Overlord II

Overlord II is set in an era of New Order, when minion's and magical creatures are hunted to the ends of the earth. The minion's decide to make a stand and their overlord assists in doing this with the aim of laying to waste a decadent empire.

If you've played the first Overlord, you would have realised that the above-mentioned jist of Overlord is the same as the first Overlord game as you also play as an Overlord seeing over your minions and wreaking havoc amongst an empire that is dead-set against ridding the world of minions.

However, the last Overlord met a rather un-lordly demise and this new one, who looks and acts pretty much exactly like the last one, is groomed to take up where he left off.

 And like the first Overlord, your minions are key to your success because they do all your dirty work. You start off with just a few of them, and, then, eventually, you have a lot more as you progress throught the game.There are a number of actions you can get your minions to perform by doing something as simple as pushing the directional button on your joystick to send them into the direction you want them to go.

Your minions might even get lost in the process, but they will return. When they do return, you'll notice that they're divided into different categories. The browns are melee fighters whose policy it is to bash the opponent first and then jump up and down on the carcass later. The red minions are the fiery ones, and they're useful if you want
something burnt.

The green minions make themselves invisible to others by cloaking themselves whilst the blue minions can swim and resurrect (but they're not as durable as the other minions and they only do bashing as a last resort).

You can then control your minions in a number of ways. You can sweep your minions by pushing them forward and in any direction you like, and you can also call back your minions and target lock as well, which means that you can target a specific enemy and take them down individually. You can also plant a guard marker, which involves holding certain positions that, supposedly, greatly increases your tactical options.

The minions, though, can also pick up objects in their immediate environment and use them as weapons and they can even move obstructions, pick up dangerous items.

Taking all of this into consideration, this game, like the previous Overlord, has very little in the way of strategic gameplay (all you ever have to do is send your minions off to do the dirty work for you).

There's very little strategy involved in Overlord II, and by the time you've acquired all your minions, the game is just about over.

Codemasters, the developers of Overlord II, have tried to add some variety with the game by introducing a destruction versus domination choice, upon which your relevant choice affects the outcome of the game.

Another disappointing aspect to this game is that the graphics aren't terrific and there are a number of bugs in the game. One of the bugs involves your minions sometimes running around in circles instead of attacking an enemy.This game also has multiplayer features that unfortunately do not stack up to make the game more interesting.

In closing, Overlorrd II really dissapointed this reviewer, who was hoping for a more substansive sequel that would not be the same as the original game.

Best bit: Rushing your minions off to attack a group of annoying kids.