Whimsical fun
Sounds intriguing, no? Actually it's pretty fun but it will require patience.
As an evil genius you are above the mundane tasks of doing things like, you know, actual work! Instead you will issue commands and your peons.........er minions will carry them out.
Now this is pretty straightforward except for the fact that there will be numerous ways in which a peon......er minion can get sidetracked. If you don't give them enough of the right surroundings they do things like fall into a stupor or even defect. (the nerve)
Intelligence is not one of their strong points, granted, so it falls on you oh glorious evil one to build (or rather command your henchmen to build) a suitable base with which to keep them loyal, entertained, healthy, educated, etc.
Base building is fun and you can get pretty creative with ways to keep the enemy at bay, like building numerous traps or diversions
with which to keeping the snooping agents away from your evil self or your loot.
You progress through the game by building basic evil lairs. You then send your minions around the globe to do dastardly deeds which in turn earns you notoriety, which eventually grants you bonus items for your base, new henchmen etc. You also gather some interesting artifacts. Some are simply bling for your base to showcase your narcissism and vanity.
Others actually have interesting "research" value for your scientists to evaluate, then reinvent into useful new items for your base.
It comes with a price though. The more infamous you become the more heat you draw upon yourself which will trigger tougher investigators, burglers, soldiers, even super agents to come visit your island, looking to find evidence, steal back items you have stolen, or simply to cause havoc.
They like nothing more than to shoot at your base or henchmen, blow things up, or just gather evidence against you so that they can keep sending tougher units to end your evil plans.
The animations are crude by today's standards but then that was never this game's strength to begin with. It is a tycoon/strategy game that requires careful planning and patience.
All in all i still find this game fun and amusing and i really hope they make a sequel and upgrade its weak points while keeping the whimsical charm intact.
If nothing else i still play this as a time waster while waiting for that next game coming down the pike.