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maa146's Dungeon Keeper Gold (PC)
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| [March 28, 2011 11:35:28 PM]
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-- Summary --
Dungeon Keeper Gold is a repackaged version of Dungeon Keeper, a real-time strategy game published on 6/26/1997, and it's expansion Deeper Dungeons, published on 11/30/1997. In the game, the player takes control of a dungeon keeper who is trying to take control of his realm by destroying the different communities within it. Within the levels, the main objective is to eliminate enemies from the map. This is done by attracting minions and building and maintaining a dungeon.
-- Concepts --
Dungeon - the claimed area of the level map
Lair - a room in the dungeon where the minions sleep
-- Strategy vs. Luck --
As the genre implies, the game does require strategy, like when and where to build the different rooms in the dungeon. For example, some of the minions are natural enemies, such as a fly and a spider. If the two are forced to share a lair, they will attack each other; so, if the player wants to keep both types of minions, he or she needs multiple lairs. However, there is also luck involved. A larger dungeon increases the types of minions the player has, but each new minion is random. Also, there is some luck involved in the minion battles. Overall, the balance between strategy and luck make the game more enjoyable; the underdog, usually the player, will sometimes win. However, some of the strategy elements, like the natural enemies mechanic, gets annoying after the first few occurrences.
-- Story vs. No Story --
The game has a very simple story: The player, as the dungeon keeper, wants to take over the realm. Each community has a short comedic narrative before and after the level is played. The lack of story and the funny narratives help the gameplay by not over complicating it.
-- Realism vs. Abstract --
The game is very abstract. The graphics are cartoon-like and the sounds are over the top. The main location is a whimsical place untouched by evil until the dungeon keeper shows up. So, the abstract graphics and sounds help the game immensely.
-- Player Role --
Like most RTS games, the player has very little control over the individual actions of the minions. The player selects the actions to do on the map tiles, like dig, mine, and build. Claiming tiles and fortifying walls is done automatically. This helps the game by simplifying gameplay and taking tedious tasks away from the player. However, there isn't a way to prioritize the tasks, therefore the player has no control over when the actions are done.
-- Difficulty Curve --
The difficulty curve is the worst design decision I've found in the game. The first 9 levels are fairly easy; however, the 10th gets immensely harder. Although I've tried to play through the level multiple times, I have yet to beat it. From what I've read on forums about the game, the level was too easy, so the developers over-corrected the problem with a patch.
-- Session 1 --
This was the first time I've played the game, so I went through the tutorial level and about five other levels. The game is very good about not overloading the player with new items, rooms, and minions. So, it was easy to get into and keep playing for several hours.
-- Session 2 --
In this session I played through until I got to level 10. The difficulty was rising noticeably; however, it was still manageable until level 10. After about 3 hours and loosing the 10th level once, I decided it would be a good time to stop.
-- Sessions 3 - 5 --
The next sessions only lasted about an hour each and got increasingly frustrating. Each time I loose spectacularly to the dungeon keeper controlled by the computer.
-- Overall --
Despite the few design flaws, the game is overall enjoyable and I will keep playing until I beat it.
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maa146's Dungeon Keeper Gold (PC)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Friday 25 March, 2011
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