Except instead of a map of the world, the screen is filled with the imposing form of Dungeon Keeper's horned reaper - or Horny, as they persist in calling him. I'm being shown an impressive FMV sequence created for the game by a French computer animation company previously responsible for some of the eye-popping 'sky traffic' scenes in The Fifth Element (the movie, not the game, dum-dum). Then Goldsworthy fires up the game itself.
TVventy minutes later, I realise I've been gawking so hard at the images on the screen I've forgotten all about my coffee, which is now stone cold. I've been gawking so hard because Dungeon Keeper 2 looks fantastic. The main difference, the first thing that hits you, is how much better the creatures look now that they've been upgraded from pre-rendered sprites to polygonal models.
It isn't just that they now sit more comfortably with their 3D surroundings, they also benefit k from lighting effects, they cast shadows, and they display far smoother animation than before. Everything looks crisper, dearer, and faintly more disgusting. Even the dungeon heart, the source of all your power, looks like a 'proper' organ. You feel you could reach into the screen, poke it, and get an eyeful of goo spurted back at you in return.
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