Dungeons 2 has a few unique RTS elements, but is the gameplay balanced and engaging?
Let's find out in the Dungeons 2 review.
Dungeons 2 is both a macro and micro management real time strategy game.
You start off in the underworld, building up your dungeon.
You mine for gold and expansion as you actually carve out the rooms of the dungeon.
In most RTS games you are using up real estate on land with your buildings.
In Dungeons 2, you're excavating and the remaining space becomes your building or production
facility.
So you can use a lot of ingenuity when it comes to base building.
The game kind of balances between a god game and an RTS as units tend to control themselves,
you just put them where you want them to be.
As you build up combat units you can put them into the overworld.
In the overworld, the game plays more like a traditional RTS game.
You'll be raiding enemy bases and following along with missions.
There's not that much diversity with the units, each one has a benefit to both the overworld
and underworld, but none of them significantly change the balance between you and your enemy.
Dungeons 2 has a very detailed fantasy setting.
From the voice acting to the art style and characters, the game is very charming.
A rare experience, you get to be the bad guy in this game.
You are the ulimate evil leading orcs from the underworld into the world to dominate
the land.
The narrator is very tongue in cheek and always has witty sayings.
It definitely makes you smile and want to keep playing.
As you take over parts of the overworld the environment changes and becomes corrupt and
decrepit.
Even when you forget to follow an objective or lose a crucial unit, the game just laughs
at you and encourages you
to carry on.
Let's not forget, the primary resource for your minions is beer.
The fantasy setting and presentation style is one of the highlights of playing Dungeons
2.
The campaign mode is fairly short with only 11 missions in the game, but later missions
should take you a while to complete.
I wouldn't count on playing multiplayer for too long, because there aren't a ton of people
on there.
It doesn't even make it on Steam's top multiplayer games list.
Dungeons 2 does have a lot of technical and logistic flaws that prevent the game from
being above average.
The game is not very intuitive.
Certain instructions or mechanics in the game are just not easy to perform or figure out.
Micro management in the overworld is missing some control details.
It's not easy to select and manipulate individual units for spells or micro movement.
In the underworld, it's difficult to select buildings and there's so many different types
of selections between units and buildings that it's difficult to know where you are
or where you need to go for an upgrade.
Furthermore moving units between the overworld and the underworld gets confusing because
they must enter through a portal.
You also have to minimaps to watch and occasionally during the campaign your units will even enter
a third unmapped area.
All of these negative aspects can make the game cumbersome to play.
Dungeons 2 does have a lot of charm in the campaign mode and the underworld vs overworld
setting is a unique approach to real time strategy.
The game retails at $40 which is more than I would expect to pay for this game.
If you are a hardcore RTS fan or you want to try something a little different, you may
want to give Dungeons 2 a playthrough.
Dungeons 2 receives a score of 70 for it's presentation and new gameplay elements.
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