Gameplay impressions
What do we like?There's something intensely satisfying about commanding your Minion hordes to kill, maim and destroy everything in your path. They animate extremely well, entertainigly so, as they pull huge Yeti's apart and ransack buildings furiously. Indeed, the quirky voice work and actions of the Minions can be very funny. Seeing them smash up a bar, drink the ale and then urinate over everything in sight is just one of the humourous highlights.
The Minions also control and react to your commands very well. Though there are numerous commands to issue and think about, which gives the gameplay a good degree of depth, the control scheme has been mapped well to the controller, allowing you to easily sweep the Minions and send them scuttling off to the exact spot that you wanted them to go, or to switch classes intuitively. Impressively, the Minions will do exactly what you require of them and there are none of the path-finding issues which occurred in the previous game.
The gameplay is enjoyably challenging and the puzzles that you have to solve, by sending Minions in different directions in order to get to the next area - normally by destroying something - have been well thought out. There's plenty of incentive for exploring as well and doing so is a welcome deviation from attacking monsters and causing carnage. The lure of finding treasure to improve your wealth, or gathering life-force to improve your Minions combat skills, is part of that appeal. Then spending that well-earned money by pimping up your Fortress and seeing your wealth accumulate is a satisfying reward for your efforts.
The addition of mounts adds a further tactical layer to the gameplay, for example, Wolves can leap over gaps and Spiders can climb walls. There's a lot of variety to the gameplay and therefore vast replay value, compounded further by the huge range of customization options at your fingertips. Furthermore, if you enjoyed the single player gameplay then you're also certain to have fun online where there are some enjoyable co-op and versus modes.
What don't we like?
Though the script is very funny and the storyline an enjoyable one, there was one particular moment that left a bad taste in our mouth. Clubbing, what appear to be, baby seals to death isn't exactly our idea of amusement. However, despite there being are a few other less grotesque examples that push the boundaries between humour and bad taste, then it shouldn't be an issue as long as you're prepared for that and realize that Overlord II isn't for kiddies. We didn't agree with having to club baby seals, but we haven't lost sleep over it.
The gameplay can be frustrating on occasions due to a fidgety lock-on targeting function that occasionally has a mind of its own and a camera that often pans to a uncomfortable angle at the most inappropriate of moments. We also think that better use could have been made out of the four Minion classes. Though there's plenty of variety in switching back and forth, you're introduced to the four classes rather slowly and don't meet the final class until the near the end of the game. Sure, you can then go back and re-visit conquered areas with these Minions, but it would have been nice to have had all Minion classes available much sooner. Rarely do you have a situation where you have to think hard about which class to use. The game pretty much tells you what you have to do. You still have to put that into practice, which is where the challenge lies, but it would have benefited from making you have to think much harder to conquer areas.
The map design is also fairly chaotic, which can lead to frustration as you go back and forth re-visiting areas in order to work out where you need to go. The game is actually very linear and there's usually only one way to progress, but finding this way is often tougher than it should be. It doesn't help that we spent some of our experience playing Overlord II squinting at the screen. The visuals are an acquired taste. The graphics in Overlord II don't look a million miles from the visuals you'd see in a Crash Bandicoot game, with a cartoon style and garish bright colours. It certainly doesn't come anywhere near pushing the graphical capabilities of the PS3 - it's looks more like a high-end PS2 game.
Final Thoughts
While Overlord II builds only slightly on the previous game in terms of gameplay, the storyline and some of the new features make it worth looking at if you enjoyed the first. Though problems that were evident in the first game surface once again, we've still enjoyed our time in control of the Overlord. The real stars of the game, however, are the Minions - and providing you can cope with some frustrating moments - you'll have a good time causing absolute carnage across the Netherworld and enjoy a few laughs along the way.
Final Score: 7.5/10
