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Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

Genre: Fantasy Action Strategy RPG

Number of Players: 1 (2 online)

Support: HD 720p, PlayStation Network Compatible

As much as I enjoy video games, there has been one thing that has bothered me. Developers in general want you to play on the side of good. They want you to save the world, bring peace to the land, and the reality is, some of us want to be evil. I’m not talking about evil in the way of running around a virtual metropolis with shotguns and taking out police and killing prostitutes, but something more sinister and foul. We want to delve into our black hearts and summon the iniquity that lurks within us. We don’t want to save the kingdom; we’d much rather enslave it.

Overlord is the game that grants you such power. You assume the role of a recently awakened Overlord who is taking up control where his predecessor failed. Over time, heroes have raided the castle and left it in ruins, the people are living without much fear, but that’s all going to change if you have your way. With the assistance of your minions, the wisdom of Gnarl, your faithful guide, brute strength, power, magic, and pure, untapped evil, you’ll make them see that not only should they cower before you, they should bow, get on their knees and pray to whatever lesser god they believe in that there is an ounce of compassion in your black soul. Perhaps there is, but more than likely, there is not. But more importantly, you must avenge the death of the previous Overlord, and somewhere in the world are the seven heroes who must be vanquished with the cold, cruel hand of vengeance.

Having been recently awakened from your slumber, there is much to learn about the world, and that’s where Gnarl will help you. As the Overlord, you have the power to raise a legion of loyal minions who will act without thought in your dark name. However, to gain these beings, you must collect life force, and that is done innocently enough by slaughtering the helpless sheep in the area. The first minions at your call are browns, excellent fighters who will stop at nothing to slay anything and anyone you tell them to. To be able to call your army, you simply need to target their respective colored portals and summon them. They will spew up from the very depths of Hades itself, ready to do your bidding and yours alone.

Overlord gives you four different types of minions to command, each with their own color as well as strengths and weaknesses. The browns are your starting minions, but there will be others which are a necessity. The Reds can devour fire and lob fireballs at foes in the distance. The Greens are useful for eliminating poison and happen to be skillful at delivering poisonous blows to anyone you command them to. The Blues are the only minions which can swim and also happen to be skilled in raising their fallen comrades. As your dark powers grow so too will the number of minions at your command and you can take these vile powers even further to command a select group or all that you currently have following your wishes. Each color type also has a certain type of creature that corresponds to their life-force, so you’ll have your minions slaughtering just about everything you see in order to keep your depraved powers at their fullest.

There are a few ways to control your minions as well. You can simply opt to send them headlong into battle, something that isn’t always a bad idea. Not only will they kill anyone who crosses their path who has been deemed an enemy of the Overlord, they will smash anything they can. They will also retrieve items they find. Gold and potions they will bring to you while weapons, armor, and pretty much everything else, useful or not, they will take for themselves. They aren’t necessarily the brightest creatures, but they get the job done, most of the time at least. When things get too complicated for them, you will have to guide, or sweep them into the right area. This is done simply by using the right analog stick and moving them where you need them. For there, they will take matters into their own claws and continue rampaging. They will also prove useful in opening gates, retrieving large bags of gold, fighting larger enemies, or anything else that you don’t want to do. If you want them to stay put, simply place a guard marker in the location where you need them to be and they will stay put until you summon them to follow you once again.

While you may not feel like it, there are times when you might have to enter the battle as well, though it can definitely be fun. You will begin your malevolent reign with an axe in hand but soon gain the power of spellcraft. There are four different spells that you will have control over beginning with the fireball, the ideal thing for burning fields and roasting enemies alive. As you adventure more, you will gain the ability to shield yourself from enemies and even the means to give your minions a slight boost in their fighting potential. However, physically getting involved in combat means that you can get hurt while casting spells will drain your mana. If your minions don’t come across any potions to aide you, there is another way to get yourself in shape and that is to simply sacrifice them to the blood and magic pits that are found in the game, and they will gladly die for their Overlord.

During the game, you will be given a number of quests to participate in, some with different choices where you can follow the path of the righteous or continue with your wicked ways. Some are lengthy, others quite simple, but at any point when you find a portal, you can simply go back to your tower. Here, based on things you’ve found and your minions progress in rebuilding your domain, you can enter the dungeon and fight any creatures you’ve already tussled with. Upstairs, you will find your mistress who has some wonderful ideas on improving the castle that you can follow, but careful not to anger her. There is also a smelter where you can make new items and improve the skills of your minions, and the cost is quite reasonable as well as all it takes is a little gold and their lives. Any weapons you create are stored in your armory where you can equip new armor and weapons to your dark hearts content. Dependant upon your choices, you will also see that your corruption level will increase or decrease, something that will not only affect the land and inhabitants around you, but also the ending of the game.

Overlord also allows you to take your wickedness to another level with a bit of online play. You can play against another Overlord or you can team-up to unleash a devastating chain of destructive terror, the likes of which no human has ever seen. Pillage, slaughter, and survive; these aren’t necessarily your credo for existence so much as they are the game modes, and the names should be fairly obvious in regards to what the objective of each one is.

Regardless of what the premise of the game is, the graphics don’t include as much darkness and instead are very bright, colorful, and humorous. Your minions are probably one of the most enjoyable parts of the entire game. They resemble goblins to some extent, but watching them scurry about, smash things, and gleefully celebrate each victor adds a great deal to the game. The environments overall are very well thought out, each has a very distinct look to it so you won’t be feeling as though you’ve been in one area already. The Overlord himself has a slightly imposing look, though I don’t necessarily think that a purple cape is the thing to instill fear into the denizens of the world, and some of the design definitely pays tribute a certain trilogy of films directed by Peter Jackson. Overlord may not have the uber-realism that some gamers have come to expect, but it really doesn’t need it since this game really is more about having fun.

Who says that being evil will get you nowhere? Okay, maybe that applies in the real world, but in the virtual world, being bad can feel oh-so-good. Come on, you know that in each and every one of you, there’s a being of utter darkness waiting to unleashing terror on an imagined world. Overlord will let you channel that debauchery into a gleefully wicked time where burning villages and destroying the countryside is just as rewarding as trying to save it.
 

-mike-