For The Overlord!! For The Masta!!! -- Overlord Review

What do you get when you cross an action RPG focused on moral choices and open-ended quest completion with a strategy game that features an army of underlings with various different abilities? Well, if you take the angel off of one shoulder and replace it with a second little devil, you get Codemasters' and Triumph Studios' Overlord. The overall feel of this action-adventure game is something like Lionhead Studios' Fable with the added bonus of commanding a small army at all times, a la Pikmin. And it's evil.

The game begins when the titular Overlord is awoken from his deathly slumber by a few of his loyal minions. His castle is in ruin, and it is up to the player, the Overlord, and the gremlin-like minions to restore the evil kingdom to its former glory. What better way to start than by wreaking havoc on the countryside?

The Overlord himself is as a hulking mass of armor, and looks to be made for battle. Although he is much more powerful than his faithful followers, he can still become overwhelmed should he find himself in the thick of combat without them. It is the minions who are the stars of this game, really, and the proper manipulation of the raucous mob is the key to success in the player's crusade of comic villainy.

Minions are called to the Overlord's side from special holes in the ground, where I'm convinced they do nothing but party, drink, and fight with each other until they are beckoned. When they emerge, the Overlord is in control. Players use the R trigger to order the eager minions at various targets, which can be locked onto with the L trigger. More often, however, gamers will find themselves using the right analog stick to sweep the horde through piles of boxes, crates, and jars, as well as swarm them around enemies and obstacles. This is all done independent of the Overlord's personal actions, which include movement, melee attacks, and spell-casting. The basic gameplay is very reminiscent of Nintendo's Pikmin, and the players will undoubtedly form the same sort of fondness for these little terrors as they may have once had for those little plant creatures.

Minions destroy or devour anything in sight, and as they defeat enemies, smash barrels, and ransack houses, they pick up weapons and bits of armor to make the overall force stronger. They also bring the Overlord health and mana potions, and collect gold to pay for castle and weapon upgrades. Lastly, as they kill enemies and innocent little animals, they harvest life force - the key to expanding the minion army. The more life force they release, the more minions become available to do the Overlord's bidding. The color of the life force depends on the type of creature that meets its untimely demise, and each color cultivates a certain type of minion.

There are four distinct types of minions, in all. Each type possesses different attributes that are used to progress through the adventure. Brown minions are the core units, with the highest attack power and greatest hardiness. The player begins the adventure with only these at his disposal. The others must be found in "lairs" throughout the adventure before they join the minion army. Red minions are invulnerable to fire, and have a long-range fireball attack. Greens can pass through, as well as remove, poison clouds in the Overlord's path. They also receive a big bonus when attacking from behind, and become invisible when stationed at a guard marker. Finally, blue minions are the only ones who can swim, and are able to revive fallen minions. The minions are similar to the classic classes of warrior, mage, assassin, and cleric, respectively.

The Overlord has the ability to either command all minions at once, or those of only one color at a time. He can also set guard markers for the selected group of minions, where they will remain stationed until called. Using all four minion types to effectively achieve your goals is one thing that makes the game so engaging, and when strategy and tactics come into play, the game becomes more rewarding. The control of the minions isn't perfect, however. Managing the army with the analog stick, especially, becomes a bit difficult to manage when minions get caught up while carrying out tasks. It is also much too easy to accidentally send minions to their watery, fiery, and other sorts of deaths. The overlord already sacrifices the little buggers to heal himself and to imbue his weapons with power, so losing a full squad to nothing more than an over-sized puddle seems such a waste.

The game is organized into a bunch of different areas, which are all accessible via the castle's built-in teleporter. In each of these places, characters beg the Overlord to help them. Usually the quests fall right in line with his self-interest, so players should be happy to oblige. Rewards are mostly limited to self-satisfaction and the fun of completing the quest, but along the way one will find items that add to the Overlord's heath, magic, and horde size, not to mention tons of cash and minion-spawning life force. Each is a generally profitable endeavor. The only GLARING ISSUE that will put a damper on things is the lack of an in-game map...of any kind. The levels usually dump players right back where they need to be after completing an objective (which is lovely design), but considering the complexity of some of the areas, there is bound to be quite a bit of confusion finding your way without the help of some form of cartographic aid. The overall progression through the game is somewhat self-directed, and the quests often afford players the opportunity to choose a path of evil, or...less evil.

Visually, Overlord is very appealing. It has a few technical issues that can't go without mention, however. First, the game suffers from a bit of pop-in and clipping. Trees and shrubs will sometimes magically appear as players approach them, and may clip through nearby boulders or other objects. Also, the leaves within trees will fill out as the player approaches, making the canopies look as though they are shimmering until you realize that empty space has magically transformed into leaves before your very eyes. Lastly, I noticed a couple of lighting issues while playing Overlord. There are inexplicable flickers of light here and there, as well as a strange inconsistency with certain shadows that seem to have an affinity for locomotion. Aside from these pitfalls, however, the overall presentation of the game is very pretty. There is a whimsical feel to the world, brought about by a crisp, colorful world and a healthy dose of bloom effects. The scale of characters is large, and each is very detailed, fitting right into the well-textured, bump-mapped, specularly fantastic environment. It may not be perfect, but it does look good.

The audio picks up where the graphics leave off. Great voice overs add to the character of the game, and make most of the cast at least somewhat memorable and quotable. Minions, especially, have great voices, and happily scream out phrases like "for the Overlord!" as they collect things. Even though they repeat a few phrases over and over, they still remain adorable in their own evil and charming way. A nice touch is how the Overlord's accompanying minions will respond to NPCs in the cutscenes that are interspersed throughout the adventure. Though each color minion makes a few distinct sounds, it's unfortunate that the main voices for all of them is the same. Other than a few extra minion voices, there is little more to ask of the game in terms of audio. The destruction of barrels, crates, pots, chest, and the like sounds excellent, and combat is accompanied by the viscerally satisfying sounds of clanging weapons, pierced flesh, and a variety of death throes. The attention to detail is obvious, and is even evident in the distinctive sounds of the Overlord's footsteps over different types of terrain.

I don't know if I've done my best to properly explain just how enjoyable Overlord is. A great sense of accomplishment accompanies the completion of quests, discovery of objects, and reconstruction of the castle, and commanding an army of wild and wicked imps who obliterate everything in their path never gets old. I may be sadistic, but this game and all its mischief slapped a smile on my face for most of the 30+ hours it spun inside my Xbox 360. The graphics and sound are very pleasing, and the game offers great value for the money. Multiple play-throughs may be in order.