I was browsing through the App Store (as you do) looking for my next great mobile game, when I stumbled across Dungeon Keeper (well stumbled upon maybe somewhat of an exaggeration as at the time of writing it is currently ‘the editors choice’) needless to say my heart started pounding and my mouth started salivating at the prospect of one of my favourite childhood games going mobile, even better was that it’s free!.. FREE! and that’s an offer I simply could not refuse, a quick tap and a couple of keystrokes later my game was downloading.
While downloading I noticed that the EA logo now stands where Bullfrog used to, let’s see how EA have adapted the game for the mobile market.
Where any game that is free to download and doesn’t use advertisements to reclaim the revenue will almost certainly offer in app purchases and Dungeon Keeper is no different.
Those looking for the original 1997 game may be disappointed, the “twisted take on the original” as EA put it, lacks the depth, charisma and involvement of the original and I know comparing a mobile game to the full PC version is somewhat unfair, I just feel more could have been done to imitate it. For example you can’t queue your imps work, you have to wait for them to demolish one wall before starting another, minions cannot be plucked from the ground and tossed into other rooms and as yet none of my minions have started a fight with one another.
Although this was the bane of any keepers dungeon management it was a vital element into what made Dungeon Keeper stand out from the rest, instead my minions just tend to stay in their own prospective room. No one ventures to go and eat a chicken from the hatchery or go for a walk and get a fire ball up the arse from a warlock whose research had been disturbed by the noise generated by this stroll.
Not only that when you’re introduced to the game via the short tutorial the horned reaper (or horny to his friends… Friends? Wtf!) is just too nice! Should the reaper from the original meet this new one he would immediately dispatch this imposter and laugh while doing so. The minions themselves have also been modified and in some cases look cartoonish and again just too… Well, nice! Skeletons, trolls, warlocks, bile demons, ghosts, vampires, mistresses and dragons are selectable once their requirements have been met, but I want them all. What happened to my flies and hell hounds! I want my dragon spawns to develop into dragons after hours of vigorous training and I want to be able to claim heroes through means of foul torture methods so brutal that even mighty samurai become sympathetic to my cause.
That being said five days in and I’m really enjoying the game, a lot of the original elements of the game still exist, giving your imps a good slap speeds up your productivity and the new interface makes slapping multiple imps easier without taking any meaning out of the gesture.
The game itself is quite simple, build an army of minions using gold to go and conquer other players, or the built in campaign missions and whilst you are summoning your army from your dungeon heart you can build rooms using rock or gold to entice more creatures to serve you, some minions are room specific. Warlocks seek the dark library, bile demons yearn for a hatchery (although sadly you no longer get to see them feast) and necromancers demand a training room.
Rooms also serve other purposes for example trolls can be summoned once you have a workshop which is also used to build traps, the training room is used to train your creatures to higher levels and the dark library is used to generate not only spells but also the mana used to cast said spells.
Some rooms can also attack intruders in your dungeon, the workshop hurls circular saws, bolts of lightning shock any enemy foolish enough to step within zapping range and to my delight the training room slices into would be invaders although the animation in this room has a lot to be desired.
As previously mentioned traps are also accessible whilst you’re waiting to summon your chosen minion(s) to serve as your primary defence as other keepers attacks you. Sadly pvp attacks are no longer in real time and happen only whilst you’re not in game so the strategic layout of your dungeon pathways and trap lay out is more important than ever, a personal favourite of mine consists of securing a pathway by two doors with a reasonable space between, about 3 spike traps laid on the ground and a freeze trap embedded into a separate cut out of wall to maximize the damage done by the spikes.
As well as gold and rock, gems can also be obtained, And a few are generated at random when you excavate a gem vein. At this point we have to say hi to the in app purchase, EA have made the most valuable commodity in the game chargeable (although this does to be the trend with this style game) and quite a charge it is too. At present 500 gems cost £2.99 and represents the entry level spend (£69.99 for 14,000 is the maximum) where as I’m more used to 69p for around 100 gems from similar games, you can use gems to speed up jobs get more stone and rock and summon additional imps your first additional imp will cost 800 gems.
After the tutorial section pending on your gem spend (and horny really tries to get you to spend as much as possible) you’re left with around 500 and I would recommend saving as much as possible for your third imp, production can be somewhat slow with the average rock excavation taking 4 hours, the toughest rock can take up to a whopping 24hrs to excavate, although with careful planning most of this type of rock can be avoided till later in the game.
Basic rock only takes a matter of seconds but most of this is used in the tutorial so again dungeon planning is key to success.
The keepers voice is still present and I can’t help but feel nostalgic every time I’m told “a wise decision keeper” or “I smell the stench of another keeper in your dungeon”. Ok so the phrases may have been somewhat modified but the voice itself is quite true to the original and the game definitely would not have been the same without it.
Whilst out of game you get notifications in the keepers voice of “upgrade complete” when a room has finished upgrading, “your minions are ready for battle” which is pretty self explanatory and a personal favourite is the standard notification (when your productivity has slowed and your imps need another slap for example) which is the sound of imps claiming new territory/laying pathway in the original game all of which are impressive, just make sure you mute your phone if you don’t want the odd eyebrow raise at the local library.
In short the new version is well worth a play, the basic elements of Dungeon Keeper remain enough to bring back found memories as well as provide amusement and a new perspective on the genre to those unacquainted with the original. Setting up defences around your dungeon with cannons, spikes and flame traps as well as excavating rock and forming new rooms provides as much entertainment as going on raids to pillage every last gold coin and grain of rock from your fallen foes and if nothing else at least you can still give those imps a good hard slap!
Dungeon Keeper for iOs gets: 6.5/10
