OK, *why* was DK "great"?
Build your own dungeons any way you want, post traps around that dungeon, torture your prisoners, YOU'RE EVIL!!!
, send your minions out to destroy other keepers/goody two shoes heroes.
I was making dungeons with miniatures using plaster of paris for the walls and floors way before DK was even a thought in some developers mind. I bought the molds from a company I found in the back of Dragon magazine. DK let me make those dungeons on the computer.
The best thing about this was that my dungeons were alive with creatures. Sure, I could fill my miniature dungeons with metal miniatures, but they don't move
Here you had your evil wizards learning new spells, trolls making items for your dungeon, dark mistresses torturing your prisoners and a temple for summoning all the while heroes ventured in to destroy you or other keepers were out for your land. I would carefully plan out my traps and make corridors of death for any would-be heroes. Not to mention the spells where you could take control of your minions. I loved possessing a fly and buzzing around the environment looking for any heroes or keepers. When you possessed the fly they had the screen look like you were seeing the world through the compound eyes of the fly. It's superficial, but a nice touch.
In short that is why I love Dungeon Keeper. It had a few flaws in it like in the later levels I couldn't plan out my dungeons the way I wished because resources were limited, but overall it was great. It is one of the 'always installed' games on any computer I buy. I actually got DK 2 working on this Windows 7 64 computer which was surprising since the game is so old.