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It's kind of like an evil version of PikminAt times it can be a little tricky and tiresome to go from area to area trying to rebuild your resources before attempting a tricky section again. It doesn't help that you'll regularly send a group of minions to their death by accidentally walking them into water, fire or gas, and they do a good job of ending their own lives if you're not careful - slight improvements to the game's camera in this PS3 version do help alleviate this problem somewhat and the path-finding and self preservation of your minions also seems like it's been re-worked for the better.
The quests you take on throughout the game are all good fun and take you to various locations in the beautifully realised fantasy world, but I never really felt that I was being truly evil. In fact, I was helping people for most of the game. Sure, looting settlements and killing sheep is pretty evil, but it's hardly truly villainous is it? You are given choices at various points over whether to kill or save innocents, but even these moments don't seem overly cruel and they're too few and far between.
AdvertisementWhile the game's superb comedy feel makes the experience great fun, any evilness is all but lost, which is a shame as a touch more comedy cruelty would have been brilliant. Small details like the constantly in-repair Evil Tower that you can walk around and decorate are nice, but the world doesn't quite work as well as I'd have liked. While the overlord doesn't speak you'd imagine him to have a rather out of place high pitched voice, with a fat cat purring on his lap. Thankfully the aimless wandering that hurt the Xbox 360 and PC games is no more due to the inclusion of a handy mini-map. It even helps you identify which areas of the map you're yet to explore, although the lack of a larger map is still disappointing.
The single-player campaign will last a good while, bolstered by the included expansion pack which wasn't in the original Xbox 360 release. These extra levels benefit from some improved design and are among the best in the game. Once you're done there's multiplayer to experiment with too. The versus and cooperative modes on offer feel slightly tacked on, but they'll offer some simple fun if you've enjoyed the main campaign. Versus mode sees you competing with another Overlord to see who can kill the most enemies or amass the most treasure, while co-op sees you team up with a friend to take on AI enemies.
Visually the fairy tale setting works very wellAlthough Overlord doesn't share the "WOW" factor of certain next-gen offerings, it's a fine looking game with superb audio work to boot. The numerous environments are all beautifully created and full of fantasy creatures. The colour scheme is without doubt the biggest asset here, with the game having the look of a child's fantasy story book. Voice work is almost all excellent, with plenty of humour and solid scripting, with the minions stealing the show with their numerous funny items and continuous quips.
Overlord is an entertaining game that should keep you smiling for its duration, but a distinct lack of evil keeps it from being a truly great next-gen adventure. If you're yet to sample Overlord's comedic charm then this PS3 version is definitely the one to go for but, as much as I enjoyed slaughtering fluffy sheep, this improved Overlord is still no more evil than my old headmaster.
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