Overlord

Note to everyone; read my update to the right of this. There -------->



Reviewers have called Overlord the sleeper hit of 2007, sadly overlooked by gamers of every kind. I have heard rave reviews on the title, generally placing it on the top of the scale compared to many other choice games. I have also thoroughly enjoyed this game, plugging away many hours listening to hilarious dialog, while destroying and ruling everything in my path.

I was, however, mildly suspicious to begin with – if every reviewer gave it thumbs up, why did it disappear out of the mainstream so quickly with an insulting price drop? So, having the personal flaw of curiosity, I ventured out and picked up this game...almost 6 months ago. I played it briefly, then it sat on my shelf. Now, I share my thoughts, and the one major detail that really made me put it down.

Overview.

You are the "Overlord," kicking ass in some snazzy armor, commanding entertaining, color-coded minions. You travel around generic-fantasy-land, defeating bosses that represent the seven deadly sins in order to rebuild your tower, and establish some sort of reputation.


These gremlin clones have a snarky attitude, and a taste for destruction...and beer.

Your minions are your power, and you'll find colored "souls" out of the creatures or players you kill. Souls represent how many minions of whatever color you have available to summon. Minions will attack whoever you tell them to, move objects, fetch items, and progress you through the game based on their color-skill.

Interaction with NPC's is minimal, primarily passing commentary a-la-Fable, and verbal requests to find, fix, or destroy things. You're given moral-alignment options in each quest, though they're not always made crystal clear - once you accidentally sic minions on a towns person because you wanted to talk to them, you'll understand.

My Experience.

Upon first picking up the controller for this game, I thought: "This is GREAT! How could anyone have missed this?" I explored quite a bit, I kicked some minions around, tormented some villagers, and massacred some sheep – what's not to love? Then, I spent about 3 hours wandering around in a relatively small fort, looking for the red colored minions, which should not have taken nearly that long.

Generally with action-adventure-esque games, you a expect a few standard flaws; camera angles, depth perception, and abnormal controls. Overall, these particular flaws are very minimal in overlord. The thing that hits you right between the eyes is very simple, very important, but I didn't worry about until I walked in circles approximately one-hundred-forty-seven times.

There is no map. There is nothing resembling a map, or nav point, or compass, or any general directional help as to where you are maybe, kind of, supposed to be headed. There is a journal that tells you what you've already done, which I found by accident and didn't care about. There are warp points, most of which only exist while you're doing a specific mission – accidentally tag a new warp point, and there's a chance your key warp disappears.



I'd have taken this. Set this on fire, and I'd still have taken this, over nothing.

It doesn't sound like much, but trust me, it's a bitch. A few places will have changing terrain, which makes it easier to tell which direction you are supposed to be going – and then, you have places like the Dwarven mines, or Elven forest, or human town/fields, where everything looks exactly the same around every corner.

The Rest of it.

A few of the features seem somewhat useless, unless you're so lost you'd rather shave a cat than continue playing. For instance, you can sacrifice minions to build new armor in your forge – which doesn't sound that bad, except acquiring enough minion souls to make it worth while takes a lot of patience, and doesn't seem to effect the armor all that much.

You can also spend a bit of time decorating your tower, where your mistress will make commentary based on what you buy. There are a few design choices in things like tapestries, but basically everything is just on an advancement system. After one boss, a certain statue will be available. Defeat another boss and come back, you can buy an upgrade for that same statue.



Or, you can change mistresses, and take a good or evil approach to decoration. Yes, I am indeed female.

I've only ever heard one other major complaint from the general populace, and that was the hands-off approach. The Overlord will sit back and let the minions do all the work. I personally didn't mind, it was nice to take a break after things like Devil May Cry 4, and you still get plenty of spells to try on enemies and minions alike.

This game has been picked up again, and thoroughly enjoyed despite the serious map issue. At the greatly reduced price of this game, it is definitely a good experience – just know what you're in for. It really is a shame such a game was left feeling somewhat unfinished, but then, what isn't anymore?

Now, imagine me, only commanding all the dogs of the world to do my bidding.