Other rooms available to you early on in the game include the Library (allows the research of new spells ¿ attracts Warlocks), the workshop (lets you build traps and doors ¿ attracts Trolls), the Guard Room (acts a station for your creatures ¿attracts Dark Elves), the Torture Chamber (extracts information or conversions from prisoners ¿ attracts Dark Mistresses) and the Prison (lets you hold captured enemies for torture or death ¿ creatures that die in the Prison come back as Skeletons under your control). Hatcheries create chickens (which act as food for your critters) and help to attract several types of monsters (in combination with other rooms). A basic Lair will give your creatures a place to sleep and will also attract goblins. With the exception of your dungeon heart (which is the center of your power) and the gate (which enables monsters to enter your domain) almost every room you have available to you will not only help your existing monsters, but will also attract new monsters to your lair. Since you're evil, there's no diplomacy option ¿ if there's a keeper on your turf, you only real recourse is to beat them until they understand who the real master is. In addition to the fact that you find yourself up against smarter lords with tougher armies, you'll also begin to run into other keepers who are also trying to make this new land their own.

The first few missions are designed to get you used to the interface and are pretty easy, but about midway through the game things start to get pretty tough. Once you've got control, your goal is pretty simple ¿ wipe out the lord of the land and steal his level gem (apparently all lords carry level gems ¿ who knew?).

As actual play starts you be notified of any new buildings or traps that you have access to and shown where any important events are taking place. You start each mission by selecting a sickeningly good land to corrupt and then watch a quick briefing on the lord of that particular land. Where the original Dungeon Keeper primarily revolved around defensive mission ¿ you build a dungeon and try to eliminate the heroic invaders, Dungeon Keeper 2 has a decidedly offensive feel to it. The change from the standard 'you are the good hero trying to kill the evil necromancer' is unbelievably refreshing.

Once you've got a well trained fighting force, your goal is to try and eliminate the goodie-two-shoes heroes who are wandering around. In each mission, you must construct a dungeon, with different special rooms in order to attract different monsters. For those of you who never got a chance to play the first title, Dungeon Keeper (and Dungeon Keeper 2) is a 3D isometric strategy game in which you play an master of evil looking to spread his (or her, the game is actually pretty good about staying gender neutral) baleful influence over a happy and peaceful world.

Dungeon keeper 2