3. Dungeon Keeper 3
As far as I know this one was planned or even started but subsequently canceled. DK2 was a really great game. Being an evil leader ruling over vampires, trolls, goblins and several other evil creatures and trying to destroy the good ones was a very good concept. Execution also was very good and it I really enjoyed the game. Building a dungeon with torture chambers, sleep rooms and chicken farms in which the creatures swallowed whole, living chicken provided for long lasting fun. Throwing and slapping creatures around or sacrificing them in the temple and the overall humorous and self-ironic presentation could really make you laugh. (with hilarious nonsense messages telling you that your creatures want cable TV, for example) Using spells or traps to disrupt your enemy’s advancing forces (especially with the appropriately named Indiana Jones trap with a rolling rock) required strategic planning. One of the features I miss the most from current RTS games is the ability to jump into the body of one of your creatures and control it around causing some havoc in your opponent’s headquarters, for example. Even switching to one of your imps and doing a little gold digging or exploring could keep you entertained for a long time. I think Battlestations Midway on the Xbox360 let’s you take control of your units, but I don’t know how well it is done or how useful it actually is. I’d really love to see this feature in more RTS games, however. A new iteration would have to feature improved graphics (of course), physics applied to the traps (that would be really awesome) and the old humor.
4. Ultima Online 2
There is a new Ultima Online in development and it is nothing more than a visual overhaul that doesn’t change gameplay. I don’t know if it is exactly what I wish for. I will simply explain the strong points of UO and it would probably suffice if someone created a new MMORPG with similar gameplay mechanics. I played Ultima Online Renaissance on two free shards and I rarely enjoyed a video game as much as UO. Both shards I played on were role playing oriented. Grinding was almost non-existent because even using the same skill for hours at a time, which was moreover disallowed, didn’t increase the skill in a significant way. The focus was on role-play and I spent more time going through dungeons, role playing with a friend than trying to grind my skills. We did very stupid things and were joking around with the surprisingly unrestrictive engine. I miss the skill system as I really do enjoy systems where you have to actually use a skill to advance in this category (I did enjoy Morrowind, for example) The player driven economy also was very intriguing as you could just buy the most basic items from NPCs. Most of the resources had to be gathered buy chopping wood or mining or, of course, by killing monsters. You didn’t have to team up to raid a dungeon. You just went there and probably found several others fighting against the mobs on the upper levels. Then you simply joined them and by a silent, mutual agreement you just went as far as you could together, sometimes without even exchanging more words than a “well done”. You got in, went to the dungeon and killed some mobs. Jump in, jump out. Since the skill system was based on using a skill, it didn’t matter whether you killed low level zombies or mummies or whatever. The crafting system was great and the possibility to buy your own home, tower, castle… is still not introduced in contemporary MMORPGs, I think. A better Ultima Online should have an improved graphics engine (which is probably coming this year) but the same isometric view (with a greater FOV, however) and more content. Official GMs should be allowed to do some funny stuff as on the free shards. There, they sometimes played a little with the players and started a mini quest or something like that.
