Overlord (2007)

I am on a journey to beat 360 random Xbox 360 games. Here's my next adventure.

Game number 12 was Overlord, a game where you manage different colored minions in order to gain renown and develop yourself as the new evil overlord of this fairy tale world. It ends up playing very similarly to Pikmin and I stand by the opinion that it is better than than Pikmin games. I don't really think that is a crazy statement. Overlord is a console generation ahead of Pikmin anyways.

I loved this game. The gameplay was really fun. You get to sweep hordes of minions through a series of dungeons and complete puzzles utilizing their different types. There are 4 different minions. The first is brown. These guys are really good at combat and were the main minion I used throughout the story. There were few times that I didn't keep any browns in my party. The second are reds. The reds are weaker than the browns, but they are immune to fire and can do ranged attacks (which are very useful in some circumstances. Third are the greens. Greens are the second strongest, after browns, and they are immune to poison. Honestly, I thought that greens were the least utilized minions in the game. Finally, there are blues. Blues are able to swim in the water and they can revive fallen minions. There is a surprising amount of water in this game and the ability to revive dead minions is useful enough to always keep 3-4 blues in my party. They are abysmal in combat though. DO NOT GO SWEEPING YOUR BLUES INTO ENEMIES. THEY WILL DIE.

One thing that really surprised me is that I felt each of the 5 worlds was pretty unique and entertaining to run through. I could see a single screenshot from the game and be able to tell you which world we were looking at. The reason that the ability to do that is surprising is because 3 of the 5 worlds are pretty similar and all just generic fantasy worlds. The only difference is that 1 has fields, 1 has mountains, and the third has a castle and lots of water.

This game is funny. I enjoyed the stupid humor of the minions, especially the head minion Gnarl and the jester minion. Most of the humor is really juvenile, but it added to the fun, lightheartedness of the game.

After all that praise, I do have some complaints. The biggest complaint I have for this game is the camera. The camera rarely seemed to focus on the direction I wanted and there is no good way to control the camera. (The right stick is used for maneuvering minions.) The second complain is that there is no map... anywhere. Most of the time, I was not lost and just needed to follow the paths to progress, but there were a few times that I had no idea what I was doing, nor where to go. A little guidance would have been nice. My final complaint is that the overlord was too powerful by the end of the game. I crafted a top-level weapon and then there was minimal reason to even have my minions fight stuff. I was able to slay everything myself. I wish that the overlord himself was a little weaker... but I guess it plays into the plot of the game for him to be strong.

Overall, Overlord is a really fun time. I absolutely had a blast playing this game and plan to play its sequel before long. I would recommend this game to anyone, especially fans of Pikmin. You may not find it as charming as I did, but it is definitely worth a play through. (4.5/5)

I spent 16 hours, 5 minutes, and 26 seconds playing Overlord

I have spent a total of 149 hours and 8 minutes on the Road to 360 challenge so far.

Next game: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

This is an action roleplaying game in which you play a resurrected overlord who has control over minions who do his bidding. The objective is to conquer various lands, defeat the heroes that killed your predecessor and generally establish your lordship. However, you're not exactly Sauron. You're more of an anti-hero and how evil you are really is up to the player

Lots of dark humor add to the fun

You issue orders and your minions do the hard work (as all good minions should). There are 4 races of minions to choose from and each has their own unique abilities. Some are better at melee combat, others are range fighters. Some can swim, while others can revive wounded minions. Your choice of which minions to use and how to use them is pretty tactical

If you need to restore your health you can just sacrifice your minions. What else are they good for? As the game progresses, you can forge weapons and armor

It's all goofy fun as you and your gleeful minions travel the countryside creating all means of havoc. It's all a bit over the top and satirical

When I played the game, the camera could be a pain in the butt, but this was fixed in later editions

I probably shouldn't 4 star this game, but I can recall having a pretty good time and that's what it's all about

Overlord is an amazing game. I loved the concept of the game, the originality, the humor and the overall feeling of this game so much.

You play as a badass half dude; half demon called the Overlord. You are resurrected from your tomb by your loyal subjects, simply called Minions. It is your responsibility to take up arms, overthrow all the seven worthless leaders in the kingdom and establish yourself as the ultimate ruler of the lands. To achieve this, you need to gather all your Minion types, expand your horde size, retrieve your stolen artifacts and improve your weapons and armor. I really liked the simple concept of the story, yet every corrupt ruler represents one of the seven sins that you must overcome. Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, Envy, Wrath and Pride.

You can make various choices throughout the game. Evil or good; let someone live, give back the treasure to the people etc. It affects the ultimate ending of the game and this way; you can play the game again to see what will happen if you do it different this time.

I really liked the story throughout and the epic plot twist in the end, in which the previous Overlord takes control over your army, and you are on your own, was epic. You were the eight hero that was supposed to slay the old overlord but got banished to a tomb, from which you were resurrected at the start of the game. When you defeated the old Overlord, you reclaim your title, tower and army and based on your choices, one of the eight different ending cut scenes will play.

In your army, you got four different types of Minions. The brown Minions are your fighters and deal heavy damage to enemies in close combat. The red Minions are ranged fighters who throw fireballs and set stuff on fire. The Green Minions are assassins and use backstabbing attacks on unaware enemies. The blue Minions are the healers and can resurrect fallen Minions. Combining the right Minions in your army is crucial for success and can determine victory or defeat. You collect different forms of life energy from slain animals and enemies to increase the number of Minions that you can summon from the pits.

On your conquests, you can find weapons and armor scattered around. Your Minions can pick it up, proudly displaying it above their heads and then put in on. This way, you increase their damage and resistance to damage. To top it off, they look badass when they are in full armor. However, your Minions will put everything on their heads so a sheep hat or a pumpkin is not uncommon and looks ridiculous.

You also find different relics that your Minions must pick up and drag to the nearest tower portal, so it is stored safely in your castle. These upgrades consist of Health upgrades, Mana upgrades and horde size increase. They are, of course, heavily guarded and not easy to obtain.

I still think that Overlord looks very pretty. The art style, the soft shaders and the landscapes still look fantastic in my opinion. The animations are still very nice to look at and I really like the interaction with almost all the objects around you.
The sound and music in Overlord are really well done. It uses trumpets and other blow instruments to signal commands, recall your minions or to send them into battle. The ambient music is nice and calm and adapts perfectly to the situation or scene.

In the end, Overlord and its expansion, Raising Hell, still stands in my personal favorite top ten games of all time and when writing this review, I suddenly feel the urge again to play it once more.

Definitely recommend it.