Have you ever played the game Pikmin? You know, that silly little game for the GameCube where you use little yellow, blue, and red blobs with leaves and flowers on their heads to gather parts for your destroyed ship. Now take the basis of that game, add swords, armor, burning buildings, and a hint of evil, and you get Overlord 2. Released on June 23, 2009, Overlord 2 is the sequel to the 2007 video game Overlord. Produced by Codemaster and Triumph Studios, the player becomes an evil ruler of all that is dark and evil, using minions to do his or her bidding.
Background/Overview
In Overlord 2 you take control of the son of the evil overlord, both named, you guessed it, The Overlord. In the beginning you are a young boy who has been banished to Nordberg (a small, mountain town) due to your magical powers. You begin by chasing other children around with your club and scaring them into a house outside of town. Ultimately stealing their clothing to trick the drunken gate watcher that you're not the "Demon Child." Along the way you meet and control your much needed minions. Your minions are the Pikmin of your evil army. There are four different types, ranging from the Browns, which are strong and able to pick up any enemy weapon and use it, to the Greens, who are quiet assassins, doing excellent damage from behind and becoming invisible when told to guard. Every type of minion has their ups and downs, and it is best to learn to mix and match your types. During the course of your game play, you will attempt to rule the entire world or destroy it, making your classic good and evil decisions. You will kill, steal, and pillage to collect parts for your towers. Along the way you will meet several women, who you will take back to your lair (known as the Netherworld), and they will become your mistresses. Your mistresses will complain, nag, and give you minor pointers along your way. You can buy them things to keep them happy, and if you buy everything for one mistress you'll get a cute little cut-scene where you and your mistress "Have some one-on-one time." (don't worry, the action is 100% censored). Without spoiling too much, you'll soon realize that your goal is to destroy the evil empire (a copy of ancient Rome) as well as the small yet numerous Gnomes and the environmental activist Elves, who love "The Fluffy Ones."
Controls/AI
The Controls are the downfall of Overlord II. Although you will get a hang of them within a short amount of time, it doesn't mean they're good. Left click sends your minions, right click calls them back, holding left click sends multiple minions, holding right click calls them back, alt to fire you spells, the one key controls just browns, two keys for reds, yada, yada, etc. etc.. The game has so many controls and they are so far spread out on the keyboard it feel like you can lose track of where everything is in the heat of battle. At several points I found myself going and checking the manual to see how to do something. Along with that, they will teach you how to do something once, and will never go over it again, making memory of how to do certain spells nearly impossible.
The AI isn't much help either. Your minions are not the smartest bunch of slaves. Let's use an example. Say you see a sword lying right in front of you, you want Minion1 (let's call him Fred) to go get it. Fred runs in to go grab the sword; he avoids the sword and runs straight into a wall. You call Fred back, and you tell him to run back at it, you will have to do this about four more times, or send six other minions and hope one of them picks it up. This comes into play when attacking as well. Most times the minions will circle the enemy, which is good, however each type has a side in which they attack best from (Browns = front, Greens = back, Reds = Ranged, Blues = side/back). However, they will end up being all out of order, causing your entire green army to get wiped out in a single swipe. This causes deep frustration and annoyance.
What Did Overlord 2 Add?
Although it did add a fresh new storyline, Overlord 2 did not add very much. The basic game play, controls, minions, layout, and enemies are pretty much the same, slightly rehashed to attempt to give a new spark to the game. Some of the new features include a new crafting system, which has pre-made weapons. A new minion resurrection system was added, which allows you to revive old minions and all their equipment at the cost of unarmed minions. Also a new feature was added in which you will take the body of a minion, and lead your army using that minion. This allows you to go down small paths not reachable by your large and lanky Overlord. Lastly a new city-controlling feature was tacked onto the game, which allows you to buy a city using Brown minions, and choose to control or kill the entire city. Controlling the city will allow you to walk in and be praised and the citizens will also give you items and energy to creature more minions. Although killing the entire city is much more enjoyable and the few citizens who are left will fear and obey your every command. If you played the original Overlord, most of the features excluding these will be almost unnoticeable, and nothing more then "cool" new features, which are easily overlooked. For those who have not played an Overlord game, these new features will seem essential as if they should have been in the first Overlord, and you won't think of them as "New."
Is it worth it?
Overlord 2 is a game that may be overlooked by many people, but is definitely worth a try. If you are going to be playing it for PS3 or 360, I would recommend renting it, if you are going to be playing it for PC, it is worth borrowing from a friend or buying when it goes down in price.
Pros
• Interesting and new style of play, unlike any other game (excluding Pikmin)
• Good play time, will take 30-40 hours to beat
• Storyline is good and attempts to keep the mood light with comic relief
• Overall the game is fun and easy to pick up and play, although hard to master
Cons
• Multiplayer is a joke. Has a split screen option, but no co-op or major online play
• Bad controls and stupid AI cause much frustration
• No major new features added from Overlord to Overlord 2
• Very repetitive enemies and play style (Charge, attack, gather loot, rinse, lather, repeat)
Overall I would give this game a 3/5
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Kii Kasten is a Freshman at Ripon College studying Political Science. When he is not studying he enjoys Video Games on all platforms, and has begun a freelance writing focusing on video game reviews. If you have any questions or comments about the review or the author, please email him at nameless6001@gmail.com.
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Review - Overlord 2 For PC
World of Warcraft Leveling Tips to Help You Hit Level 80 Fast
The game of World of Warcraft is ever expanding with the release of patches, and content for the game. The latest expansion the Wrath of the Lich King allows players to level from 70 to 80 now which for many players has added some needed freshness to the game. Though there are a number of guides out there to help you level up to 80 faster, However I feel that leveling can also be done without a guide so I wanted to focus on a few World of Warcraft leveling tips that can help you do just that.
1. Get a bigger bag. Nothing is more frustrating then when you are about to leave for a quest or when you find yourself far away from town discovering that your bag is full. So as soon as you get a chance make sure you get a bigger bag this really helps cut down on the amount of trips back to town just to empty out your bags.
2. Consider add-ons that will save you time. Some of the best add-ons available include the carbonite quest, auctioneer and my favorite auto profit. Auto profit is very useful as it sells the items which you would have classified as gray junk to the vendor and it does all this in just one click. This is extremely useful, as it saves a ton of time, which can then be spent leveling. The carbonite quest works more or less like a quest helper with better mini maps and a really good quest tracker.
3. Get your mount as fast as you can. It is important to remember that travelling on a mount increases your travel speed thus cutting down on wasted travel time. So even for those players in the higher level zones', upgrading your mount is just as effective for over over level 60 players as getting your first mount was at level 40
Of course there is a lot more World of Warcraft leveling tips but there just isn't the time and space to cover all those in just one article. I suggest to learn more visit our site we cover a lot more WoW leveling tips as well review many of the leveling aids out there, so that you can reach level 80 faster then all your friends.
