by Rhian Hibner
Daily Lobo
Over the past 10 years, a lot of games have come out that let the player choose between being good and evil. Some of these games have been spectacularly good, such as BioWare's "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." A few have been somewhat less spectacular, as in the case of the overhyped "Fable."
Codemasters' latest release, "Overlord," gives the player a similar choice. The only difference is that it's a choice between evil and ridiculously evil.
The world that the titular Overlord inhabits is like a twisted version of "The Lord of the Rings." For one, the player is cast more or less in the role of Sauron. Secondly, everything that is traditionally good in Tolkien's imagined world is either evil or pathetically stupid. Finally, the heroes that oppose the Overlord are corrupted and twisted. Even the Hobbits are mean and spiteful creatures in this game.
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The first level is a joy to behold. Right from the beginning, the mayhem begins with the savage beating of a goblin court jester who was having far too good a time cracking jokes at his new leader's expense. This continues straight on into the slaughter of some impressively dumb sheep. None of this even begins to compare to the hilarity that ensues when the player and his loyal minions encounter the humans that live in the town of Spree, who have become the victims of slave-owning Hobbits.
While the tongue-in-cheek black humor is funny, no game can be considered of any worth if it is lacking in the actual game play department. "Overlord," for the most part, seems to have a fairly well-thought-out combat system, though there are a few flaws. The method for controlling minions is very simple. It is basically the equivalent of waving one's hand at something and then watching while loyal goblin servants proceed to bash everything in sight into oblivion. It's not particularly accurate, though. The real problems appear when trying to control the Overlord. The lock-on system only seems to apply to the minions. The Overlord can only be moved and ordered to swing his weapon, and it's not effective. In a similar fashion, there's no good way to aim the various ranged spells that the Overlord can use.
In all fairness, as the player progresses through the game, he or she shouldn't have to rely on the Overlord avatar at all and should be able to take out any enemy using only the minions. After the first couple quests are completed, the only remaining annoyance is the inability to aim spells. If Codemasters can fix that in a patch, little is left to
complain about.
"Overlord" is definitely a fun game, despite some of the control flaws. After all, what other game gives you the chance to crash what looks suspiciously similar to Bilbo Baggins' "eleventy-first" birthday party and wipe out all the partygoers?
"Overlord"
Grade: B
Available now for PC and Xbox 360
