Written by: Mark

 

 

 

In 2007 a game was released which gave the player opportunities to be as evil as possible and to command vast armies to do your dirty work. That game was entitled "Overlord" and offered a new twist to the RPG genre and pretty enjoyable it was too.

 

Fast forward two years and developers 'Triumph Studios' are back with the sequel predictably named "Overlord II" which promises to be bigger and better.

 

 

'Overlord II' is not so much sequel but a game in it’s own right, admittedly the gameplay is very similar to it’s predecessor however it is the story change which is the major difference. This time the game takes place days of the Roman Empire with the army of minions looking for a new master and this is where you come in.

 

The first level sees you taking on the role of a child who is on the path of evilness and this is a good way of introducing the gameplay aspects to newcomers to the series and acts nicely as a tutorial level. Players are then given the role of the Overlord and this is where the fun and challenge really begins.

 

 

It does not take long to be introduced to the various powers at your disposal and these usually involve the minions which are a charming bunch and have nice characters of their own. As the game progresses you can eventually command up to fifty of these little creatures and it certainly proves to be fun to be able to command these to commit your evil deeds from collecting treasure, beating up villagers and tackling enemies throughout the game.

 

Undoubtedly the control of the minions draws a vast amount of inspiration from previous Pikmin games although that is no bad thing. The way this stands out though is that as you progress you gain control of four classes of minions who come in different colours (red, green, brown and blue) each of which has their own special abilities and this certainly adds a tactical aspect to the game and a bit of a puzzle element as to which class is the best to use at specific points of your quest.

 

The actual lead character of the Overlord does have his own magical and combat abilities but I have to say does not offer the same level of charm as the minions or various other characters found throughout the game and this is somewhat surprising. Personally I was pretty impressed with the game and the majority of the character design although I never really felt like I was drawn into liking or appreciating the lead character as I have with those in many other games particularly in the RPG genre. This is not say that he does not have his strengths but to me just lacked a little something in comparison to many other of the games characters.

 

 

There is no doubting that the overall gameplay in Overlord II is pretty enjoyable but can also prove to be equally as frustrating on occasions thanks to the pretty linear level design despite the worlds appearing to be seemingly vast. In addition at times you are forced to backtrack in order to seek out the correct minions in order to progress and this can appear to be a chore, as can certain points in the game which require a bit too much strategy and lead to confusion.