Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

I played first Overlord... somewhat, it was way too frustrating and boring to actually want to finish. Second Overlord is a pretty standard sequel and a worthy upgrade, I'm still playing it but I'm pretty sure it won't offer anything I haven't seen already. Problem is it still doesn't feel much different from first game. I'm stomaching some of the same issues I did with first game and it leaves me wondering why they couldn't address them with this sequel? Assuming problems make it to a a games release in the first place, they really shouldn't be in a sequel...

First game had a laundry list of problems. Minions wouldn't always loot when wanted, game had too many unwanted environmental "require X minion type to process" and was just boring due to the levels that seemed to last forever while killing the exact same enemies again and again and again... Its item buy/upgrade system only added to the tediousness in its failure. The list is never ending. This sequel addressed some of the issues, but not all. Your castle is more interesting and offers more features, while armor no longer has to be upgraded by paying ridiculous costs, enemies are more interesting, but minions still don't want to loot half the time, game play barely changed any, and there still aren't any different minion types or changes to the current existing ones. That's unless you count the rarely used mounts and the fact that you can later revive the ones that are geared up, but since it costs twice the life to revive one, it makes more sense to just gear up a new one.

But the bottom line is that unless you really enjoyed sending in your minions, then just smacking at some crates or something, this sequel won't interest you much. It's still just as repetitive as the first game. You don't even get more minion types.

On the plus side, this Overlord does offer many improvements over the original. The first is so bad I recommend skipping straight to this one if you want to even play an Overlord. It actually has some kind of story with a real enemy and isn't completely broken. Instead of little retarded Halflings and ghosts you now face armored Human soldiers and Elves. In other words, it's much more interesting. Also, there's less environmental blockages that require nothing but a certain minion to access, and it just isn't as tedious or repetitive. But that's not to say it isn't tedious or repetitive, because it is.

Problem is that Overlord 2 failed to address some of the biggest problems first game had. It's still very frustrating to directly control minions around to where you want them to go, and you'll often have to get them to do it 2-5 times just to get them to grab those gold for you. They ignore item picks and gold again and again and again... Apparently they thought players would ignore the issues if they added these new features, mainly the useless mounts and ability to become a minion. But as a minion yourself you have an even harder time fighting since your melee range is so short and you can't attack while moving. It's suppose to be fun but its actually an unwanted hassle. They also changed your first spell from a Fireball to a Frostshock like spell. It's free to cast, but does so little damage you'll never use it. Why can't I just have my Fireball? Especially when you're in a frost environment...

The graphics aren't much of a change, it's basically an environment change, although it offers plenty of new models and enemies. Pretty much the only thing recycled is you and your minions. Since it ran on same console, don't expect an increase in graphics on the computer either.

There isn't much else to say about this Overlord that I wouldn't say about the first, if this seems short its because I expect any readers to already know about the first; I was mainly comparing this one to the first one. Basically you better really be ok with what you are getting into if you plan on playing or owning this. The game is hard to recommend otherwise. If you don't know anything about an Overlord, know that you're much better off skipping straight to this one and not bothering with the even more terrible original.

Single player:
(Experience) C (Needs improvement)
Presentation:
(Video/Audio) B (Acceptable)
Performance: A (Good)