Brace yourselves, this isn’t going to be pretty!
Some key points that this game offers:
- Four Heroes to choose from
- Co-Op Campaign
- Multiplayer
Gameplay & Controls:
The game can be played on the Keyboard and Mouse, or with a controller. It has full controller support. It comes down to your personal preference here. However, the game is quite comfortable and easy to navigate with either method.
This is not the sequel to Overlord II; It is something new and different that the developers tried. Tried and failed quite badly I have to admit. You get to choose from one of four different Heroes; each with their own unique traits and abilities. We have Inferna, a sword wielding melee fighter. Malady, the sorcerer and necromancer. There is Hakon, a rogue then there is Cryos, a dark Elf Prince who does AOE (Area Of Effect) attacks.
As always you awake to the voice of Gnarl, who after a brief introduction, gives you your first mission which doubles as your tutorial. The world has gone complete good. There is cuteness and goodness everywhere you look. It is up to you to set things right and destroy all that goodness and the would-be heroes that created it.
Playing the game isn’t fun, it is boring and tedious. There is no creativity in the levels. It’s all linear run from point A to B. there is no open world areas to explore, no secrets to bring back home and absolutely no exploration at all.
Fights are just as boring, you pretty much have three attacks, standard, heavy and special. Whether you upgrade your Hero, there is hardly any visual change to them whatsoever. The top down view is another deal breaker, taking away from the experience that Overlord itself has created.
One of the worst mistakes they made is removing the massive role your minions played in previous titles. This time around they hardly serve a purpose, the unique mechanics in summoning them is gone. You pretty much summon them whenever you want by the push of a button. It lacks ingenuity and creativity.
Graphics:
Overlord II was quite gorgeous when it first released. Character design was decent. The levels were beautifully created, Vibrant with unique colour schemes that set the scene for each area.
They had all that and somehow ended up with graphics that look downright ugly. Level design is already uninspiring and fun, and now they look terrible as well.
Some of the unique features previous titles had were Minions picking up fallen gear and equipping them giving each Minion a unique look. That is gone, and not just for the Minions, the entire world of this game lacks individuality. It feels like copy and paste, where the original that they copied from was unfinished, uninspired, and quite frankly not good enough!
The design for our Heroes is appalling, they do not look nice, or appealing. These one toned coloured figures moving about is not the way to go!
Not even the cinematic scenes are worth it. It is by far some of the worst I have laid eyes on, if not the worst!
Sounds:
There is some background music adding life to the lifeless world. However, the voice acting is rather bland. Given how captivating the cinematic scenes are, it is hard to focus or even pay attention to them.
The one good thing here is Marc Silk who reprised his role as the voice actor for Gnarl, in all his funny and sarcastic glory, and this we owe thanks to Rhianna Pratchett. The only good thing that came out of this game, her absolutely stunning performance writing this script.
Replayability:
The game has achievements/ trophies that will keep you busy for a while. However, playing the game to obtain these will be an achievement in itself, because of its lackluster gameplay. It has replay value, it just isn’t fun enough to want to replay.
Co-op you can play as up to four players taking on the world of goodness, or taking down other players and claim their loot for yourself. This Multiplayer concept is a rather unique mechanic and could have been so much more if the rest of the game were up to the challenge.
MGR Gaming’s Conclusions:
Spoilers Ahead:
I understand the reason for the change, and at times we all experiment and try new things. However, throwing out all the winning mechanics, all the things that make an Overlord game an Overlord game, and hope for success is downright just silly.
I cannot fathom how they got from what they had with previous titles to this. Sure, it is a spin off, but it should still be playable, unique, and fun in its own right. It might not be cannon for sure or follow the same path that the original does and that is fine. But in no way whatsoever should it be a terrible, ugly and unplayable game.
This is what this game is, somehow, I doubt it would get any better even if the bugs were patched. Whatever they wished to achieve here; I sincerely doubt they did.
Additional Info:
Platforms: PC: PlayStation 4: Xbox One
Genre: Action: Adventure: Co-op: Dark Humor: Multiplayer: RPG: Strategy: Villain Protagonist
Censor Rating: n/a
Age Rating: n/a
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters
Release Date: 20 October 2015
MGR Gaming Steam Curator:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32364038/
