The same thing we do every night. An Evil Genius AAR

[CCIP]

This looks like a lot of fun

How DOES it compare to Dungeon Keeper, anyway? I've heard good things about it - Dungeon Keeper is one of my favorite games from back in the day though, and I've always been sad that it kind of died away...

[Hottentot]

Originally Posted by CCIP

How DOES it compare to Dungeon Keeper, anyway? I've heard good things about it - Dungeon Keeper is one of my favorite games from back in the day though, and I've always been sad that it kind of died away...

It's more open ended, as the AAR has probably also shown. Whereas in Dungeon Keeper you progressed through set of missions, Evil Genius just throws the world in front of you and says "do something."

Still, there is a plot and certain missions that you need to do in order to advance it. For example, soon in the AAR we will start "persuading" crime lords to come and meet Max. It's up to the player when he starts doing that once the mission is given and the game also gives some freedom in which order it is done, but if it's not done, then the plot won't progress.

Almost everything seen in this early part of the AAR so far has been optional. The world map has the "acts of infamy", such as stealing that vase and recruiting the specialists. The former two types give you something concrete: either loot (which boosts stats of minions nearby, and which I made practically useless for AAR's purposes by putting it in my inner sanctum), or a new minion type. The rest give you just notiriety, which is practically useless and some could say even harmful as it will eventually attract "super agents" (parodies of movie heroes such as Rambo and James Bond), but it's fun for roleplaying purposes.

Compared to Dungeon Keeper, the open ended style can get very boring occasionally. There are times when I do nothing except just keep my minions on world map, plotting to find new acts of infamy or stealing money. Still, I'd say it's not that bad compared to the benefits of the style.

Otherwise the gameplay is quite similar. You expand your "dungeon", the stupid heroes try to invade it and your minions stop them one way or another (you don't necessarily have to kill them). You can also build traps, which I haven't yet even touched, but will probably build something fun later.

Compared to Dungeon Keeper, there is lots of useless stuff (for example ridiculously expensive hotels to keep tourists out), but on the other hand the useful stuff appeals to me personally more than in Dungeon Keeper. Most of it haven't even be seen yet on the AAR, because at this point I don't have a laboratory where the science minions research new equipment based on old stuff. That's one of the game's simple but effective ways of staying interesting: you get to build new rooms and buy new equipment as you process through the plot.

I think this AAR will eventually give a pretty good picture of the game. The beginning has been slow, because it is always slow in Evil Genius. The overall tempo of the game, however, is also slow, so don't expect a sudden spectacular change. But there will be a change, at least as long as my feeble writer skills can convey it through these screenshots.

[Arclight]

The traps are brilliant, especially fun if you chain them together. The game really comes into it's own when you get to the 2nd island and can build a base with all kinds of neat stuff already unlocked; retrofitting your first base with all the new toys can be tricky.

My only real complaint about it is that making money can take such a long time, especially early on.