Sign on Options
Theme:
To Dark

Overlord Dark Legend Impressions

Related Platforms:
  • Wii
By Alex Sassoon Coby, GameSpot UK, Posted Mar 23, 2009 7:01 pm GMT

The minions make the journey to the Wii for a new and fiendish escapade.

When Overlord hit the Xbox 360 in 2007, we were charmed by its evil ways, delighting as our little minions ran amok following our evil commands. Now it's finally the Wii's turn, and rather than attempting to port the 2007 original or its upcoming sequel, Codemasters has opted to develop an entirely fresh Overlord for the platform.

Overlord Dark Legend takes place before the events of the original game. The opening tutorial section sees your character, a young prince, don the black armor, pick up the hulking great sword, and acquire his first batch of minions after gleefully smashing some stuff up.

The Overlord cut a slighter figure in his youth... but the minions are just as ugly yet adorable as ever.

The Overlord cut a slighter figure in his youth... but the minions are just as ugly yet adorable as ever.

We got to see the first section of gameplay, where you suit up and meet a chief minion who offers you a basic introduction to minion control and wanton destruction. From there, we managed to make it to a set-piece boss fight, where you have to destroy a pumpkin-firing tank controlled by a halfling. All this with nothing but your sword and a small collection of minions at your command.

While the Wii version looks good, it appears, initially at least, that there are fewer minions on hand to control. For the entirety of the first section, you can have only five at a time under your command. We're assured this increases later on, and the smaller number doesn't adversely affect the gameplay; in fact, having a smaller number of grateful minions proffering treasures as they find them for you is rather endearing.

The Wii control scheme also works fairly well--the nunchuk is used for controlling your movement and basic attacks, while the Wii Remote is used to control your minions, magic, and other abilities. During our time with the demo, we saw a red hive recovered, allowing for the addition of red fire-hurling minions to our pack, and a magical relic that gave the overlord the ability to hurl lightning from his fingertips, as any self-respecting dark lord should be able to do. The D pad on the Wii remote lets you cycle through the minion types, while the A button calls your horde to you, and the B button sends them to engage with either objects or foes.

The range of objects and foes makes this game more strategic, as it's not just about running around smashing things up. One puzzle we saw involved setting up a guard dummy for three red minions to hide behind. Once this is achieved, they can lay down covering fire against some unsuspecting halflings who are on a balcony guarding the controls to a door you need to get through.

Brown minions with their little clubs still form the backbone of your offensive force.

Brown minions with their little clubs still form the backbone of your offensive force.

The single most charming thing we saw in the demo was the way that when you reveal items in the environment--be it from smashing up crates, getting your minions to open chests, or just through slaughter--your little grinning followers quickly pick the loot up and rush over to offer it up to you with undisguised glee and reverence.

So far, Overlord Dark Legend looks like it's going to be a good example of how to take an ambitious franchise and move it onto the Wii. The game was designed from the ground up with the control scheme in mind, but the dark humour and wanton destruction were kept very much intact. Stay tuned to GameSpot as the summer release date approaches!

25 Comments

  • DTH17

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 9:16 am GMT

    Shadow_Hokage
    I read your post and I have to say I completely disagree with you.
    I work at a video game store, I actually get to see the numbers on sales. The Wii and all of Nintendo's other products easily outsell there competitors. We easily sell as much as 2 or 3 times the amount of Wii's as other systems. Although it's true they have disappointed they're older fans. The Wii has attracted a lot of attention from younger audiences and casual gamers. If any system is going to "die out" it's sadly going to be the ps3 their sales have been dropping steadily for the past 2 years.

  • truckr_life

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 8:02 pm GMT

    I see what some people see as wanting a "new" game. While I only have read the last dozen comments. Even though this is developed specifically for the wii and even has its own story.....I too have wanted more of a breath of fresh air with the wii. In not into violent games, because most of them depend on shock value for "fun factor": I want the cages rattled, the floor shaken, and my hear pumping with a new concept, new character, new world, without the wii gimicks, ultraviolent, or extra cutesy feeling. Something challenging, long, that has legendary potential like Mario and Zelda has had. The "Nintendo Revolution" has been great and thourougly enjoyed. I still though, feel a little let down.

  • Shadow_Hokage

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 12:15 pm GMT

    Nomad... you really did not read my posts very well. I actually stated that, and am well aware, but whatever, it doesn't matter.

  • Mr_Pepworth

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 11:59 am GMT

    Can't wait to see what it's like.

  • riou7 Site moderator

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 7:40 am GMT

    cool! have to get this one!

  • Nomad0404

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 5:43 am GMT

    Kavadias - Dead Rising was a port with changes to accomodate the engine they used on the Wii.

    This is a new game set before the original game that came out last year and running on a bespoke written from the ground up engine designed to utilise the Wii-mote and nunchuck setup.

    Please get your facts straight. P.S. I'm 37 been playing games longer than you so that must make me right according to your post.

    Shadow_Hokage

    This is a new game of an existing IP on the Wii that doesn't exist on any other format. Not like Rogue Trooper or Rygar or Dead Rising or COD:W@W.

    It's more like Shaun Whites Road Trip in that respect.

  • Shadow_Hokage

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 7:15 pm GMT

    And the reason you wont get your definition of "new" games, is that the only good parties developing for Wii, are in house Nintendo studios for the MOST part. These studios stick to their tried and true franchises, which is what most nintendo fans want. What they did was alienate competitive third parties with motion control, smaller memory, a weaker graphics card, as well as a slower processor.
    Thus you will not be seeing much innovation by third parties until 2010 at the earliest, and the system is estimated to die in 2011 or 2012. Nintendo has been making gradually worse calls since the FF7 fiasco, which cost them their newly gained monopoly on the gaming market that they had won over Sega and Atari. Now, casuals and hardcore alike feel forgotten and burned by Nintendo, and Sony & Microsoft's hardware sales are gradually rising over Nintendo's, while their software has always topped Nintendo's since they respectively entered the console market. You are expecting the TRUE flop of this generation of consoles to produce greatness. The PS3 was just poorly hyped, and had no parties signed to develop for it at launch. For the record I dont even own a PS3 yet, only a 360, Wii, PSP, and have a DSi fully paid for in advance.
    Also did anyone know you can view and edit the code for these comment boxes by pressing Ctrl+U, the command normally for underline? I just found this out, and am surprised by the sloppiness.

  • Shadow_Hokage

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 7:04 pm GMT

    Kavadias, why must you insult what is appearing to be one of the better Wii games?
    This is NOT a port, while Dead rising is. Dead rising: chop till you drop is the same story and cut down features. This is a prequel, with many new characters, completely different environments, a different overlord, etc. The 360 release, Overlord 2, is a sequel, with the child of the overlord we know from Overlord 1. Overlord Minions is..... Well, not much is known, as it has been near dead on coverage, besides it's gameplay, and the fact it is it's own story, with wifi features.

  • 3rma

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 6:57 pm GMT

    cool Over lord is a pretty fun game but i think I'll just rent this

  • Ovirew

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 3:08 pm GMT

    Besides MadWorld, this is one of the few games that I definately want for the Wii right now.

  • Sithisil

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 2:33 pm GMT

    All things considered, even if it's not an "original" title, the fact that it's being designed specially for the Wii is good; it means that there won't be the feel of being short changed on graphics and the like. I never played the 360 version, but it looked like fun; this game seems like it could be a solid addition to any gamer's collection.

  • tnfaith

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 12:32 pm GMT

    haven't played the 360 version

    but this looks decent

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 10:44 am GMT

    @gonzalezj1 - No, it isn't a new game and I am well aware of what a port is too. I have been playing video games for 22 years after all (I am 27). A new game is something like Boom Blox or Madworld; original and like nothing on the other platforms. Not another attempt to try and sell a game from years ago, albeit with some subtle changes and toned down graphics. Look at Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, not exactly a new game either is it but then again it isn't a port.?

    So what I'm saying is is lets see a little more innovation and originality on a console which was supposed to be steamrolling a whole revolution. That was its codename after all.

  • gonzalezj1

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 6:31 am GMT

    @ kavadias1981
    It IS a new game. It's not a port, it's an entirely new game.
    "...rather than attempting to port the 2007 original or its upcoming sequel, Codemasters has opted to develop an entirely fresh Overlord for the platform." and
    "The game was designed from the ground up with the control scheme in mind..."
    It's just not a new franchise.

  • kavadias1981 posted Mar 24, 2009 3:46 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    kavadias1981

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 3:46 am GMT (hide)

    *sigh* can we get some NEW games on the Wii over here! It was supposed to be a revolutionary console headed in a different direction after all.

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 1:22 am GMT

    Yay!! Lightning!! Though I find it odd that the original Overlord didn't drop this spell for his successor (note: play Overlord 1 to the end to grasp this statement).

    And while I am not averse to the Wii having a game described as an evil version of Pikmin released on its platform, the graphics do look rather dated.

  • chang_1910

    Posted Mar 23, 2009 10:41 pm GMT

  • g1rldraco7

    Posted Mar 23, 2009 6:41 pm GMT

    Looks amazing. glad i preordered this beauty.

  • Aqeous_Snake

    Posted Mar 23, 2009 5:51 pm GMT

    @ thunderhorse55

    It was "D-pad on the Nunchuck". sebFlyte fixed it before u saw it.

  • thunderhorse55

    Posted Mar 23, 2009 5:06 pm GMT

    this looks really cool! I keep my eye on this one

GameSpot on YouTube

Overlord: Dark Legend

Overlord: Dark Legend BoxshotEnlarge the boxshot
Not Following
Follow
Add to List

Follow for the latest news, videos, & tips from experts & insiders

GameSpot Fuse

    Game Stats

    Close
    Overlord: Dark Legend Navigation

    Games You May Like

    Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

    See More Similar Games