Platform: Xbox360

Developer: Triumph Studios

Publisher: Codemasters

Release Date (NA): June 23, 2009

Genre: Action / Adventure

ESRB Rating: Teen

Nerd Rating: 7 out of 10

Reviewed by: Variand

What if I told you there is a game where you get to play a man whose goals are the pursuit of evil and fight other evils with the help of his trusted horde of goofy minions? No, I’m not talking about a Despicable Me game. I’m talking about Overlord II! At least I didn’t describe it as evil Pikmin this time – It still totally is!

What makes a man turn to evil?

I thought bullied kids were supposed to be passive aggressive white collar bosses, not world dominating psychos

Are people born evil or made that way through circumstance? In Overlord II we get a chance to find out. And much the way that no one expected Darth Vader’s origins to be a whiny brat that gets triggered by sand, I did not quite expect the key to evil to be either genetics or result of child bullying. You play the son of the previous game’s Overlord who has been bullied and shunned into evil.

The story as a whole really isn’t all that amazing, but it’s still well written and executed. More of a conduit to keep your Overlord finding new people to dominate or destroy, I never found myself upset with the story, just never ever enthralled by it. But it is pleasing to see the story is still cohesive with the previous game – Somewhat.

The game chose the Rose as the cannon mistress for the events in Overlord II – which is disappointing because the 100% corruption playthrough with Velvet as mistress is the best way to play the game. Change my mind.

Puns are not the only form of Evil Comedy

How do we make an Overlord more evil than one that murders sheep for life force? CLUB BABY SEALS!

Overlord II ramps up the attempts at humor from the previous Overlord. Minions mumbling a Whistle-While-You-Work knockoff at one point, being so evil as clubbing baby seals, stepping on 5-inch tall gnomes (not including the overcompensating hats), the game has gone from showing the grotesque evil in cartoony fashion, to just being a cartoon. The humor lies somewhere around a kid-safe 14 year old level – that is to say, pervy and crass but not at all nuanced.

Sometimes I think Minions are essentially 13 year old boys just hitting puberty.

And I’m okay with that. The first game was aimed at teen demographic, so I expected this one to be as well. And it’s not to say that the previous Overlord did not have its own share of cartoonish comedy. In Overlord II, expect it to be a lot more prevalent. My only problem with it is that it somewhat removes the strong narrative that was the original Overlord. Elves were High-brow whiners in Overlord, now they are snowflake tree-huggers caricatures.

Still Evil Pikmin

Catapults and other types of periodic gameplay help break up the monotony of previous game

The gameplay around minions is greatly expanded, but still handles very well. The original structure has not changed, the minion skills and progression remain the same, and everything that you could do in the last game you can do in Overlord II – and now more. Your browns, reds, and greens now can have mounts that give them some extra abilities. Blues now have a “blink” ability that makes them invisible to enemies when manually directing them making it easier to sneak past/through enemies or to grab fallen minions. The changes are small, but hugely impactful.

The challenges presented to the player have been expanded as well. As I claimed in my Overlord review, the game usually boiled down to attack/withdraw/dodge mechanics, Overlord II offers significantly more options when playing, and Blues are actually useful now! In fact, you’ll definitely want to use some alternatives where possible as in many cases ordering the horde to a frontal assault will net heavy loses. Sometimes it has great effects to sweep an invisible blue behind enemy phalanx to set off a bomb up their butt. Most of the larger boss battles cannot even be won with straight attacks – at least as first. I would even hazard to say that the challenges were setup with a puzzle type mindset.

You’ll have a couple points where you can even take possess a minion and play from their perspective!

All characters have become obnoxious caricatures. Elves are now whiny snowflakes that want to save all animals and make out with trees

My only complaint is that the minions AI may have suffered a slight bit from the first game. In Overlord the little gremlins were chomping at the bit to grab new gear, pickup gold and items, and harvest the life force from anything that breaths. In Overlord II they have gotten ADHD. I could send out minions with a hall of treasure piles and gear all over the ground and they would run up 10 feet stop, and return because another minion picked up the bag they were going to grab. Go find another one ya derp! It’s a minor gripe but I’m the Overlord, damnit! You should be trying to please me! NOW GRAB THAT DAMNED TREASURE BAG!

Could still be worse (meaning better)

Overlord II is a massive expansion on all things overlord, but similar to its predecessor there may still have been some areas that were a bit lacking. The story is still very linear, but with enough side missions to allow you to stray from the course for a bit.

The overall narrative suffers from a lack of believable motivations, and characters that as supposed to be engaging are anything but. The final conflict motivations have no narrative support. Hell, the only reason I can guess the Overlord is doing all this is because he was bullied and wanted revenge on the world. In reality everything is really dictated by Gnarl and not so much the Overlord.

Overlord II is still a great game that adds a lot of depth to the original formula, but its tone suffers from the overly cartoony presentation. Still an enjoyable game that leaves me wanting more. The more I played Overlord II I still found myself wondering what it would be like to play an overlord game with a more mature theme? I’m hoping I get to play that game.