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The simple pleasures of being Evil

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 35 / 35
Date: July 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought Overlord on a Friday expecting a couple hours of enjoyment over the weekend before becoming bored with repetitive gameplay. After a weekend spent in my study, I must confess... I underestimated the allure of being Evil.

Pros: Graphics, Humor, Level Design
Cons: Linear, Replay value?

In Overlord, you take the role of the epinonymous anti-hero, recently resurrected by your hysterical minions to take up the mantel of your fallen predecessor. Very little backstory is provided and this is a little disappointing, but the humorous sequence through which your minions great you makes up for it. Apparently a band of nefarious do-gooders trashed your Evil Tower, and you've got to put it back together, strange the peasants into submission and get your revenge.

To do this, you are teleported into the first map area to pummel some bloated halflings (I never did like hobbits). The first map (and the ones that follow) is well designed and beautiful, with some creative ideas to keep it interesting and give you an open feel. You're welcome to explore at your leisure but, to accomplish your quests, things move in a fairly linear fashion. To the game's credit, however, it doesn't FEEL linear. I felt free to do what I wanted when I wanted to do it. But, tasks really must be completed in a certain order before you can progress. (Un)-fortunately, that precise order isn't clear until after some trial and error (which either leads to confusion or creates that non-linear sensation).

The primary tool in your conquest will be your minions. Your selection is limited but effective. You have your warriors (brown minions), fire throwers (red minions), assassins (green minions) and healers (blue minions). Ironically, your minions are the real star of this game -- not you. They run around, wreaking havoc on the land and indulging your every whim. They leap onto the backs of sheep and ride them like broncos and swarm over your enemies like a bunch of gibbering goblins. Constantly breaking loose funny little jokes and reverently presenting you with treasure and gifts, they really steal the show and I never get tired of them. Compared to thim, the Overlord is definitely the strong silent type -- individually he is far more powerful in battle, but your minions are far more powerful when used en masse.

Your evil-ness is rated on a scale of corruption. You can take the less "evil" path by helping your peasants and restoring the Elven race or you can be Evil by pillaging the village, killing the peasants until they're suppressed, and slaughtering the few remaining elves like the simpering fools they are. Reflecting your chosen path is a selection of two mistresses (a fiesty but well-intentioned maiden or a sultry and wicked seductress).

I found the gameplay relatively simple and not terribly challenging. I doubt it's supposed to be. The game is, first and foremost, about having fun. The game is riddled with little jokes and the minions have kept me chuckling and laughing the whole time.

The graphics are rich and beautiful, and the sound is also well done but not particularly remarkable. The real gem is the gameplay and the novelty of being Evil. Due to the linear nature of the quests, I'm not sure what the replay value of this game will be, but it is a fun and enjoyable romp.

Oooh look a new hat

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: July 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is a ton of fun to play. I'd recommend trying out the demo first. The first "mission" is almost straight out of the game with some slight changes.

The greatest part of the game is being able to control and divide up your minions. Some times this involves strategy because there are different types of minions under your hand.

Make sure to note that it's 3rd person view. You move your character along while issuing commands through your gauntlet. The Overlord has one simplified attack command (Space), due to all the spells and ordering he has to do.

I should note that it's even fun to watch. The minions do hilarious things such as smash pumpkins then use them on their heads, peeking through like jack-o-lanterns. They also enjoy finding beer, which gives them added strength for a VERY limited amount of time. And what happens after drinking all that beer? What else, but of course, they urinate.

This game isn't just a walk in the park, sending your minions out to do your bidding; actually, it takes some careful planning and movement. Also, to be able to use the different minions you must find the appropriate lifeforce.

Definitely recommend trying out this game for a laugh/enjoyable game experience. (Try out multiplayer as well-- Co-op or Adversarial)

Breaking Stuff to Look Tough

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: July 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ah, Overlord. It's sort of a Real Time Strategy Role Playing Game. Hard to describe any more then that. You run around in a third person mode and direct your horde of minions into looting and pillaging.

It sounded a lot like Dungeon Keeper and in some ways it's the same mold, a lot of snarky evilness and random humor. On the other hand the game play is totally different.

The Bad.

The controls are rather clunky. You basically have attack, walk, and send minions. No fine detail work here. You also have cast spell and guard which can help. For most of the game this isn't much of a problem. Its pretty straight forward, send out your minions, then sit back and relax. Very brute force. However, for some of the boss fights you really do wish you had more control.

Not much strategy. With the clumsiness of the controls the main tactics tend to be burying the opposition in bodies. With very little practice you can lure enemies into guarded minions or put up archer ambushes but this isn't Starcraft. Expect most of the game to be plowing people under.

The game alternates between easy and frustrating. See above about the controls and the strategy. Trying to maneuver my minions around Geysers of boiling water was just irritating.

There just isn't enough Evilness in the game. Your range of diabolical actions is thin and don't have much effect on gameplay. Most of the missions are almost heroic, save the town, cure the plague, ect. You rarely have big moral choices. Though I suppose that was all they could squish into the Teen rating. I was wishing I could take that Buxom Shepherd girl back to my tower and toss her into a torture chamber. You could do stuff like that in Dungeon Keeper.

All that being said, I love this game.

The minions are the stars and their wonderfully coded AI makes up for the control issues. When a minion brings you treasure they have this happy grin on their face and an adorable "For you!" line. It makes you just want to give them a doggy biscuit. They have real personality as they ride on sheep, swarm onto enemies, or just smash everything they can get their hands on.

They also start customizing themselves. Kill a cook and a minion will take his hat. Send them to smash up a pumpkin patch and they all come back wearing Jack O lanterns on their heads. Those angry farmers chasing you with pitchforks and torches? Knock them down, steal their pitchforks, and see how THEY like being chased. They can pick up all sorts of things.

There are lots of things to destroy as well. Barrels and boxes are obvious, fences and shrubs less so, but you can send your minions to burn out those horrible little hobbit holes, drink all their ale, eat their food, destroy their pumpkin patches, smash their furniture, and deface their paintings... for starters.

Also a lot of things in this game are flammable and you have a rather handy fireball spell. Setting fire to fields is priceless, (listening to your minions shout "Burn burn!" as the enemies in the field die horrible deaths is more so) but you can also set forest fires and burn those miserable peasant's houses down.

The in game dialogue is witty and amusing and a joy to listen to.

This game is a comedy. The fun in its is watching your minions run around and wreak havoc.

Fun stuff...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is loads of fun--I'm a Warcraft addict since release in 2004, and this is a welcome change from the grinding routine. The graphics in 'Overlord' are gorgeous and really create an amazingly rewarding user experience. Playing is a little bit like being Sauron in LotR combined with Fable and Oblivion; how bad could that be?

The music is orchestral and deep and the sound effects are great--the Minions sound like little gremlins and I swear it sounds like one of them screams 'Timmy' a la 'South Park'.

Overall, I give this a four only because the movement and pathing mechanisms can be a tad tricky...I play on the PC and can't imagine how controlling the troops would be done on an XBox! I've played for several hours and am still catching on.

Good stuff! I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a dab of fantasy in an action game.

Fun game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Unique, fun, funny game. What could be better than sending your little gremlin look-a-likes after a flock of sheep? This game is very entertaining and easier to learn than first appears. The premis is a bit confusing as you'd think that you are supposed to play as the super evil guy, but very early in the game you are told that you should't destroy villagers etc. as you need someone to worship you. All well and good but I'm still sorely tempted to send my minion horde after those folk! Hehehe. Good fun game.

Indifferent

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: July 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It's not a bad game, but it's not quite what I expected. I was hoping to slaughter and pillage and urinate on things, but it was minimal. A lot of it was solving puzzles and trying to get gremlins to do what you're telling them to do (they used "idiot minions" as an excuse to not put much effort into the AI). I guess it's okay. Just don't expect to slaughter and pillage everything in sight. You're still the good guy, they just make it sound mean.

Greatest Game EVER! No, but very fun to play

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this and Transformers on the same day. I loaded this first and played for about 1 hour and it was much like an old game called "Horde" (10 yrs ago). I went to install Transformers, I played it for about 1/2 hour and was itching to get back to commanding my army or minions.

A lot of the game is just running around and pointing at stuff. When you point the minions attach/pillage/destroy/retrieve. So it is great for the lazy gamers, you don't have to search for fallen objects or worry about inventory. There is a stragegy in controlling your army and using the ablilities to their fullest. The game is based on "Chaotic Evil", so your character can be good/evil or evil/evil. The game doesn't take itself to seriously, and the humor is very well thought out. It you are looking for a fun game, then I would recommend. It doesn't take itself too serious....

Quircky fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is a lot of fun to play. You are the master of a bunch of disobedient imps. I was not challenged by this game, so if you are in the mood for a challenge than this is not for you, but if you want to have fun and actually laugh during a gaming session than this is great.

There are some puzzles that you have to guide your minions through.

It uses the way point system, much like Diablo 2, for saving progress. I cannot find a penalty for death. The controls are simple and work fine.

The only un-positive thing i can say is that the graphics are not awe inspiring (I have a great graphics card). For example, your legs and feet move at a different speed than the ground, and minor things like that.

Great mindless fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is hilarious -- mainly due to the reactions of your overly-excited minions as they rush off to do your various biddings.

Fun at first, then the clunky interface gets boring

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: February 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a fun game to begin with. You run around finding 'minions' who do your bidding out in the world while your character stands around pointing. But then...things start to get annoying.

1) You cannot save your progress. There is an 'autosave' function. It only works when you leave a mission. And when you return...you have to replay the WHOLE THING. Just boring and feels like a waste of time.

2) Your minions are hard to move about. Yes they're fun as an idea. But the only way to move them is by moving your mouse. They end up all over the place. Clearly this was designed for game controllers and then 'adapted' to PC, and the irritation just keeps accumulating.

So, yes, it is fun for a while, and then it just gets annoying. I would not buy it again.

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