I grew up playing dungeon keeper. The opening credits alone are one of my fave openings to a game. Don't really need to talk about the game itself but if you havent played it, its unique- a kind of RTS where you build a dungeon and manage creatures which come to live there and become your fighting force against good people from the lands above or other dungeon keepers. This game has A1 sound design. The music is really well made, perfect for the atmosphere they are going for. Look. just get the game, its so unique and has so much character its a must play. Dont bother with dk2 or any other clones or remakes, they broke the mold after this one.
Holy crap. Anno 1404 has taken up alot of my 2019. I have been playing a senario which has alot of win conditions. It is a complex buider with trees to get to each new set of buildings that are based on how many people in your towns, and of what class in society. There are 4 classes from peasant to nobleman and each has varied and stacking needs. There is also the orient and their own ways of building a society, which are essential to supply your western citizens with the goods they need. On top of this you are managing diplomatic relations with other players, and going to war is a very difficult task. You are given a variety of missions from all kinds of characters you encounter as you explore the map for new islands in your fleet of ships. Ships can be used as goods transport and to sink your enemies or attack ports in real time. The art style is pretty unique, cartoony, well exectued for what it is. The sound and music are fine I didnt find any of it annoying, but you do dislike some characters more then others. Its difficult to capture how good this game is in a short review. It keeps you engaged and planning your next moves franticly in real time. You are always fighting for space and to keep your enemies at bay. About my only con would be that the way armies work and fight is clunky, difficult and takes ALOT of resouces and time to build up, take up alot of your good land and computer enemies seem to have the upper hand at all times. Ship combat is simple and fun enough ( a basic outnumber usually wins and you can add special people and items to help you) trade, rescource gathering and diplomacy balance well and are alot of fun. Buy this if you want strategy till yr eyes fall out.
198x is a brilliant idea. I felt like it took some cues from stranger things , the soundtrack and main character was kind of a mix of 11 and micheal j fox from back to the future. Very interesting idea to set a story in the height of the video arcade days. They picked cool visual scenes of the neighbourhood and protags house, each time you get to the end of a short arcade game, the game itself blends into the story being told, it was quite surprising when this happened the first time. The story just kind of meanders around solitude and brooding pre teen angst. But like other reviews have said, this might be a prolouge to something more fleshed out. The games are interesting takes on a few diff genres of the time. Art style and bosses are pretty cool. not much to be said about the game play- its basic. It would be difficult to have fully realised arcade games on the budget these guys must have had, and art wise its great and worth playing to see the visual style of each game and cutscene. This idea could be made into something really memorable with more work done on each arcade game, and a story with more then one character- a plot and stakes, as the story here is more about capturing a feel ( which they do very well). Alot of work would have gone into painting each scene though, you can tell this took up alot of the dev teams time and it pays off.
I got dk2 because of the pixel art. Its fun to try to get through each level, alot of variety in layouts and enemies, all the characters you can use are unique in their gear and the ways they play. Great sound and music, kind of a cross between arcade beat em up and an 80s cop show like beverly hills cop (sound wise) If theres one thing that is a flaw to me, its that you tend to either murder everyone in a room instantly or get killed almost straight away. This is not always the case and as you get more upgrades you can plan how you will get your kills- which actually is a plus as if forces you to try multple ways to finish the level and has a good challange to it. So as gripes go its got upsides Your characters can upgrade skills just by playing the game, but if you want the stars to buy new gear, you have to beat levels by taking out all the bad guys and try not to kill hostages for the 3 star rating. Alot of levels, different types of enemy, different kind of swat to try. This game most reminds me of a more fleshed out version of the arcade classic - Elevator. More Pro's then cons in this one. The pixel art is great, sound and music old school, very challenging. Its not perfect but I hope they make a door kickers 3
Interesting combo of real time and RPG combat. If you dont like repeditive mini games this is not the game for you. Its a bit annoying to have to go back to mini game grind in order to beat the next group of enemys on the map at times. There is a feature to be able to spend points earned on the category of mini game you enjoy the least though, so you can avoid one area of training if it bugs you . The mini games do change slightly as you progress but in a remake, more work needs to be done on making these fun to play- see the castle defence mini game in stronghold 2, or rampart (castle build and cannon shoot game) The writing is genuinely funny at times, its worth playing through just to see what the next character is going to say. The companions you earn by defeating them even have a little back story and bringing one makes combat much easier. Also potions can get you through a battle. Progression is pretty fast but not too easy, although if you are a veteran rpg buff it might be too easy. Pro's- Great writing, easy to play. Variety of enemies and attacks not bad for a smaller game. Good price. Cons- Repeditive mini games, having to go back to them too much. Overall: Buy it for light entertainment, not disimilar to some mobile games. A sequal with improvements on variety might be a real winner.
