Retro: Evil Genius

News Reader · Post by **News Reader** » December 10th, 2008, 8:00

Retro: Evil Genius
Whenever I mourn the passing of the Dungeon Keeper games and their much-neglected sub-genre - which I seem to do far too often, like some sort of blogging Miss Havisham - someone always chastises me for overlooking Evil Genius. I'm not overlooking it, I'm just not mentioning it.
It's certainly the closest to a [...]

Author: Alec Meer
Category: RockPaperShotgun Dungeon-Keeper elixir evil genius feature Retro
Publish Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:52:13 +0000

Whenever I mourn the passing of the Dungeon Keeper games and their much-neglected sub-genre - which I seem to do far too often, like some sort of blogging Miss Havisham - someone always chastises me for overlooking Evil Genius. I'm not overlooking it, I'm just not mentioning it.

It's certainly the closest to a true follow-up DK's ever had, coming from Bullfrog splinter cell Elixir and employing exactly the same Bad Guy Base-Building concept. Trouble is, in its clear desperation to not simply be Dungeon Keeper with Austin Powers artwork, it piled on layer after layer of complexity intended to mask its stolen heart. When I originally played it back in 2004, I couldn't stand it. Genuinely loathed the thing, which very much put me at odds with most other reviewers.

Time, they say, heals all wounds. Which is a patently ridiculous thing to say, otherwise my granddad wouldn't have been so annoyed about the toe he lost in the war. But it does at least mean I can now approach Evil Genius with a clear head, no longer clouded by sad dreams of DK3.

(...)
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Post by **FatherJack** » December 10th, 2008, 12:45

It's a great game, I've been playing it amost constantly for two weeks. I kind of like the slow pace, it gives me time to stroke my pussy and hatch evil plots while developing my cackle.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » December 10th, 2008, 14:09

I've had several playthroughs on this. The problem with it is probably the same as in modern day games - it's full of game-breaking bugs. Even the unofficial patch failed to fix all of them. It would've been a good successor to Dungeon Keeper but it was rushed.

I really miss Dungeon Keeper. I can no longer play it on DX10, and even on DX9 it was less stable than the Ep1 Hammer.

I wish someone would make a sequel or a successor to either of the games. Though for it to be not shit, that someone would have to be an indie.

FatherJack wrote:stroke my pussy

Pffft.

Post by **FatherJack** » December 10th, 2008, 15:19

Hmm, I've had quirks, but nothing game-breaking. I wasn't aware the patch I had was unofficial, I got it through GameShadow.

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 10th, 2008, 15:57

I rather enjoyed Evil Genius at the time, much more than Dungeon Keeper. The game never broke on me either.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » December 10th, 2008, 16:36

FatherJack wrote:Hmm, I've had quirks, but nothing game-breaking. I wasn't aware the patch I had was unofficial, I got it through GameShadow.

Well I had serious quirks. One time an agent carrying a doomsday got stuck outside the map and therefore no units of the same agent type came again. At another time, I had packed my freezer with a gazillion of crates but my minions refused to use it. I also lost my hangar blueprints. A third time my minions refused to do research on island 2 and I got owned by the massive waves of soldiers and a three-way super agent attack.

Post by **fabyak** » December 10th, 2008, 16:36

I thought this was a new game, but for £6 I will certainly give it a look in the new year

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » December 10th, 2008, 16:36

Oh, and there is 1 official and 1 unofficial patch, the latter seriously balancing the game, making bodyguards not useless, and fixing two of the three aforementioned issues I had.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » December 10th, 2008, 17:34

i rather liked evil genius, it's the only RTS that i was any good at, but at one point i cheated, and it broke the game, so i never managed to finish it.

Post by **HereComesPete** » December 10th, 2008, 20:27

Mr. Johnson wrote:i rather liked evil genius, it's the only RTS that i was any good at, but at one point i cheated, and it broke the game, so i never managed to finish it.

Lesson=learned!!!!

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » December 10th, 2008, 20:41

quite.

i had to collect some things, but due to my game being broken, i endlessly hoarded them without the game advancing. oh well.

Post by **FatherJack** » December 10th, 2008, 21:30

I've given myself a few extra $s on occasion without breaking it, just to try my nefarious design schemes out. I'm supposed to be an evil genius billionnaire FFS, so why do I start with a paltry million?

On the second island I made a vault entirely circling the volcano base and it just didn't look right not being filled to the brim with stacks of aurum.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » December 11th, 2008, 15:41

Mr. Johnson wrote:quite.

i had to collect some things, but due to my game being broken, i endlessly hoarded them without the game advancing. oh well.

The crates amirite? My game got fucked up there without me cheating.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » December 11th, 2008, 15:46

Baliame wrote:
The crates amirite? My game got fucked up there without me cheating.

yarp. and there i was, feeling guilty about it all that time.

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 11th, 2008, 16:33

Baliame wrote:
Well I had serious quirks. One time an agent carrying a doomsday got stuck outside the map and therefore no units of the same agent type came again. At another time, I had packed my freezer with a gazillion of crates but my minions refused to use it. I also lost my hangar blueprints. A third time my minions refused to do research on island 2 and I got owned by the massive waves of soldiers and a three-way super agent attack.

Just out of curiosity, was yours a floorware version?