Overlord II, sequel to the critically acclaimed cult hit, sees the return of the chaotic Minions and their new Dark Master. Bigger, badder and more beautifully destructive, Overlord 2 has a Glorious Empire to smash, a massive Netherworld to revive, Minion mounts to mobilize, a trio of mistresses to woo, War Machines to crush opposition and lots of cute creatures to, err... murder (and a mini-map)
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The sequel to the wonderfully evil Overlord, this game is largely more of the same, with some fun new stuff tacked on. I beat the original Overlord aaaages ago (albeit not the expansion), and had a blast with it, but the thing that got me into the series was watching an LP of 2. Thus, I waited and waited until I largely forgot the details of 2, and now I finally got to playing through it myself.
You are the Overlord! The old Overlord (the anti-hero of the first game) went missing some time ago, and the land has gained peace and prosperity under the rule of The Empire (who are basically just the Romans in all but name and ruler). It's up to the Overlord to restore the balance of chaos and order to the land, with the help of your trusty army of Minions!
Gameplay-wise, it's very similar to the first game. It's basically evil-Pikmin, where you play as the Overlord, commanding your army of Minions to help you dominate the land. Just like in Pikmin, you have several types of minions who specialize in different types of jobs (and can resist different elements). However, unlike in Pikmin, there is a much larger emphasis on combat, micromanaging a smaller military force (15 to 50-ish), and how each different minion type contributes to combat.
-First you have Browns, who are your tanky/basher minions. They're your front line troops.
-Second you have Reds, who have a ranged fire attack. They're more like archers, and are best put near the back like archers.
-Third are Greens, who are your rogues with a very powerful backstab ability. They can be very effective if used well, but it's often difficult to use them without getting them squashed. I mostly never used them, as the Overlord himself is such a competent unit, just wailing away with his melee is just as good (usually) a use of your time as micromanaging Greens behind enemy lines to get good backstabs.
-Last you have Blues, who are your healers. They can bring dead minions back to life! They're best put between your Browns and Reds, or on top of the Reds.
Approaching each encounter smartly and with the right unit composition can be the difference between victory, or getting your entire army wiped. Especially as your Minions are each individually special, and will acquire better equipment (which they pick up from killed enemies or smashed crates) and more levels the more they fight, so there's an incentive to keep them alive. However, you don't really HAVE to, it'll likely just give you an easier time.
There aren't as many diverse or memorable bosses as the first game, but the overall combat and encounters are still quite tough. The organized battalions of Empire troops can be really tough to get through at times, especially once you start encountering the elite troops. The main addition to this game are the mounts you can get for your minions, as well as spells that your Overlord can cast (I don't recall the first game having those, or if it did, it didn't have these ones). The mounts vary up combat a little by making your minions get slightly tougher or a new ability, but they're so pick-and-choose when the game decides to give them to you that it doesn't change the game that drastically. The spells though, especially the Dark Presence Spell, which allows you to make civilians your loyal slaves OR you can use it to just inflict damage on enemies, really vary up combat, and the mana you have really gives you a new resource that can be the deciding factor in a lot of harder combat (especially the shockwave. Dat be so good).
You find a bunch of gold and a couple other resources on your travels. These can be used to purchase upgrades to your minions' base stats, or can also be combined with Minions souls in your forge to make new weapons and armor for your Overlord. These are pretty cool (and those Minion buffs make a HUGE difference pretty damn quick in how long they stay alive and how much damage they do), but I just wish it gave you actual numerical stats on how good weapons and armor were. There are enough weapons that just give basically no description on how they're actually better, that you sorta just gotta assume that because you unlocked it later and/or it costs so much more of X-resources that it must be better somehow.
The story is largely very silly, with your right-hand Minion Gnarl always keeping you informed of your objectives through his silly commentary magically transmitted to your helmet. You recapture the minion clans, take mistrisses, and conquer towns, all in the name of evil (and yourself, of course). A lot of dry, fairly dark humor. It's not for everyone, but there were a good handfull lines that really gave me a good belly-laugh.
The game has fairly good music as well. I really like the final combat music, as well as the main intro. Very sweeping, and delightfully evil orchestra scores. The framerate leaves a LOT to be desired though (I have also tested it, and it runs just as bad on 360). If you're fighting a ton of enemies at once, or more likely if you're breaking a ton of stuff all at the same time, the framerate starts hopping all over the place. This is a very noticeable problem in cutscenes, as it seems not one in the whole game is free from it, making any lip-syncing of the voices that might be there virtually undetectable. However, I will say that the framerate virtually never impacted my ability to actually play the game.
Verdict: Recommended. It's a fun, silly strategy action game. Not quite as good as the first in many respects, but not bad by any respect. If you want more controller-centric RTS action and you're all Pikmin'd out, then Overlord is a great thing to give you more minions to command and objectives to achieve! FOR THE OVERLORD!
(Just a little sad to see in the credits this game came out in 2009! It's been almost 10 years since we got a proper Overlord game ;w; )
You are the Overlord! The old Overlord (the anti-hero of the first game) went missing some time ago, and the land has gained peace and prosperity under the rule of The Empire (who are basically just the Romans in all but name and ruler). It's up to the Overlord to restore the balance of chaos and order to the land, with the help of your trusty army of Minions!
Gameplay-wise, it's very similar to the first game. It's basically evil-Pikmin, where you play as the Overlord, commanding your army of Minions to help you dominate the land. Just like in Pikmin, you have several types of minions who specialize in different types of jobs (and can resist different elements). However, unlike in Pikmin, there is a much larger emphasis on combat, micromanaging a smaller military force (15 to 50-ish), and how each different minion type contributes to combat.
-First you have Browns, who are your tanky/basher minions. They're your front line troops.
-Second you have Reds, who have a ranged fire attack. They're more like archers, and are best put near the back like archers.
-Third are Greens, who are your rogues with a very powerful backstab ability. They can be very effective if used well, but it's often difficult to use them without getting them squashed. I mostly never used them, as the Overlord himself is such a competent unit, just wailing away with his melee is just as good (usually) a use of your time as micromanaging Greens behind enemy lines to get good backstabs.
-Last you have Blues, who are your healers. They can bring dead minions back to life! They're best put between your Browns and Reds, or on top of the Reds.
Approaching each encounter smartly and with the right unit composition can be the difference between victory, or getting your entire army wiped. Especially as your Minions are each individually special, and will acquire better equipment (which they pick up from killed enemies or smashed crates) and more levels the more they fight, so there's an incentive to keep them alive. However, you don't really HAVE to, it'll likely just give you an easier time.
There aren't as many diverse or memorable bosses as the first game, but the overall combat and encounters are still quite tough. The organized battalions of Empire troops can be really tough to get through at times, especially once you start encountering the elite troops. The main addition to this game are the mounts you can get for your minions, as well as spells that your Overlord can cast (I don't recall the first game having those, or if it did, it didn't have these ones). The mounts vary up combat a little by making your minions get slightly tougher or a new ability, but they're so pick-and-choose when the game decides to give them to you that it doesn't change the game that drastically. The spells though, especially the Dark Presence Spell, which allows you to make civilians your loyal slaves OR you can use it to just inflict damage on enemies, really vary up combat, and the mana you have really gives you a new resource that can be the deciding factor in a lot of harder combat (especially the shockwave. Dat be so good).
You find a bunch of gold and a couple other resources on your travels. These can be used to purchase upgrades to your minions' base stats, or can also be combined with Minions souls in your forge to make new weapons and armor for your Overlord. These are pretty cool (and those Minion buffs make a HUGE difference pretty damn quick in how long they stay alive and how much damage they do), but I just wish it gave you actual numerical stats on how good weapons and armor were. There are enough weapons that just give basically no description on how they're actually better, that you sorta just gotta assume that because you unlocked it later and/or it costs so much more of X-resources that it must be better somehow.
The story is largely very silly, with your right-hand Minion Gnarl always keeping you informed of your objectives through his silly commentary magically transmitted to your helmet. You recapture the minion clans, take mistrisses, and conquer towns, all in the name of evil (and yourself, of course). A lot of dry, fairly dark humor. It's not for everyone, but there were a good handfull lines that really gave me a good belly-laugh.
The game has fairly good music as well. I really like the final combat music, as well as the main intro. Very sweeping, and delightfully evil orchestra scores. The framerate leaves a LOT to be desired though (I have also tested it, and it runs just as bad on 360). If you're fighting a ton of enemies at once, or more likely if you're breaking a ton of stuff all at the same time, the framerate starts hopping all over the place. This is a very noticeable problem in cutscenes, as it seems not one in the whole game is free from it, making any lip-syncing of the voices that might be there virtually undetectable. However, I will say that the framerate virtually never impacted my ability to actually play the game.
Verdict: Recommended. It's a fun, silly strategy action game. Not quite as good as the first in many respects, but not bad by any respect. If you want more controller-centric RTS action and you're all Pikmin'd out, then Overlord is a great thing to give you more minions to command and objectives to achieve! FOR THE OVERLORD!
(Just a little sad to see in the credits this game came out in 2009! It's been almost 10 years since we got a proper Overlord game ;w; )
My favourite of the Overlord games, a sequel that surpasses the original in pretty much every way. If you could only play one Overlord game this is the one to play.
My only gripe is the obvious padding in the alignment system, in order to get the domination or destruction endings they require you to either subjugate or kill 100 villagers in the two towns, which requires a lengthy process that made me just go with the neutral ending.
My only gripe is the obvious padding in the alignment system, in order to get the domination or destruction endings they require you to either subjugate or kill 100 villagers in the two towns, which requires a lengthy process that made me just go with the neutral ending.
Overlord 2 improves the formula dramatically from the first game. The devs definitely learned from the previous game and fixed what was wrong with it. Only take away they did was removing stats to items and upgrades. How much more bigger number is this armor/weapon compared to my previous one? Minion/spell upgrade? How it upgrade??? Who knows! Its just better!!! Another complaint is that the games difficulty is ramped up at the end and took me by surprise, but I handled myself after losing hordes of minions. This game is still really fun and I love the puzzles and the interactions/dialogue in this game. A lot more heart and soul was pumped into it and I appreciate it.
This review contains spoilers
Just when I thought the game could not get any better.
Overlord II is perfection. I really loved the first game, its expansion and everything about it and thought that it could not get any better than that. Boy, was I wrong when Overlord II hit the shelf. This is one of the few games in which I actually played a demo to experience the game and simply could not wait until it was released.
Overlord II starts with a fresh story. The previous Overlord has become the master of hell in the expansion of the first game, Overlord: Raising Hell, and so, he releases his command of the Minions and his tower, and a new Overlord needed to be found. Gnarl, the old and wise Minion that served many generations of Overlords, eventually finds a small boy in a snow-covered village, deep in the mountains. This boy is destined to become the next Overlord. You start off as the kid that Gnarl found, trying to take revenge on the kids that bully you. Eventually, the Minions come to your aid, and you rush trough the town, spreading chaos among the townsfolk.
Eventually, the Roman army is coming to the town because their sentinels detected magical beings in the area (you). You get thrown out of the town, before the feet of the Centurion and thus, are betrayed and banished from your hometown. You escape from the Romans in an epic opening chase and take refuge in your underground Overlord lair. Here, you grow up to become the badass adult Overlord we know and love, and now, it is time for revenge on your hometown and the surrounding lands. You must establish dominance once again over the different parts of the world and in the end, wreck the Roman Empire and their legions. An epic quest begins trough many different environments, characters and events, starting with the massacre on the peasants that threw you out many years ago.
The game follows the same principle, mechanics and power up system as the first game. You command your legion of Minions, which consists of the brown warriors, the red archers, the green assassins and the blue healers. Like the first game, you first must find the other types of Minions and secure their hives in your base. You collect life force from killing enemies and animals, which can be used to create more Minions from the pits. Minions can also ride various pets now that they can find, including wolves, spiders and fire salamanders. In Overlord II, your decisions again determine the outcome of the game. You make various choices throughout the game, suppress rebellions and can choose what the fate of the rebels will be. Forgiveness or eternal damnation, the choice is yours.
You find multiple health, mana and horde size upgrades throughout your adventure, making you stronger and tougher. Throughout the lands, you find gold and chests of valuables to fund the many upgrades you can buy for yourself and your Minions. You also find crystals and dark crystals throughout the lands, which are needed for the best upgrades available.
Although you could use magic in the first Overlord games as well, mostly in the form of fireballs and lightning bolts, now you have the ability to enslave people or simply kill them with your mind controlling lightening spell. It is a cool new mechanic in which you can create an army of mindless slaves, besides your regular army of Minions. You also get some mistresses that you find in the various regions who all offer your Minions a nice bonus when they are your main lady.
The graphics are nice to look at but have a flaw that broken objects and building slowly disappear in pixels before your eyes. This feels a little like the objects are not solid and real. It is a little hard to explain. Other than that, the animations are improved and run a little smoother than its predecessor.
Music and sound wise, big improvements have been made. Blows, crashes, and explosions sound much more solid now and the added battle tracks are sweet. They enhance the feeling, especially when you lay siege against the pesky villages.
There are a lot of new environments, puzzles, and enemies. Mostly, you fight wildlife, elves, and the Roman Empire. Although not many enemies have a specific strategy to beat and can be taken down in each manner you like, there is one specific enemy that I really, really disliked and I thought was way too overpowered: The Eradicator. This is a big roman brute with a vacuum cleaner that destroys every Minion instantly when attacking. You hear suck suck suck and everything is dead. I hated this motherf… so badly. The way to deal with him is by using the green assassin Minions and stab him a million times in the back. Otherwise, he is almost invincible. The sudden spike in difficulty with this guy was a little frustrating to say the least.
The good news, and one of the best improvements this game has to offer, is the resurrection system in the game. You can now resurrect your favorite, level 14 brown Minion, who had the finest weapons and armor, was though as bricks but just got casually murdered by an Eradicator. You need to pay life force to resurrect them but offering ten life force of inexperienced Minions for one machine of death was worth it without a doubt. It is a welcome feature.
The humor in Overlord II is even better than the first games. The vile jokes, the sarcasm, the cut scenes, the many more silly things that Minions put on their heads, it is hilarious.
I also loved the trip back to the old tower of the previous Overlord and collect all the parts of the tower heart, the most powerful object in the game back then.
In conclusion, this is one of the better games that I have played in my life, and I loved every second of it.
Definitely recommend this masterpiece to everyone.
Overlord II is perfection. I really loved the first game, its expansion and everything about it and thought that it could not get any better than that. Boy, was I wrong when Overlord II hit the shelf. This is one of the few games in which I actually played a demo to experience the game and simply could not wait until it was released.
Overlord II starts with a fresh story. The previous Overlord has become the master of hell in the expansion of the first game, Overlord: Raising Hell, and so, he releases his command of the Minions and his tower, and a new Overlord needed to be found. Gnarl, the old and wise Minion that served many generations of Overlords, eventually finds a small boy in a snow-covered village, deep in the mountains. This boy is destined to become the next Overlord. You start off as the kid that Gnarl found, trying to take revenge on the kids that bully you. Eventually, the Minions come to your aid, and you rush trough the town, spreading chaos among the townsfolk.
Eventually, the Roman army is coming to the town because their sentinels detected magical beings in the area (you). You get thrown out of the town, before the feet of the Centurion and thus, are betrayed and banished from your hometown. You escape from the Romans in an epic opening chase and take refuge in your underground Overlord lair. Here, you grow up to become the badass adult Overlord we know and love, and now, it is time for revenge on your hometown and the surrounding lands. You must establish dominance once again over the different parts of the world and in the end, wreck the Roman Empire and their legions. An epic quest begins trough many different environments, characters and events, starting with the massacre on the peasants that threw you out many years ago.
The game follows the same principle, mechanics and power up system as the first game. You command your legion of Minions, which consists of the brown warriors, the red archers, the green assassins and the blue healers. Like the first game, you first must find the other types of Minions and secure their hives in your base. You collect life force from killing enemies and animals, which can be used to create more Minions from the pits. Minions can also ride various pets now that they can find, including wolves, spiders and fire salamanders. In Overlord II, your decisions again determine the outcome of the game. You make various choices throughout the game, suppress rebellions and can choose what the fate of the rebels will be. Forgiveness or eternal damnation, the choice is yours.
You find multiple health, mana and horde size upgrades throughout your adventure, making you stronger and tougher. Throughout the lands, you find gold and chests of valuables to fund the many upgrades you can buy for yourself and your Minions. You also find crystals and dark crystals throughout the lands, which are needed for the best upgrades available.
Although you could use magic in the first Overlord games as well, mostly in the form of fireballs and lightning bolts, now you have the ability to enslave people or simply kill them with your mind controlling lightening spell. It is a cool new mechanic in which you can create an army of mindless slaves, besides your regular army of Minions. You also get some mistresses that you find in the various regions who all offer your Minions a nice bonus when they are your main lady.
The graphics are nice to look at but have a flaw that broken objects and building slowly disappear in pixels before your eyes. This feels a little like the objects are not solid and real. It is a little hard to explain. Other than that, the animations are improved and run a little smoother than its predecessor.
Music and sound wise, big improvements have been made. Blows, crashes, and explosions sound much more solid now and the added battle tracks are sweet. They enhance the feeling, especially when you lay siege against the pesky villages.
There are a lot of new environments, puzzles, and enemies. Mostly, you fight wildlife, elves, and the Roman Empire. Although not many enemies have a specific strategy to beat and can be taken down in each manner you like, there is one specific enemy that I really, really disliked and I thought was way too overpowered: The Eradicator. This is a big roman brute with a vacuum cleaner that destroys every Minion instantly when attacking. You hear suck suck suck and everything is dead. I hated this motherf… so badly. The way to deal with him is by using the green assassin Minions and stab him a million times in the back. Otherwise, he is almost invincible. The sudden spike in difficulty with this guy was a little frustrating to say the least.
The good news, and one of the best improvements this game has to offer, is the resurrection system in the game. You can now resurrect your favorite, level 14 brown Minion, who had the finest weapons and armor, was though as bricks but just got casually murdered by an Eradicator. You need to pay life force to resurrect them but offering ten life force of inexperienced Minions for one machine of death was worth it without a doubt. It is a welcome feature.
The humor in Overlord II is even better than the first games. The vile jokes, the sarcasm, the cut scenes, the many more silly things that Minions put on their heads, it is hilarious.
I also loved the trip back to the old tower of the previous Overlord and collect all the parts of the tower heart, the most powerful object in the game back then.
In conclusion, this is one of the better games that I have played in my life, and I loved every second of it.
Definitely recommend this masterpiece to everyone.
Come little seal! I swear I won't use my 3 meter axe to rip your skin off!
god of war