Developer(s) Triumph Studios Publisher(s) Codemasters
Release date(s) NA June 26, 2007
EUR June 29, 2007
Genre(s) Fantasy, Action Adventure
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer, Co-op
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (13+)
Platform(s) Xbox 360, Windows
Overlord is an action-adventure game that lets the player control Minions and order them as the player sees fit. In the story, the Minions find the main character in the rubble of the old Overlord's tower, and thus believe him to be a reincarnation of the old Overlord that was killed by the Seven, now corrupted Heroes. These minions, therefore, aid and serve the player loyally as their master. The game was released in North America on June 26, 2007 on both the PC and Xbox 360. The story revolves around the ever growing Minion armies who are trying to kill the Seven Heroes who destroyed the original Overlord. Since then the Seven Lords have slowly become the living embodiment of the seven deadly sins.
Let's start with the Good...
This game is Fun (with a capital F)! I would give it a 7 out of 10 Tog Tag score.
This game is Fun (with a capital F)! I would give it a 7 out of 10 Tog Tag score.
It has a beautiful array of graphics and rich environments that are riddled with hidden caches of rewards for you and your minions. Some of these rewards include gold, spells, and health & mana pickups. There is no inventory in the game, but in your evil Overlord tower you have the ability to craft weapons and armor using a forge. The fact that you can add your sacrificed minions to this armor and weapons is a funny little twist. While you only have 3 weapons and 3 types of armor, you can add very devastating bonuses to their stats by throwing your minions into the fire. Doing so allows the items that you make to have different abilities and powers for your main character. While you can't upgrade any items for your minions, they do find a lot of different items to use throughout the game and even take weapons and armor dropped by the bosses and foes you have vanquished. The minions are evil gremlin-like creatures from the movie of the same name, which would give any villain a sense of satisfaction to kick around and shout orders at.
Another big aspect is the humor spread throughout the game that has you hanging for the next funny little chuckle. You even get a gremlin court jester to kick and bash around as your evil heart desires (How funny is that?). There is a dungeon in your tower that allows you to go back and re-fight any creature in the game you have already beaten and can earn gold and items by doing so. You have several types of magic that you can cast, which is a whole other bag of fun all by itself: flaming balls of death, shields, a spell that has positive effects on your minions (increasing damage and their health) and domination spells which slow or confuse your enemies so they attack each other! It sure was a riot to see a bunch of halflings (which look a lot like fat little hobbits and even live in houses just like in the movie Lord of the Rings) standing in a wheat field waiting to catch the ball of fire and then hearing them scream as they roast.
This is definitely a refreshing twist to always playing the hero. You are not here for good. You are evil, plain and simple! Dr. Evil himself would be proud.
You are not here for good. You are evil, plain and simple! Dr. Evil himself would be proud.
However, it's up to you just how evil you wish to be. You even get to have an evil mistress, and later in the game you get to choose if you're going to keep "Rose the Mistress" for your not-so-evil overlord or change her in for her sister Velvet for your evil-evil overlord. The choice you make will also improve two of your minion types, so choose wisely.
Another fun part of the game involves having your minions pick up bombs and carry them away (while you control them) and commit suicide or open new paths or kill enemies for you. Your minions are totally devoted to you and will do as they are told (with only the slightest little remarks like "Why me!?") as they run off carrying that dwarven mine over to the Rock Giant you have to overcome, only to drop it and come back, get squished by the giant, or stand there and blow up at your pleasure.
Now on to the Bad...
These aspects of the game gave me a good run for my money. But there were a few aspects of the game which didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the gameplay.
These aspects of the game gave me a good run for my money. But there were a few aspects of the game which didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the gameplay.
First off, it's irritating to think companies are still producing games which lock the keyset and do not allow the user to customize his controls. You could go either way with this argument, but personally I buy games for the experience and to feel like I'm immersed in a seamless environment. It pulls you out of that environment every time you have to look at the control sheet to remember which key does what. I don't want a challenge from the keyset; I want a challenge from the game itself!
Another aspect of the game which I found aggravating was the camera.
Another aspect of the game which I found aggravating was the camera.
It is a bit of a fluke and takes a lot of getting used to. I wouldn't say it's a game breaker, but there are a lot of camera control systems in games these days which are much more intuitive and give the user a much better feel of control and observation in the game. Sometimes I would run into issues where my character was being attacked, but my vision was so limited I would be unable to move him out of the way.
Strangely enough, it's also possible to get your minions stuck in rather annoying places in the game because you were unable to see where they were headed (due to lack of vision). Speaking of moving your minions around, they are fairly decent about staying in a pack, but at times one or two will get stuck behind something while you need a certain number of them to move an object. You simply have to recall them all back to you to un-stick the loner and then you can get back to the task at hand. This is only a minor inconvenience, but it is inconvenient.
The game also lacks a mini-map, and this is by design, but it would make navigating a little easier since most games do have this feature. This makes it easy to get lost, and there are times when some of the monsters will respawn.
Another nuisance in this game is that it is possible to spawn your minions too quickly, which can result in them spawning in locations which are blocked from your path, making it impossible for them to actually join you.
Although you can use your minions to upgrade your own weapons and armor, you are not able to upgrade any features on the minions themselves.
Although you can use your minions to upgrade your own weapons and armor, you are not able to upgrade any features on the minions themselves.
This reduces the customisation a little, and that kills a little replay value, in my opinion.
Now on to the Multiplayer Aspect...
The game supports multiplayer co-op and versus game types. Co-op let’s you team up with a friend and you have to survive as long as you can against enemies that respawn all over the map. It's like running the gauntlet. There is no ranking on these survival maps but they do add ample challenge and entertainment.
One versus game type is cleverly named "Slaughter" where you face off against another overlord and his set of minions. The first one to die... loses.
Another versus game type is called "Pillage" where your goal is to find as much gold as possible. You can run around and kill monsters, or track down your opponent and fight him for his coin purse.
All in all, this game offers about 60 hours of solid game play, about 30 of which were spent being a not-so-evil overlord, and another 30 being an evil evil overlord, and it pulls it off by giving you missions which are unique to the way you play. This is the added incentive to play through each of the two styles. This game catches the attention of the player like Gears of War, and the different environment and dark humor make it quite a fun game to play
the different environment and dark humor make it quite a fun game to play
when there aren't many quality games being produced.
If you're looking for a game which gives instant gratification and rewards bad behaviour, look no further than Overlord. Even with the few minor issues, it was full of entertainment value.
If this review isn't evil enough for you then you will find some more details on wikipedia.
Edited by Ballistic
Graphics by Subgalaxy and At1wit3d
UNK
About the author:
UNK is a 44 yr old guy that has been gaming a long time. You will Find him Playing Mostly console games, Xbox 360,Xbox,Ps1, Ps2, And Gamecube. He only Plays FPS,RPG,and RTS, games but does on occasion
This game is Fun (with a capital F)! I would give it a 7 out of 10 Tog Tag score. 
