EA's "remake" of Dungeon Keeper was released for iOS and Android a few days ago. Predictably, the new "game" has been constructed entirely around microtransactions, making it virtually unplayable unless you constantly pay real money to keep the game going. The $100 "Best Value" package allows you to destroy 56 blocks of a type of terrain which was invented for the sole purpose of slowing you down. As a fan of the original Dungeon Keeper this makes me incredibly sad. The only positive aspect of this disaster is that it has generated some great reviews.

Metro rated Dungeon Keeper 0/10:

"This game would have been wretched whatever it was called but by defiling an existing game like this – especially one fans have been waiting for so long to be renewed – just makes EA’s contempt for their audience all the more obvious. In fact it’s not just the gamers they seem to despise it’s the very concept of video games themselves."

"We were going to refer to Dungeon Keeper as a non-game, but that’s not really accurate. It’s an anti-game. It is purposefully designed not to require thought, skill, or experimentation. Instead it rewards only money and, begrudgingly, patience. If video games had been a part of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four this would be the only one allowed."

Eurogamer gave it a score of 1/10:

"You're started with an area of soft ground to dig your first rooms out of, and the imps carve through it with familiar ease. Fill that space, however, and you must start mining the outer edge of the map, made up of gem veins that take between four hours and a full day to excavate a single square. Making space for a basic 3x3 space suddenly becomes a task that can literally take all week."

"what we have here is the shell of Bullfrog's pioneering strategy game, hollowed out and filled up with what is essentially a beat-for-beat clone of Clash of Clans. Every function, every mechanism, every online feature has been tried and tested already by Supercell's money machine and EA is following behind, drooling like a Pavlovian dog. That's what stings the most: not that Dungeon Keeper has gone free-to-play, but that it's done so in such soulless fashion."

The Escapist 0.5/5 stars:

"Dungeon Keeper wastes no time in attacking the player with its harassment for cash. It can't wait to employ its focus-tested blitzkrieg of harassment and mental waylaying. From the very outset, its heartless endgame is communicated clearly - it wants your money, and it wants you to give it that money in exchange for nothing. Even worse, it actively laughs at you while it pries open your wallet, cracking self-aware jokes - it makes fun of in-app purchases, then assails you with them anyway. Because fuck you."

"A cynically motivated skeleton of a non-game, a scam that will take your cash and offer nothing in return. A perversion of a respected series, twisted by some of the most soulless, selfish, and nauseating human beings to ever blight the game industry."

Edit: EA tries to defend their incredibly cynical cash grab. From a user comment about the Android version: "It's impossible to not rate the game a 5 if you use the in-game vote thing. If you choose 1-4 stars, you are taken to a support ticket like thing instead of giving an actual rating, if you choose 5, it will go to the rating meter in the app stores."

There's a silver lining to this. Take a look at the Top selling list on GOG's home page. ;)

War for the Overworld will hopefully end up being a good game to fill the void when it's finished.

But ya you can probably write off a true sequel from EA.

Which can be applied to pretty much any game that is well over a decade old, so... *shrug*

They even got Richard Ridings to narrate! So stoked!

I'm sorry, but that review just doesn't thrill me like the one for "Agarest: Generations of War" from Steam.

I read that War for the Overworld ran into some serious trouble during its early development and was almost abandoned. However, they seem to have made some real progress since then. I really hope that they can finish the game because it looks rather promising.

war for the overworld is looking more and more delightfully evil by the day.

Speaking of evil, this thread could do with a bit more evil.

When you're evil! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxJrjV4PNXA

Hahaha, same happened with SimCity... EA, you´re helping GOG and yourself to sell more oldies!

Which Agarest review?

i agree that ea should be ashamed of themselves

XD Forget it, I was referring to another thread.

Indeed, the first article I saw complaining about that had a link to the game's page here.

I don't necessarily mind games that use that mechanic, but it should be restrained. I like Jungle Heat, because I don't have to be playing for long periods of time on any given day. But that's essentially a coffee break game. DK isn't supposed to be a coffee break game.