill-fated Ultima X: Online. I’ve heard (and seen) that the space-station based Startopia by Mucky Foot/Eidos Interactive was pretty much "Dungeon Keeper in Space", but for some reason I just never got into it. I had the opportunity to, but was lacking a little in the hardware arena.

A google for "Dungeon Keeper III" turns up quite a bit, but nothing to indicate that it’s development has been revamped. All that comes up are old articles about it’s announcement, it’s quick demise, and a bunch of old placeholder pages on game ‘zines. Perhaps, with the release of Black & White II coming, Molyneux and his crew will set his sights below ground again, and take us back into the Dungeon. I can certainly hope so.