Overlord II has you take control of a new Overlord due to the last ones untimely demise. The beginning of the game sees you take over and groom him into the evil being he will become. This is done by chasing children around the town with the eventual aim of stealing their clothing for your own cause. This level mainly acts as a tutorial for those who have never played before, therefore you learn to control your minions and use your magicl power and attacks. This is a decent introduction to the game, which also shows off some of the games humor.

 

 

Once you get first level out the way and start to progress you will soon come across the enemies who stand in the way of you becoming the leader of all things evil, the first force you will come up against are the Glorious Empire, these guys hate all things magic and are determined to stamp it out, then there is also the elves who are trying to protect all things good in the world.

 

The main way that you will overpower the enemies who will stand in your way is by controlling the minions you will summon throughout the game. Controlling your minions is quite simple, using the left trigger you can home in on a target then pressing the right trigger will command all of your minions to attack, although generally pressing the right trigger first is all that is needed. You can also control minions using the right stick, this allows you to send them in a certain directions which comes in handy when you want them to reach areas that you are unable to get to. Minions come in four different types, first up there is the Browns, who are the fighters amongst your pack, these guys will charge forward and take out whatever’s in your path, then there is the Red’s who are your archers, who throw bolts of fire over great distances and are also immune to fire themselves, they are not much good in hand to hand combat though. Then finally there is the Blues, who are not only the healers but can also swim and the Greens who are the assassins in the pack who strike opponents from behind with their sharp claws.

 

As well as having the minions to do your evil deeds, Overlord can also pitch in himself thanks to his ability to use magic and on occasions even attack himself, although it’s best not to do what your minions do best, since he is a bit weak and can get killed quickly. The magic is not entirely present at the beginning of the game, with only Lightning Whip being available to begin with, which allows you to break small objects and set fire to things, however it isn’t long before you can get hold of other spells such as Target, Minion and Halo. These spells are quite powerful and not only allow you to boost the power of your minions but also allow you to cause a bit of destruction too.

 

Throughout the game you can now use items such as, boats and catapults, this is done by sending the required amount of minions to the piece of equipment you want to use, although this is a minor addition, it is welcome and does work quite well. In addition you are also able to use your minions to mount wolves, this allows them to be even more devastating in attack, thanks to the speed and agility of these creatures. You are also able to revisit old areas in order to find loot that you may not have found first time around, therefore this will allow you to find new weapons and equipment that you can give to your minions.

 

Overlord II definitely feels more action orientated than the previous game, though there is a downside to this in that although you can backtrack and explore, once you have taken care of the enemies there are no real surprises left, perhaps it would have been better if the game threw in a few obstacles in your way when you backtrack, however it doesn’t and therefore if you are easily bored by a lack of action then there is no real incentive to covering old ground.

 

 

Graphically the game does look good, the art style is well thought out and implemented into the game and the Overlord and his minions looks fantastic, especially when they are all on wolf back causing havoc. The only issue I have in a gameplay respect is that sometimes it is hard to control your minions due to the camera, I personally feel that if you were able to control the camera manually that this would make a big difference.

 

Outside of the single player mode Overlord II also includes a multiplayer mode, this consists of a split screen mode offline and online you have the chance to take part in Co-op modes such as Survival and Invasion or versus modes such as Dominate and Pillage. These games do work well although they are hardly groundbreaking.

 

Overlord II is a game that offers plenty of challenges as well as the chance to fight your way to domination. The game is certainly no RPG, however as an action title and due to its unique nature it’s good fun to play and may be worth considering if you are after something a bit different to play this summer.