I quite liked the first Overlord game. Sure it had a few little problems like the camera control being the same as the control for your minions but nevertheless it was great to look at and fun to play thanks to some silly humour. I was hoping they would iron out some of the problems for this sequel but instead they’ve given us a slightly different game, only with the same problems as before.
You play as a new Overlord in this game, starting off as a child you do a tutorial mission where you learn the basics of magic, minion control and hitting things with your big hammer. You then fall into a lake and freeze, only to be found by the minions and raised to become their new lord.
Once again you control your minions by either locking onto a target and sending them to fight or interact with an object or you can sweep them around in front of you using the right analogue stick. The same problem exists though. You go to sweep them and as they move about, the camera moves with them and causes all sorts of chaos which makes you go cross-eyed at times. It all becomes very messy at times when there’s a lot happening on the screen. And remember you have to control your Overlord at the same time as the minions. Patting your head and rubbing your tummy has never been so crazy.
The gameplay is also a lot faster and action orientated this time around. There’s the occasional puzzle if you can call it that where you have to choose the right kind of minion for the job but most of the time you just plough through your enemies collecting their life force and summoning new minions via some portals around the landscape.
There are some more new things in this sequel. Your minions can now ride wolves and other beasts which gives them new abilities such as jumping over gaps and you can also operate catapults and other machinery at times to access new areas and progress. You can also go back and explore areas to find extra goodies with new found powers but there’s not really much incentive to do so.
And there’s multiplayer there if you really care. I can’t really see the demand for it though. Unfortunately Overlord II isn’t a great action game and that’s really what it’s become. It’s still slightly charming but not as much as the original Overlord. It’s still fun though so it gets a good 6 out of 10.
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Related: Original Overlord, The Lord of the Rings Conquest review, Youtube Overlord 2 review
